Families enjoyed fun in the park on Saturday when 30 local groups descended on Royston for an event hosted by the town’s children’s centre.

The Royston and Villages Children’s Centre held its first Fun in the Park Day at Priory Memorial Gardens. The aim of the day was to showcase the provision for under-5s in Royston and the surrounding villages, and many pre-schools, day nurseries and childminders volunteered to promote their organisations.

Rachel Kimsey, from the Children’s Centre, said: “Over 2,000 people attended the event to take part in free art and craft activities and games. The Children’s Centre provided free bouncy castles, a bouncy assault course, and soft play for babies so that all children were able to enjoy the fun.

“There were face painters, fairground rides, East Anglia Ambulance Service and Hertfordshire Constabulary along with demonstrations and information from a wide variety of services and businesses from the Royston area.

“The Children’s Centre would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who ran a stall or came along to have Fun in the Park. It was wonderful to see so many organisations and families support the fun day, it really was a successful day made even better by the glorious sunshine. We hope to run the event again next year.”

Among the guests on the day were Royston’s MP Oliver Heald, the town mayor, Cllr Victoria Hulstrom-Allen, and Cllr Fiona Hill, who chairs North Herts District Council’s Royston Area Committee. The area committee gave funding to help the event go-ahead.

Mr Heald said: “This was an excellent event for families, held in lovely sunny weather. Royston Children’s Centre put on a great show with bouncy castles, face painting and other stalls.”

Cllr Hill said: “I was delighted to attend the event and that Royston and the Villages Children’s Centre is a superb example of how successful partnership working can be.”

The children’s offers a variety of services for families with children under the age of five. For further details visit www.roystonandvillagescc.com.