As the cost of living continues to rise, we all need a little extra help keeping our families entertained this summer.
This page provides information on the top offers and activities running throughout the summer holidays in west Essex. All of the activities listed below are either free of charge, or low cost.
We will continue to update this page as new information comes through, so please visit regularly.
School holiday family activities
West Essex (various locations)
Summer Fun Program – Join us for an action packed three days of fun, challenge, and games. Absolutely free to attend. We have created a three day programme of interaction and challenge.
After the three days, you have the opportunity to complete an optional two day/one night walking expedition, camping in the great outdoors! Taking place on 22nd and 23rd August 2022. This expedition will be recognised as the bronze DofE Award expedition. All of the skills taught during the three days will ensure you are safe and able to complete the expedition element.
Active Essex Holiday Clubs – These Summer clubs are funded by Essex County Council and Department For Education for primary and secondary aged children (5-16 year olds) who are eligible for benefits based free school meals, as well as those from low income working families who would benefit from this support.
Play in the Park – Now the days are getting warmer, why not go outside and enjoy it? We have outdoor fun and games, arts and crafts sorted for everyone and it’s totally FREE!
Many locations throughout Epping, see website for information.
Disc Golf – Disc Golf is a great group activity and is just a stone’s throw from the centre in River Lee Country Park. Pick up your score card for £1 at reception and either bring your own frisbee or purchase discs from us. River Lee Country Park, which is on the centre’s doorstep, is full of fun for the family but this is one of our favourite activities! Make your way around the nine hole course, as you attempt to throw your flying disc into the goal – see if you can make par! See website for information.
Visit Redwings Ada Cole – Redwings Ada Cole is home to 80 horses, ponies and donkeys, including handsome Gelderlander Zippy, cheeky donkey Del Boy, lovely Shetland pony Tinkerbell and rock ‘n’ roll pony Elvis – not forgetting Redwings’ tiniest resident, Teeny Tucker!
Who – All When – Saturday 6 August – Midday to 5pm
Where – The Green, Theydon Bois, CM16 7ES
Cost – Free Who – All When – 2nd July – 10.30am to 4.00pm
Where – Waltham Abbey Fire Station, EN9 1PA
Wildlife Photographer of the Year Fun Day – Join a day of wild activities at this special event! Face painting in the museum garden (£5 for full face or £3.50 for a festival style design, no booking required. Or get crafting and make your own paper wildlife creations £2.40 per drop in session.
Cost – from £2.40 Who – Children all ages welcome When – Saturday 30 July 10am to 3pm
Where – Epping Forest District Museum, 39 Sun Street, Waltham Abbey EN9 1EL
Family Fun Day – Join us for another day of fun with activities in the garden and a puppet show from the wonderful Miraiker’s World of Puppets! All ages welcome. No need to book, just drop in during opening hours. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
Puppet shows take place at 11:30am, 1:00pm and 3:00pm.
Cost – Free Who – All When – Saturday 13 August 10am to 4pm
Where – Epping Forest District Museum, 39 Sun Street, Waltham Abbey EN9 1EL
Family Fun Drop-Ins – Join us at the museum on Tuesdays during Essex school holidays for some family fun. Activities are most suitable for 5 to 11 years old, but all ages are welcome to come along. Cost £2.40 per child. Children must be accompanied by a responsible adult. Activities are available between 10:30am and 3:30pm on the following dates. You only need to allow about 30 minutes to complete the activity. There’s no need to book, just drop in on the day.
Brambles Family Hub – Epping Forest District FaceBook page–
If you live in Epping, North weald, Theydon Bois, Thornwood you are not far from lots of fun activities for children. So come and meet other parents, carers and grandparents. Or for information about local services, childcare, 1 – 1 support and advice, pop in and we will be glad to help.
