The Celebrating Our Communities Event took place on the 12th July at The Lincolnshire Showground. The aim of the day was to celebrate the fantastic work being done by VCSE (voluntary, community & social enterprise) organisations to support the health and wellbeing of communities across Lincolnshire.

The day began with a rousing performance from SoundLINCS, which got everyone warmed up, moving, and creating music with nothing more than the objects around us. This was shortly followed by a heartfelt and moving performance by Stepping stone Theatre for mental health where individuals used their own experiences to provide inspirational performances. We also had a fantastic insight into a Peer Support Workers journey, from Shine Lincolnshire’s very own Gemma Moore. Finally, to get everyone moving in the afternoon we had the pleasure of listening to Aukesta, a group of talented musicians from Newcastle.

Not only was the day filled with incredible performances, there was also an incredible array of workshops being run by organisations who work in communities across Lincolnshire. This gave the organisations chance to demonstrate the fantastic work they have been doing, it also allowed other community and statutory providers to experience their incredible work.

Finally, the event held a bustling market place representing over 60 organisations (and an ice-cream van!) which allowed for networking and a chance for organisations to meet other community groups who operate on a different side of the county.

In all, the event saw over 300 attendees from both the statutory and voluntary sector and provided the chance to share and celebrate the work being done to support mental health and wellbeing across Lincolnshire, CEO of Shine Rachel Wright said: It was fantastic to see so many community and statutory organisations coming together to celebrate the fantastic work being done to support mental health and wellbeing in communities across Lincolnshire. At Shine, we are passionate about people and the Celebrating Our Communities event allowed us to come together to celebrate professionals, experts by experience and individuals across the County. We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who attended, had stalls, performed and helped out on the day and we can’t wait for the opportunity to do it all again next year!