Welcome to the Cirque du Celebration Day Blog Takeover!
Hollybank Trust is always going above and beyond to create special experiences for the adults, children and young people who they support, and one of these special experiences is the themed summer Celebration Day that takes place every year. This year, our theme for Celebration Day was the circus, and with that, Hollybank turned into a sparkling and magical big top for the day; Cirque du Hollybank, the greatest show on earth!
In this blog, we want to bring your attention to the power of trying new skills and having new exciting experiences, just like some of our Hollybank team members and adults, children and young people did at Cirque du Hollybank this year! Members of the Hollybank team tried out some carnival classic skills like plate spinning, ribbon dancing and juggling, and the people who we support at Hollybank tried out the sensory story stand activity and the selfie booth activity, as well as performing a play and cheering on our circus performer, Big Top Ben!
For the team at Hollybank, the adults, children and young people, and their family members, this day was all about having fun, being playful, embracing silliness, and for some, even igniting their inner performer!
We want to thank the Leeds-based Abbey Runners club for helping to fund Cirque du Hollybank this year through a generous donation they made to us all here at the Trust, a donation made in recognition and appreciation of the special work that takes place here.
We also want to thank Mr Paul Lawrence, Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, and Anna O’Mahony, CEO of Hollybank Trust, who welcomed us to the event. During the Deputy Lieutenant’s introduction to the event, he commended Hollybank Trust for the outstanding level of care that we provide to our adults, young people and children with profound and multiple complex needs and disabilities, and he encouraged everyone to have lots of fun together and spend time getting to know people from different homes and teams!
Read on to find out more about the showstopping performances that took to the Celebration Day stage this year…
Roe Head Gardens transformed into Hollybank Hippodrome Gardens for the day, with a line-up of circus acts leaving lots of keen spectators completely mesmerised!
One of the main stars of the show of the day was Big Top Ben, a travelling circus performer with the technique, technical ability and charisma to draw crowd after crowd this Celebration Day. From a giant Big Top Ben on stilts to a daring fire-breathing artist, from a hula-hoop superstar to a master at plate spinning, everyone loved watching this multitalented member of a circus troupe perform during his visit our very own Cirque du Hollybank!
Other stars of the show who were not to be missed were the cast of the ELMS annual Celebration Day performance!
In preparation for their show this year, the adults from ELMS got together around the arts and crafts table, using sustainable materials like cardboard from boxes that were no longer needed to create their very own circus train! They told a heart-warming story of the circus train from the Disney film, Dumbo, on its journey to the big top, with the adults showcasing props including different parts of a circus train, vibrant magenta-pink elephants and other wonderful rainbow colours of the circus. The ELMS team and adults from ELMS chose this story together, and one of the adults who is a major Disney fan herself, narrated the show, helping to keep everyone enticed with the performance.
Sam Hoult, Activity Coordinator from ELMS, said: “We wanted to make sure that everyone had a role to play in the show, and the adults chose which props they wanted to work on, and the colours that they wanted to use to create these props, ahead of their performance.”
For those who wanted to sing along to some golden oldie songs, without being in the spotlight on stage, the Speech and Language Therapy Team, dressed as mime artists and ringmasters, performed a Makaton version of circus-themed songs including songs from the famous musical, The Greatest Showman. During their performance on Celebration Day, the audience got on board with their show by singing and signing along to some spectacular ballads!
Performing songs from musicals like The Greatest Showman helped to build a cohesive world, atmosphere and experience for all the adults, children and young people and guests in the audience on the day, immersing them in the topsy-turvy Cirque du Hollybank universe this summer.
New to Celebration Day this year was the sensory story stand, featuring a story, with accessible interactive activities, written and designed by our Communications Officer, Ivy Hazelwood. Ivy writes fairytale retellings in her spare time, and she decided to create one exclusive to Hollybank for our adults, children and young people this Celebration Day. The story followed a little gingerbread girl, Floot, who swapped the bakery for the circus, with the story describing her journey to the circus, the circus acts that Floot saw, and the moment that she decided not to return home to the bakery! The adults, children and young people were introduced to Floot ahead of the day, and some of the homes did some activities to introduce this character of the story.
At the sensory story stand on Celebration Day, some members of the Hollybank team, including Ivy and members of the Speech and Language Therapy Team, became circus storytellers for the day, adapting the story to suit the needs of individuals with different needs who approached the stand.
Some children wanted to read the story themselves, following the prompts with the storyteller to get involved with the interactive activities, and other children wanted the storyteller to read to them.
Making the clown fall into the paddling pool was one of the interactive activities that was a hit with the children and young people, with children competing to make the biggest SPLASH possible!
Both our staff and the adults, children and young people who we support were able to get creative with some face painting and many were dressed for the occasion in their clown onesies and circus tutus.
We had many different flavours of clown show up at the circus, from polka dot clowns wearing giant shoes, to horror-themed clowns! We also had a strongman, circus roadies, a jester, mime artists, ringmasters and colourful outfits all round!
We even had people who ‘rolled up, rolled up’ at Cirque du Hollybank as a pair, with one whimsical pair dressing up as a ketchup bottle, a mustard bottle and a hot dog from a circus hot dog stand; see them below taking part in our selfie booth activity on the day.
And speaking of refreshments, every guest got a free picnic, drink and ice cream each to enjoy on Celebration Day too!
The frolicsome afternoon continued into the evening, with staff, supported by Big Top Ben, still practising circus skills like juggling, the diablo and plate spinning on Roe Head Gardens.
