Couple created a community help group over Xmas for families in need but for Easter they want to go one further…
CHILDREN can go hunting for Easter eggs, join an Easter bonnet competition and take pictures with the Easter bunny this year thanks to a Cardiff couple.
The Easter event – which will be free of charge and socially distanced – is planned for Saturday, April 3 and will take place in a gated parking area off Ferry Street.
“For Easter we wanted to do something a bit more special and go above and beyond again,” said Tara Beverstock, 34, co-founder of the community group All Year Round together with her husband David, 35.
“We’ve got plenty of Easter eggs for children to come and hunt and then at the end there will be some hot chocolate. The winners will have their prizes to take home and obviously the Easter bunny will be hopping around as well.”
The car park is located next to the Bay-Den scout hall off Ferry Road in Cardiff Bay, which scout leader Tracey Davies has given permission to be used for the event.
The parking area is gated, with a one-way system in place to allow for social distancing.
Parents are asked to allow children to go hunting for eggs by themselves to make social distancing easier, except of course if more supervision is needed.
Parents can wait for their children at the exit gate of the park, with a one-way system in place throughout.
Until the 25th of March parents have the opportunity to express their interest in joining the event by adding their names to this poll.
Parents will be given different time slots to attend with their children, based on the street they live on
Those families living further away will be invited earlier during the day to allow for stress-free travelling.
Tara estimates that about 150 to 180 children will come to join the event between 10:30am and 4:30pm.
For the bonnet competition every child’s name will be noted together with a picture of the hat.
By the end of the day a neighbour of Tara’s will pick the competition winners, with prizes going to three boys and three girls.
“We’re not going to be judging the bonnet competition because we know 99% of the kids that will be coming so it really wouldn’t be fair for us to pick,” adds Tara.
The funding to organise this event comes together from the community group donations, the selling of raffle tickets and about 30% is financed by the couple themselves.
Husband David and their son Corey, 17, will alternate wearing the bunny costume throughout the day.
Tara and David first started the Facebook community group in December 2020 and have already helped 195 families by providing them with food and toy parcels, filled with donations by the group’s 495 members.
“We had quite a few families that we knew personally that would have struggled to be able to afford food, presents and stuff so I decided to do a group,” says Tara.
While David still works full-time at Asda, Tara works as a female door supervisor and so she is waiting for clubs and pubs to re-open.
“To be honest, I am actually enjoying this, I enjoy helping and it’s important as well because not many people are doing this… If we’ve got it, we give it…and to be honest we’ve always got it,” she said.
In the future Tara is also planning to host a summer fair and a Santa’s grotto inside the Bay-Den scout hall.
