Residents 'popping up' to pledge support for their community

25 June 2019 

Residents in the Penleigh and Oldfield Park area of Westbury will ask their neighbours to pledge a gift of positive action to their local community at a POP-up Day get together on Sunday 30 June.

Organisers from the POPCAN community action group will use the event to root out the skills, talents and goodwill that exist in their local area and invite people to make a pledge by writing on a leaf and sticking it to the ‘POPCAN Pledge Tree’, constructed by members of the Westbury Shed group.

Making a community pledge was the idea of POPCAN member and Sovereign resident, Tina Devereux, who feels that every member of the community is able to contribute something – that everyone has a gift to give.  

She said: “We can all do something positive for our neighbourhood by sharing our skills, time, life experiences, sense of humour and general goodwill to connect with each other. In turn, this should give everyone a positive feeling about the place where they live. Pledges could include anything from saying hello to a person on the street, speaking up for the neighbourhood, looking out for a vulnerable neighbour, or helping out at a community event. The more of us that invest in our community, the better it becomes for everyone.”

The POP-up Day will run from 11am-3pm on Sunday 30 June 2019, with fantastic family fun from welly-whanging as part of the ‘Wonky Olympics’, and an interactive children’s poetry slam, with Birmingham-based poet ‘Spoz’.

Dancing workshops with Active Trowbridge, football sessions with Westbury Youth FC, and dodgeball matches with South West Dodgeball, are just a few of the other amazing activities being funded by Sovereign, Wiltshire Council, Selwood Housing, and Westbury Town Council.

Matching promises and recipients

Pledges made at the fun day will be coordinated by POPCAN members who will work with partners including Wiltshire Council’s Local Area Coordination Team and Sovereign’s Housing team, to ensure that pledge-promisers and pledge-receivers are well-matched.