Volunteer-run children’s play group in Hampton celebrates 10th anniversary

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Hampton Tiddlers stay-and-play group still going strong a decade after being set up

Peterborough’s first volunteer-run charity playgroup for young children has celebrated its tenth anniversary.

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Deputy Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire Karen Daber and Mayor of Peterborough Councillor Marco Cereste were among those who helped mark the occasion at Hampton Vale Community Centre on July 13.

“We are all very proud to celebrate 10 years of volunteering, and what we have achieved by our amazing past and current volunteers,” said Faustina Yang, community leader for Hampton Tiddlers.

10th anniversary celebrations of the Hampton Tiddlers play group at Hampton Vale Community Centre with Faustina Yang (front row, second from right), Mayor of Peterborough Marco Cereste (back row, with chain) and Deputy Lieutenant, Karen Daber (back row, far right)10th anniversary celebrations of the Hampton Tiddlers play group at Hampton Vale Community Centre with Faustina Yang (front row, second from right), Mayor of Peterborough Marco Cereste (back row, with chain) and Deputy Lieutenant, Karen Daber (back row, far right)
10th anniversary celebrations of the Hampton Tiddlers play group at Hampton Vale Community Centre with Faustina Yang (front row, second from right), Mayor of Peterborough Marco Cereste (back row, with chain) and Deputy Lieutenant, Karen Daber (back row, far right)

The Hampton Tiddlers stay-and-play children’s group was first formed in 2014 when a group of volunteer mums ran its first session at Tesco Community Room at Serpentine Green on July 7.

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Faustina explained how the closure of six children's centres in Peterborough galvanised her and other mums into creating a volunteer-led playgroup for young children:

“We campaigned to save [the] children's centres but due to budget cuts from Central Government they were still closed,” she said.

“We decided to turn something negative to positive [and] got in touch with Peterborough City Council.”

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“The leader of the council and Children's Services department signposted us to Peterborough Council for Voluntary Services (PCVS) to get support to set up our own stay-and-play group.”

It is estimated that Hampton Tiddlers has welcomed more than a thousand families to its group sessions over the last 10 years.

At peak times the group has been helped by as many as 20 volunteers, all of them mums in Peterborough who have had full DBS checks and background residency checks.

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Faustina said she hoped celebrating the Tiddlers’ achievements would help “raise awareness of the needs and support for early years before school age, and support for parents and carers.”

The celebrated community champion also hoped that the occasion would encourage “like-minded people to volunteer with us in the future, to carry on the legacy… [and] to give children a better start in life,”With that in mind, the Tiddlers are actively recruiting new volunteers to be part of the set up for the upcoming term in September. Anyone interested in applying can do so via this link: https://forms.gle/Y3f32YLuR19FHicy7