COVID STORIES: A SOCIALLY-DISTANCED HALLOWEEN

Not being able to go out trick or treating didn’t stop these communities from making the most of Halloween this year!

Many of our groups found ways to bring the spooky spirit of Halloween to their communities during the firebreak lockdown. From costume competitions to pumpkin pack giveaways, here are some of the ghoulish goings-on in the Invest Local areas.

Local ‘witches’ gave Cefn Golau’s community garden a Halloween makeover, and invited children to go and see how many bats, spiders and skeletons they could find. The area’s weekly cooking club served food packs with a Halloween twist, and gave out themed activity packs for children.

Ynysowen’s Youth Factor group also made great use of their nursery garden, braving the rain to turn it into a pumpkin patch with hay bales and covered seating areas. Over the next few days, local children made scarecrows at home and brought them to the pumpkin patch for the scarecrow competition.

Invest Local Ynysowen gave every family in the community a pumpkin along with a Taff Rocks activity pack, which included a free raffle ticket too. The Trinity Child & Family Centre turned into a beautiful autumnal scene for the pumpkin pick-ups.

We Are Plas Madoc and Penywaun Forward Together also gave out pumpkins to local residents, who shared photos of their creepy creations on the groups’ Facebook pages.

Costume competitions were another great way for the communities to come together virtually – We Are Plas Madoc and Our Llwynhendy both had prizes up for grab, with generous donations from local groups and volunteers. Our Llwynhendy shared all 151 photo entries for the fancy dress competition on their Facebook page. Scrolling through them is like an online version of seeing everyone out trick or treating, as they would be in another, more normal year!