Where – Ashdon Village Museum, Church Hill, Ashdon, Saffron Walden, Essex, CB10 2HF
Summer Holiday Camp – A number of free places available to families receiving free school meals or low income families receiving working tax credits – to apply for a free place or for information about other places, please contact Neil on:
Cost – Free or £12.50 per day Who – Primary School Age 5 to 12 When – 26 July to 25 August 2022 9.30-15.30 (free early drop off from 8.30am, extended hours to 5.30pm available) Where – Herberts Farm, Saffron Walden
Motor Show – Free admission, but donations welcomed; show is in aid of local charity. Classic, vintage and performance cars, trucks & bikes, military vehicles, live music.
The Flitch Way runs for fifteen miles from Braintree station to Start Hill near Bishops Stortford and is an important greenway and wildlife corridor. For most of the way it provides a safe traffic free environment for walkers, cyclists and horse riders and forms part of National Cycle Network Route 16.
Spangles Family Hub – Uttlesford District FaceBook page–
On behalf of Essex County Council and the NHS, HCRG Care group and Barnardo’s provide a range of child and family services throughout Essex that are free at the point of delivery. Click her for more information.
HARLOW
Pet’s Corner – Pets’ Corner is free to enter but welcomes donations in the box on site. You can feed some of the animals for 50p a bag, available from their Gift shop.
Who– All ages When – April to October 11am to 4.45pm Where – Town Park, Harlow CM20 2QG
Family wellbeing fun in the Park – Everybody welcome. No booking necessary. Children under 14 will need to be accompanied by an adult. Come and sign in at the meeting point in Harlow Town Park near the bandstand. Collect your free handout for the day’s activity. Wander the beautiful town park with your family and friends completing the tasks as you go. Return to the meeting point with the time allocation – prizes available. Trained staff will be at the bandstand to discuss basic mental health topics if needed. For further enquiries please contact mhstharlow@mindinwestessex.org.uk
Cost – Free Who – Suitable for the whole family When – Every Tuesday and Thursday from 28 July to 25 August 2022 Where – Harlow Town Park, Harlow CM20 2QG, near the bandstand
Visit Harlow Museum and Walled Garden – Have fun finding out about Harlow’s past from Romans to the New Town. Younger children can borrow a magnifying glass or binoculars to get up close to the displays and our beautiful Walled Gardens.
Cost – Free Who – All When – Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 9.30am to 3.30pm
Where – Muskham Rd, Harlow CM20 2LF
Gig in the Garden – A rock gig in the Harlow Museum’s Walled Gardens. Celebrating 75 years of music in Harlow. Starting with Harlow Rock School and showcasing a great line up of Harlow based bands through the evening.
Cost – see website for details Who – Teenager and adults When – Saturday 23rd July 2.30pm to 9.30pm
Where – Muskham Rd, Harlow CM20 2LF
Harlow 75 Community Celebration Fete – Come and celebrate 75 years of our great Harlow Community in Harlow Museum’s Walled Gardens. Over 20 community groups will be providing free activities and fun. Refreshments available for a charge. Music provided by Harlow Brass Band, Harlow Steel Band, Harlow Ukelele Group and more.
Cost – Free Who – All When – Sunday 24th July midday to 4pm
Where – Muskham Rd, Harlow CM20 2LF
Free Music based workshops in August – Music based workshops for families. No experience necessary. Watch our social media for topics, times and booking details. Parent / carer must accompany child.
Cost – Free Who – Primary and secondary school aged children When – Every Tuesday throughout August
Where – Muskham Rd, Harlow CM20 2LF
Free craft workshops in August – Music based craft activities in the museum garden. 10am – 12pm and 1pm – 3pm. Watch our social media for further details. Drop in – no booking required. Parent / carer must accompany child.
Cost – Free Who – Primary school aged children When – Every Thursday throughout August
Where – Muskham Rd, Harlow CM20 2LF
Helping your child to be ready for school – Activities are for pre-school age children (starting school September 2022) and their families (younger and older siblings are welcome). All activities are FREE!
