Laura Clayson and Abi Moore were the Lead Makers (the ones that sign up on the website) for the Cwm Garw Fun Palace in 2024. They were blown away on the day when 312 people came to their Fun Palace, which was made by 42 people (though remember, it’s fine if yours is much smaller!)

 “It’s like Disneyland, but better!”

Cwm Garw Fun Palace attendee 2024

Since the event they’ve taken time to evaluate how it went, what worked and think about what they might do differently next time – we’re sharing here in case their ideas and learnings help you while planning your Fun Palace. 

“On the 5th October, 2024, a group of volunteers – made up of local individuals, groups and organisations – built the Cwm Garw Fun Palace. 

Given it was the first time this event was run, it went fantastically well! It was cross-generational, with a huge range of activities – from macrame and giant games, to music and a scavenger hunt that managed to incorporate a ride on the miniature heritage railway train that the Garw Valley Railway folk were offering for free. Organisers hoped for 50 people to come – seven times that wandered through the door. Almost 5% of the local population in the area! All Fun Palace makers went the extra mile to ensure everything went smoothly and the Garw Halo staff who hosted us – for free – were brilliant.“

“We had a huge turnout for a small Valley and there is lots of interest for another event next year. It’s clear that events like this are in demand.”

Cwm Garw Fun Palace Maker 2024

“A lovely few hours, played, danced, read stories and crafts thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you!” – Fun Palace attendee 2024

Their Full Activities list:

At Fun Palaces workshops, we sometimes speak to people who are stuck for ideas for what to do at their Fun Palace.In case you’re looking for some inspiration, here’s what happened at Cwm Garw Fun Palace:

• Music jam and performance
• Dancing
• Singing
• Hula hooping
• Crash mat play space for kids
• Bouncy castle
• Archive of kid’s toys
• Giant games
• Story-telling
• Collective story creation
• Macramé plant hanger making
• Craft corner
• British Sign Language teaching
• Scavenger hunt
• Miniature train rides
• Railway shed tours
• Watching the diesel engine being moved into the shed
• A bearded dragon encounter 

Challenges:

As they start planning their 2025 Fun Palace, they’ve been looking at the challenges they were met with, and what they will do next year to address them. For example the fact that their activity leaders weren’t able to take a break during the 4 hour event due to how unexpectedly busy it was, and the fact there was no proper food and drinks for volunteers if they managed to take a break. They’re now thinking about how they can address these challenges for this year, such as factoring in breaks for each volunteer into the schedule and ideally assigning two adults per activity. If this is not possible, ensuring the presence of ample ‘floating’ adults (people who float between activities supporting where needed). As well as providing free food and drinks for volunteers. 

Funding: 

“Securing funding would have really taken the edge off, as well as saving time as we discussed it across a couple of meetings before deciding against trying to apply anywhere. Even just a little bit of funding to cover the costs of the event (around the £300 mark – booking meeting spaces / printing / insurance) would have been transformational. Laura and Abi paid for things out of their own pocket, and the Garw Valley Links Community Church – who were involved in planning – also kindly contributed.”

Around 80% of Fun Palaces each year are made with no additional funding. That said, of course funding can sometimes be helpful to cover the basic costs. Look in our Funding Toolkit to find ways in which you can keep your costs low, and raise funds if you need to. We also run an annual online workshop on Funding – check in the workshops section of the website to book your free space.

Sustainability:

Around 70% of Fun Palaces each year take sustainability into account when planning. Creating hyperlocal culture on our doorsteps and tapping into existing resources are ways in which Fun Palaces naturally lean towards being more sustainable. Here Abi and Laura share what they did to intentionally address sustainability.  

“We actively encouraged attendees to use sustainable modes of transport to get to the Fun Palace and car-shared where possible to get to the planning meetings, which we could roll out further next year. The advertising/postering was made with recyclable materials and posters were delivered by bicycle or on foot as much as possible. Some of the activities also used materials already available to minimise the cost and maximise re-use. For example, the ‘make a macrame plant hanger’ activity used leftover materials the maker had at home. The waste cord from the activity was given to the craft table and was used in their activities. Plants were also donated from volunteers from cuttings they had at home. Additionally, the locked suitcase to open at the end of the Scavenger Hunt was sourced from a call out on FreeCycle.” 

Their top advertising ideas for next year:

Abi and Laura attended the Fun Palaces marketing workshop 2024 and made use of Alex (the Fun Palaces comms manager) who was happy to have a call with them and share his expertise and talk through their ideas. The Fun Palaces staff are always happy to have 1:1 calls with you if you’re thinking about making a Fun Palace and want to talk things through – just email us. 

Now they’re thinking ahead to how they’ll advertise this year and what they’ll do differently: 

◆ “Create Facebook page not group

◆ TikTok (need a young person to lead on this)

◆ Someone on the day doing socials or livestreaming / filming

◆ Get celebrities or politicians to come

◆ Get councillors and MPs on board

◆ Have a photographer who can go around and take pictures on the day so activity volunteers don’t have to try and do this”

Summary:

“Overall the first Cwm Garw Fun Palace went incredibly well, especially for its first time! People really came together to create a joyful free event for the community for the day. With the mitigations in place next year to tackle the challenges that came up we hope that it will be an even more positive event for volunteers and attendees alike. 

A big thank you to everyone who got involved, in whatever form! Onwards to 2025! 

Special mentions and thanks to the following Makers/activity facilitators who helped build the 2024 Fun Palace: Abi, Ali, Ann, Cath, Charlotte, Croc, David, Evyn, Gerald, Gordon, Ian, Jane, Karolina, Laura, Lauren, Louise, Malcolm, Mandy, Mark, Milana, Rachel, Raul, Richard, Stella, Tria, Viktoriia, and everyone at the Garw Valley Railway.”

If you’d like to join the Cwm Garw Makers, and thousands of others who make Fun Palaces across the UK each year, by making a Fun Palace with your community this October – head to the website to find out more, or send an email to hello@funpalaces.co.uk and we can arrange a call to chat.

Photos © Cwm Garw Fun Palace 2024