Haywards Heath Arts Festival organisers present welcome donation to charity partner

The Haywards Heath Arts Festival was held during the second week of July and consisted of over twenty events covering a diverse range of artistic and cultural events across some fifteen different venues around the town.

Festival organiser Colin Kenward said: “The weeklong festival, which was a first for Haywards Heath fulfilled our aim to provide a varied program of events that would engage with, and include the whole community.”

Colin added: “The festival also had a charitable aim. After careful consideration by the committee ‘Hope and Homes for Children’ was chosen with any monies raised through ticket sales and collections at all the events going to support the charities campaign to support children in Ukraine.”

‘Hope and Homes for Children’ was established in 1994 and has is working in countries across Eastern Europe, Southern and East Africa and South Asia to stop the institutionalisation of children, inspiring governments and organisations to close the doors of harmful orphanages forever.

Festival organiser Marion Wilcock said: “We were delighted to be invited to the supporter event hosted by ‘Hope and Homes for Children’ and even more delighted to be able to present two cheques totalling £2500 from the kind donations made by the public to help with their work in Ukraine.”

Marion added: “We heard from various speakers throughout the event and detailed accounts of the successes that the charity have had in recent times and we were reassured that our donation would be making difference to the lives and wellbeing of the children in Ukraine.”

You can read in more detail about the mission of Hope and Homes for Children on their website at www.hopeandhomes.org.

The organisers plan to continue their partnership with Hope and Homes into 2023 when the second Haywards Heath Arts Festival will take place. Colin said, “Planning for 2023 is already underway and we have been pleasantly surprised by the number of approaches we’ve had already from artists and performers wanting to take part in next year’s event.”

To find out more about the festival and to contact Festival organisers go to their website at www.haywardsheathartsfestival.co.uk.