Wednesday 17 August- 10am to 10.40am – Online – Dinosaur fun with numbers
Tree House Family Hub – Harlow District FaceBook page–
The Tree House Family Hub offers a range of free services, information & support to children, young people and their families. Click her for more information.
If you are driven by a passion to make a difference, then we want to hear from you. At Community360, we all play our part. We are a large, diverse family with a variety of skills working together to help grow our communities. Whether you have just started out in your career journey or already have experience, we would like to hear from you so we can build on your enthusiasm, strengths and skills.
Our roles are diverse and involve working with families, volunteers, the vulnerable (including those with limited mobility), as well as other positions which support our core work, including Community Development, fundraising, marketing and finance and community transport.
We are a Disability Confident Employer and have made a positive commitment to inclusion and diversity and welcome applications from people with a disability or long-term health condition. Part of our commitment is to offer all disabled candidates an interview who meet the minimum essential criteria for the role as set out on our Person Specifications.
We will ask you to let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments to be made throughout the recruitment process to ensure inclusion and if you would like to discuss the recruitment process in advance, including what reasonable adjustments would be required, you can call Tracy Fortescue, Head of Corporate Services on 01206 505250. If we offer you the position, we are committed to making reasonable adjustments wherever possible to your working environment.
The Weavers’ Company Benevolent Fund was set up in 1973, succeeding an existing charitable fund. We decided that the Fund’s principal aim should be to support people in trouble, particularly young offenders and ex-offenders, as well as other disadvantaged young people. Preference is given to pump-priming new projects, especially those that are innovative and can serve as a model elsewhere.
Projects which fulfil the funding criteria are short-listed, then visited by a member of the Company. These assessment visits give our younger members in particular an opportunity to become closely involved in the charitable work of the Company, which may lead to a mutually beneficial relationship with its beneficiaries.
These assessments inform the Charitable Grants Committee, helping it decide on the grants to be awarded and the amount allocated. The Committee meets three times a year.
The Company’s Priorities:
Young Offenders
The Company looks to support projects that involve the rehabilitation of young offenders, so that these young people can lead productive and fulfilling lives once released from detention.
Ex Offenders
Despite a focus on the rehabilitation of young offenders, the Company also supports projects that help ex-offenders of all ages.
Disadvantaged young people
The Company realises that it is as important to prevent young people offending in the first place. It therefore supports projects that help young people make better life choices and fulfil their potential.
Sometimes it only takes a small amount of money to bring a good idea to life in your community.
The Community Challenge Fund is the simplest way to access money to make a real difference in your community.
You can bid for between £300 and £2,000 to fund a new, not for profit scheme, group, initiative or idea. This fund is available in Clacton, Harwich, Canvey, Harlow, Rural Braintree and parts of Colchester and Basildon.
You can only apply if you are :-
Applying as an individual
Applying as a group (The applicant and other individuals they are working with)
An un-constituted group (small scale voluntary groups who do not have any employees and who do not pay trustees or staff)
Perhaps you have been sitting on an idea for a while of how you can enhance your community and it has just lacked the necessary funding to get it started. If so, then this fund is for you. You may want to set up a food growing initiative in your local community to create a garden and social space, or perhaps you want to create an informal childcare club of likeminded parents in your local library.
This new fund is simple to apply for, so don’t worry if you have never applied for funding from a Council before.
The Community Challenge Fund forms part of Essex County Council’s commitment to reducing inequalities between different areas of our County, and Levelling Up Essex.
Examples of how the grant could be used include:
• training and equipment to share skills and create training opportunities,
• printing for a local event or newsletter,
• hosting and promoting an online magazine for young people,
• setting up a local community seed exchange,
• providing taxi or licensed hire vehicles to bring isolated residents together,
• setting up a clothes swap in a community hall.
For further information on the Community Challenge Fund and to make an application, please click the link below:
Are you a creative and pro-active individual? Do you have the skills and experience to deliver a health inequality project in Harlow and Epping Forest? If so, we would love to hear from you!
