RESIDENTS in Sauchie came out in force at the weekend to help promote positive wellbeing in the community.

Sauchie Community Group organised its Wellbeing Funday on Saturday, June 11, with a variety of free activities for all to enjoy.

The group's Kate Turner, who ran her first event as the group's president along with the committee, was delighted to see strong support with folks turning out in numbers to see what was on offer.

She told the Advertiser: "We wanted to promote positive wellbeing in the community, especially coming out of the pandemic restrictions, we just wanted an event that was filled with positive activities for a nice day for the family.

"One of our main aims was to make sure it was affordable so each of the activities were completely free so everybody could come out and not worry about how expensive it was going to be."

There was face painting, a silent disco which was a "real hit", a pet zoo with alpacas and more, arts and crafts, a scavenger hunt with three winners receiving vouchers, healthy smoothies and a display by Just Dance.

Live music by Andrew Fowler, Sheila McRobert, Michael Roche and Donald Cowan also entertained folks and the event was supported by the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund.

Kate continued: "It was really busy, we were a bit worried about the weather because it was meant to be really windy but the rain stayed off until we were packing up.

"The feedback we've had so far has been really heart-warming, we have loads of messages and pictures about people being able to bring the whole family and how it was a good day for them to come together.

"It makes you want to do another one sooner."

Traditionally, the community group and charity – based at Sauchie Resource Centre – would be looking at the next event for Christmas but Kate is looking to explore fresh ideas and the group recently put out a survey to see what residents are looking for.

Kate added: "Sauchie's got such a real sense of community and when you do an event like this it really shines through that people just want to be there for each other.

"For such a small charity who operates out of a small building we punch above our weight and it's nice to see that we can put on larger scale events and be successful."

She wanted to thank the volunteers who helped out, Just Dance for putting on a show, funders, and the community for coming out to support the event and the group in its 30th year of operation.