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Welcome to this month's edition of the Child-Friendly Medway Newsletter |
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See what we have been up to, and what's coming up! |
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Meet Mojo!
 Mojo, the Child-Friendly Medway Mascot waving 'hello'!
On Friday 21 July, Medway Sport delivered another amazing Medway Mile! This year was particularly special for Child-Friendly Medway, as we had something very exciting to share…our new Mascot! Meet Mojo, a sea creature who lives in the river Medway.
Since launching Child-Friendly Medway children and young people have asked for a mascot to join the Child-Friendly Medway team. Thank you to our funders ‘Countryside Partnerships’ and ‘Hyde through the Rochester Riverside’ Community Board for helping us to make this a reality by sponsoring the creative workshops and final design of our mascot.
Beginning in January 2023 design activity sheets were delivered to schools and youth organisations across Medway to help inspire our newest team member. Workshops were held, where children and young people could create what they thought the Child-Friendly Medway mascot could look like.
The Child-Friendly Medway team worked with local artist Nick Ashton, who used the drawings as inspiration to create eight shortlisted designs, which were then voted on by children and young people at our events and on social media.
Mojo was unveiled at Medway Mile to compete in their first race on land. They also helped the Mayor, Cllr Gurung, to hand out the Child-Friendly Medway sponsored children's medals and took lots of photos with attendees of all ages.
Medway Mile was a fantastic family event, where participants of all levels could be part of the race and enjoy many of the other activities, such as facepainting with Child-Friendly Medway, boxing with Olympia Boxing, basketball with the Kent Crusaders and dancing with Caterpillar Dance School; for a full list of partners, please see Medway Mile.
Child-Friendly Medway would like to say a huge thank you to all that participated in our mascot design, all that supported and encouraged Mojo at the Medway Mile and all that made Medway Mile such a fantastic child-friendly community event!
Check out our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more coverage of the event – and be sure to keep an eye out for Mojo at other events!
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Roar-some Fun at Dino Day!
Bruno, the T-Rex at the Pentagon Shopping Centre.
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Dino Day was a ROAR-ing success, despite the very British weather! Child-Friendly Medway was in the Pentagon Shopping Centre on Wednesday 2 August to celebrate all things dinosaur, where we made some pre-historic pals!
We were there with the very photogenic baby triceratops, who loved getting their photo taken with all our lovely visitors – who were wearing some fantastic dino-themed outfits! We really enjoyed chatting to our young visitors about their favourite dinosaurs, as well as what they would like to see in Medway to make Medway an even more amazing place for children and young people to grow, learn and play.
The wonderful team at RentaDinosaur put on quite the show, with Bruno the T-Rex, Spike the Spinosaurus and Mashy the Masiakasaurus (mah-SHEE-ah-kah-SAWR-us), where we learnt about what these dinosaurs like to eat and how big they would grow (which was pretty big!).
The Pentagon Shopping Centre ran craft activities, where children and young people could make their own Dino Snappers and Terra-Flyers. They also ran a Dino Hunt, where children and families could search the Pentagon Shopping Centre shop windows to find the hiding dinosaurs! The winner received a hamper of dinosaur goodies!
Thank you to our amazing partners the Pentagon Shopping Centre, Love Chatham and the Chatham Town Centre team.
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Chatham Carnival
 Child-Friendly Medway team walking with our flag in the Chatham Carnival Parade.
Chatham Carnival was a day full of fun, entertainment, and community spirit! Which took place on Saturday 8 July, 10:30am – 4pm.
Child-Friendly Medway sponsored creative workshops for students to make carnival costumes with local artists from Nucleus Arts. These workshops were funded as part of our Safer Streets 4 project, which was part of more than £200,000 the Medway Taskforce, Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott secured to continue Safer Streets work in Medway.
We started our day in the parade, where we walked with our ‘Child-Friendly Medway’ parade flag, directly alongside the Historic Dockyard Chatham and Chatham Town FC. Other parade participants and partners of the event included Medway Rugby Club, Dance Alley, Royal Naval Association, River Medway, Love Chatham, Medway Diversity Forum, University of Kent, bOing!, Nucleus Arts, Medway Pride Radio, Canterbury Christchurch University, Medway Council, Mrs Bakers Medway Theatre Company and the Pentagon Shopping Centre.
In addition to the parade, the CFM team were also busy inside the Pentagon Shopping Centre. Were set-up with our brand new soft play equipment for under 5’s, which includes a variety of building blocks, seesaws, a ball pit, roly-poly and rope climbing net. We were alongside cone-hat making, in recognition of Thomas Waghorn, led by the Pentagon Shopping Centre and the very talented Smuggle Squad, who hosted a pirate themed, interactive, sing-along show.
The carnival was also jam-packed with market stalls, amazing foods from the Chatham Intra Food market and live music, with entertainers such as Simple Cypher, Stopgap Dance and Ockham’s Razor, as well as activities such as a Digital Zone, Youth Market Games area and Silent Disco.
By the end of the day, we were already looking forward to Chatham Carnival 2024!
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For the Love of Reading Community Storytime and Snacks
Next session is Tuesday 12 September, 10:30am-11:30am.
Email childfriendly@medway.gov.uk to book your space.
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Super Saturday is back!
Love Superheroes? Then join us on Saturday 2 September, at Chatham Highstreet and the Pentagon Shopping Centre between 10am and 4pm for your chance to meet superheroes, take photos with famous cars and enjoy free activities!
Keep an eye on Child-Friendly Medway’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more details.
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For the Love of Reading Soft Play and Story Corner
Join us for our free sessions for under 5’s in The Pentagon Shopping Centre (next to Wilko).
Sessions run between 10:00am-11:00am and 11:00am-12:00pm; next session is Wednesday 16 August.
To book, visit The Pentagon Shopping Centre social media.
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Doodle N Draw
Join artist Nick Ashton for a fun and flexible drawing workshop, for 11-18 year olds.
Every Saturday, 2-4pm, at Chatham library, ME4 4TX.
Email childfriendly@medway.gov.uk to book your space.
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