At Rainbow Services, a charity based in Harlow, we are looking for a highly motivated individual to work in partnership with the local Integrated Care Service, to deliver a project which enables volunteer Community Health Champions to tackle key health issues in their community and reduce health inequality.
You will need to have a flexible approach to working hours, be able and willing to work occasional evenings/weekends and have the ability to travel within West Essex, and occasionally further afield.
This is a 2-year fixed term position, 14 hours per week, flexible days and hours, with a salary of £12.70 per hour.
The Community Initiatives Fund is designed to help parish & town councils, community groups, clubs, societies and voluntary organisations improve their local community.
The £300,000 fund is for grants of up to £10,000 towards capital or revenue projects that benefit the wider community.
This fund excludes projects that deliver their work outside the administrative area of Essex County Council (Thurrock and Southend). The Community Initiatives Fund is administered by the EALC on behalf of Essex County Council.
Projects should have community backing and demonstrate a real community need. For instance, they could be to:
Create, buy or develop new community assets. Examples include community centres, shops, wildlife/ nature reserves or disability facilities.
Enhance existing community assets such as sports venues and clubs, youth clubs, scout groups, playgrounds, village hall improvements, local transport facilities or improved communication services.
Enhance or develop initiatives that strengthen the local community, such as cultural initiatives, gardening, clubs, age & wellbeing services, advice/ support services, parental & educational activities, environmental improvements, music and literature events or heritage projects.
When talking about the Community Initiative Fund, Chairman of the EALC Executive Committee, Cllr Peter Davey said:
“The Essex Association of Local Councils is proud to have been asked to administer the grant scheme on behalf of Essex County Council. The Community Initiatives Fund provides vital funding for deserving organisations and their community projects, well-being initiatives and other important improvement schemes. The EALC has well-established links to many Essex organisations and is ideally positioned to triage applications, address the financial standing of applicants, create and administer the CIF funding panel and ensure funds are released in a timely manner to successful applicants. As Chairman of the CIF funding panel, I am honoured to be part of this important initiative.”
Meanwhile, Cllr Louise McKinlay, Deputy Leader of Essex County Council and cabinet member for Equality, Partnerships and Performance said:
“Essex County Council is pleased to support the Essex Community Initiatives Fund, as it aligns with our levelling-up priorities and plans… local groups and voluntary organisations are well placed to understand the needs and opportunities of their areas. So I would urge people to come forward to apply for funding for projects to boost and support their local community.”
How to apply?
Please read through the guidance notes carefully for the scheme’s eligibility and criteria details.
Email a completed application form to funding@ealc.gov.uk by Friday 19th August.
The panel will then review and decide upon your project based on the information given in your application form (in October).
You will then be informed whether your application for funding has been successful or not. Not all applications are successful as the scheme is often heavily oversubscribed and sometimes, you may be given less funding than you applied for, or directed to alternative funding sources.
If you have any questions regarding this fund or would like to be added to the distribution list, then please contact our funding team on 01371 879722 or email them at funding@ealc.gov.uk. If you would like to find out further details from Essex County Council, please click here .
The Essex Association wish to formally thank Essex County Council for the support provided to the EALC, Parish & Town Councils, villages and communities across Essex.
This is a Fixed Term Position to start 25 th July 2022 for 6-9 months (maternity cover) We are looking to recruit a Social Prescribing Link Worker to join our friendly, dynamic and progressive primary care network in South Uttlesford.
About South Uttlesford PCN
South Uttlesford PCN comprises 5 General Practices working in conjunction with local health and
social care organisations to improve the health and wellbeing of the local population.
South Uttlesford is a lovely place to live and work with good working relationships forged between
practices over many years. There is a real sense of enthusiasm to improve health and social care
locally.
The Role
Social prescribing empowers people to take control of their health and wellbeing through referral to
non-medical ‘link workers’ who give time, focus on ‘what matters to me’ and take a holistic
approach, connecting people to community groups and statutory services for practical and
emotional support.
