Colin Summer Festival proves to be a great success yet again

The annual community festival featured events for all including a carnival parade, family fun days, art exhibitions, a cultural food day, a family treasure hunt and much more, all organised by the Colin Neighbourhood Partnership (CNP).

The Colin Festival Parade, one of the highlights of the annual festival, made its way towards Colin Neighbourhood Partnership’s grounds for a family fun day which featured bouncy castles, live music, face-painting a climbing wall, games, and free entertainment. At the fun day the Colin’s Got Talent competition got under way with a number of local residents performing in front of a live audience in the grounds of Cloona House. Bobby Lee McIlwaine scooped first prize in the talent contest for her performance of Taylor Swift’s ‘Trouble’. Twin sister Shannon also won second prize for her rendition of ‘Concrete Angel’. Third place went to Emily Rose, aged 11, who sang a song by popstar Adele.

Prizes were also handed out for those who participated in the colourful carnival parade. Saints Youth Club won the ‘Best Dressed’ prize and Colin Youth Development Centre and the Lagmore Youth Project won the ‘Best noisemakers’ category. The prize for ‘Best Float’ went to the Colin Youth Inclusion Project for their Bubble-bot, a large silver robot which spouted real bubbles amongst revellers.

Once again, the Colin Summer Festival held a family treasure hunt in the local forest park. The first team back to base in the quickest time was the Martin family who made it back in record time. Second place went to the O’Neill Family and third place went to the Pollock family.

John Paul Russell, Arts and Cultural Worker at CNP, said, “This year’s Colin Summer Festival was our best yet and we were delighted to see so many people come out and join us at all the activities we organised this year.

“We had two new events this year, a barbecue masterclass and a cultural food day at the Colin Allotments.

“Both these events showed us just how enthusiastic the Colin community are about their food and everyone took delight in the local produce on offer and how to cook them.

“The Colin Summer Festival is massively important for the area; it’s something that everyone looks forward to and it really brings the community together.

“I would like to thank everyone who got involved and helped make it a great community event.”