We’re pleased to announce that ALTFEST, our free community event at St John Bosco Arts College on November 1st was met with great success thanks to the over 400 attendees including teams, community partners and local visitors.
As a celebration of all of our communities coming together – Croxteth, Norris Green, Fazakerley and Sparrow Hall, the day was a great opportunity to have fun and to connect with local services and community partners.
The event showcased the wide range of support available in the local area regarding various issues – everything from housing, to health, energy, money matters and much more.
This year, ALTFEST was divided into different themed zones, to showcase the new Corporate Plan for 2023-28 we have recently produced, outlining our new Chief Executive, Claire Griffiths’ five-year vision to deliver on the above services for our customers and communities.
Each of these zones: Invest in Quality Homes, Thriving Communities, Excellent Customer Service and Positive People highlighted our teams’ collaborative efforts to showcase how we’re listening to our residents’ feedback, what we’re doing already and what we plan to do to support our local communities and improve on these services in the future.
We showcased several interactive stands, including the ‘Behind The Doors’ case studies in the Thriving Communities section, where people could open the door and discover more about how we’re supporting residents with essential issues ranging from cost of living, to saving on energy, and more.
Our Neighbourhoods team also had an area called ‘You Said, We Did’, showcasing how Cobalt are tackling ASB, fly-tipping and improving the use of green space in local areas, amongst other examples.
Visitors could also leave plastic coins into house-shaped boxes to show their concerns regarding numerous cost of living issues relating to gas and electric costs, rent prices, furniture, clothes and even the cost of school uniforms.
Children were also encouraged to have fun with litter picking and placing rubbish into bins, to reinforce a good habit that will benefit the community.
Many children had fun playing with bricks in the ‘Building and Regeneration’ area in the Invest in Quality Homes section, while adults learned about the regeneration plans for the existing Stonedale estate along with Cobalt’s plans with Lovell Homes to build eighty-eight new homes at ‘Waterdale Gardens’, providing residents with the opportunity of rent to buy or shared ownership in their own homes.
In the ‘Excellent Customer Service’ section, local people were encouraged to give their feedback and suggestions via ‘My Voice Matters’, a space for Cobalt tenants and residents to share their views and to help us to understand what matters most to them.
Our HR team also had great fun in the ‘Positive People’ section with a ‘Hoopla’ indoor basketball game, encouraging youngsters to reach new heights of potential and explore the various employment and vocational opportunities available to them in their local areas.
One of the highlights of this area was the ‘PositiviTree’, where people were encouraged to write what they’re grateful for onto a leaf, giving a positive wish for themselves, their friends, family or communities. These leaves were then hung up onto the tree, giving a beautiful overview of everything positive going on for people in our local areas.
Alongside a range of community partners, AltFest also included a number of fun activities for both adults and children alike. Children enjoyed pulling a pose in the ‘Magic Mirror’, Hook a Duck, glitter tattoos, henna, and there were plenty of tasty sweets and treats including candy floss and popcorn to enjoy.
One of the highlights of the day was the ‘Spooky Welly Walk’ where outside of St John Bosco’s was a pathway lined with pumpkins, which were carved by Cobalt staff in our annual pumpkin carving competition the day before.
We were also very impressed by the range of entertainment on display including uplifting songs from our Communities Together Choir, Halloween-themed dance routines from dancers at M.J. Dance Productions, along with fantastic performances from local groups and bands.
Crowds were both moved and inspired by the Worriers to Warriors dance performance, and both children and adults were kept entertained thanks to the DJ and characters from Paw Patrol walking around the stage.
A Big Thank You To Everyone Involved!
In particular, we’d like to give a big thank you to all of our community partners for showing up on the day and making AltFest so special. Many thanks go to our community partners, including:
Liverpool City Council, EcoGee, Lovell Homes, Citizens Advice Liverpool, Worriers to Warriors, Alt Valley Community Centre, Feeding Liverpool, Stop Loan Sharks England, Champs, Cells Project, Communities Together Choir, M.J. Productions 2019, Queen of Greens, Liverpool Fostering, Partners Credit Union, Local Solutions, Energy Projects Plus, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services, Smoke Free Liverpool, Merseyside Police, Envirovent, The Bridge Community Centre, Hugh Baird College, Job Centre Plus – DWB Kirby, Ian Byrne, the MP for West Derby, Kevin Pilnick, the MP for Norris Green, Wilkinson Cowan Partnership, MVM Working Groups, The Life Rooms, My Clibmoor, The Quantum Centre Liverpool, Fix Your Crown, Apex Health and Wellbeing, The Holistic Menopause Coach, St John’s Ambulance, The Living Well Bus and The Fibroscan Van.
We’d also like to give a big shout out to our sponsors including Carrolls, Brabners, Michael Dyson, Ecogee, Ridge & Partners, Lovells, Wilkinson Cowan Partnership, A&B Electrical, JFN, Norse, Icon, Sure Maintenance, CDP (Easypost), Housing Maintenance Solutions (HMS), Fazakerley & Croxteth Children’s Centre, Partners Credit Union, Karonga Gardens, Crown Paints, B&Q, Homesecure, Jems DIY, Shape Engineering and Sutcliffes.
A thank you to our very own Cobalt Plus for helping us to set up and all of their handiwork at creating the amazing house backdrop and background scenery for each of the zones.
A special thank you must go to St John Bosco Arts College for allowing us to host our AltFest event at their fantastic venue.
We appreciate each and every one of you who made the AltFest 23 such a memorable and special event both for ourselves and our communities.