Link workers support existing groups to be accessible and sustainable and help people to start new
community groups, working collaboratively with all local partners.
Social prescribing can help to strengthen community resilience and personal resilience, and reduces
health inequalities by addressing the wider determinants of health, such as debt, poor housing and
physical inactivity, by increasing people’s active involvement with their local communities. It
particularly works for people with long-term conditions (including support for mental health), for
people who are lonely or isolated, or have complex social needs which affect their wellbeing.
The Job Description and Person Specification provide outlines of the responsibilities and
requirements for this role.
What we offer
NHS Pension (employer is Uttlesford Health – GP provider company for Uttlesford)
Generous annual leave
Flexible working
Excellent transport links
Supportive working environment in General Practice
How to Apply
To apply, please complete your application and CV either through NHS Jobs or by directly sending
your CV and covering letter to susan.wray1@nhs.net.
If this role appeals and you have the qualities we are looking for, we look forward to hearing from
you. If you would like an informal discussion regarding this role, please contact Sue Wray, Uttlesford
Health (susan.wray1@nhs.net).
The Essex Coronavirus Action Support Facebook Community was set up during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was a collaboration between Essex County Council (ECC) and the Essex Public Health Team as well as local Facebook admins. It focuses on three objectives: preventing the spread of infection, informing Essex residents of guidance and assisting residents who may be vulnerable.
The National Institute for Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) funded PHIRST South Bank Centre co-produced an evaluation of the project with local stakeholders. The evaluation sought to understand the following questions:
How effective is a digital community development approach during a pandemic?
Was the ECAS digital community development approach successful in achieving improved health literacy, protective health actions and community connectedness and mutual aid?
Was the ECAS digital community development approach successful in achieving whole system change for the public health function?
What factors were important in contributing to the outcomes?
This event will be an opportunity to talk to those involved in setting up this initiative, hear the findings of the evaluation, discuss what lessons can be learnt and how these can be used to plan future work with digital communities in Essex.
If you wish to bid for local authority contracts, you can expect tenders to include questions about social value: how the way you deliver the contract impacts or benefits local jobs, businesses, communities and the environment.
Essex County Council’s second, social value festival is a free, 4-day learning event for any organisation that wants to learn about social value, bid for ECC contracts or benefit from the social value offers that suppliers make to our local communities.
Join us this summer, book your place here. All the sessions will run online, free of charge.
This year’s event is packed full of practical advice on how to approach social value and climate matters and will provide many examples that you can adopt or use to inspire your own ideas. It is suitable for organisations of any size and type and you will have the opportunity to speak to our experts about social value and climate.
Schools, colleges, universities, SMEs and charities too can find out what ECC’s suppliers are committing and how to access their offers such as careers advice, business advice and staff volunteering time.
Healthwatch Essex was created as a result of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, and the Government’s aim of ‘putting patients and the public first’ through strengthening their collective voice. A national network of local Healthwatch organisations, and a national umbrella organisation, Healthwatch England were created. The purpose is to be ‘an independent voice for the people of Essex, helping to shape and improve local health and social care services’. Our success depends on building constructive partnerships with the NHS, local councils, and voluntary and community organisations.
The staff team and our network of volunteers and Ambassadors undertake work that includes engaging the public in innovative and effective ways. We produce films, podcasts and engagement projects as well as carrying out high-quality social research and sharing our reports. We provide a telephone- and web-based Information Service to help the public access and understand the NHS and social care services. We anticipate that our work will continue to grow and diversify following the pandemic, as the needs of the people of Essex change and commissioners seek our knowledge and expertise to provide the best most widely accessible care and support.
Trustee opportunity – Healthwatch Essex is governed by a Board of Trustees with a diverse range of skills and experience. We would like to add an additional Trustee with finance and accounting qualifications and experience to the Board. If you have these skills, can offer clear oversight and direction as a Board member and are interested in the work of Healthwatch Essex we would like to hear from you.