THE annual fun day on Dilton Marsh Playing Fields and proved a huge success. Celebrating its fifth year, the excitable atmosphere of the fun day could be felt across with over 100 children in attendance.

Visitors were greeted with refreshments, a raffle, and entertainment, including a bouncy castle, face painting, and snakes and ladders mats. But what stood out was the “play becomes educational” theme of the stalls.

One stall that proved very popular was run by Selwood Housing Association. Children played a recycling game called What goes Where? to win a go at the lucky dip. The Association’s representatives, Ged Cassell and Sophie Hanley, provided a positive message for the children about recycling in the area.

“Our aim was to educate the children whilst making it fun. We wanted to make an impact on the community by raising awareness for recycling around us,” said Sophie.

Ged added: “We want to teach the children to be proud of the place they live, as when people are proud, they want to keep the area clean. It is great for us as a housing association to be part of something like this.”

The Wiltshire Family History Society also had a stall which educated children about their heritage.

Viv Wheeler, the representative of the Westbury Area branch, said: “We wanted to raise awareness for our ancestry with the younger children and encouraged them to make their own family trees.”

The fun day, held on Wednesday (Aug 23) is a multi-church event organised by all the churches in the area as a non-profit, fun-filled day for all the family.

Rev Graham Warmington, one of the event co-ordinators, said: “The churches are the backbone of the fun day. Our aim was to get people together in what we see as a community event.”