Springtime Shenanigans 2026
As we move into summertime, it’s time for another seasonal round-up. So what have we been up to this spring?
Towards the end of March, we marked Neurodiversity Celebration Week and World Puppetry Day (21 March) when we shared a video of our efforts at Buxton Carnival last year, parading a gigante Billerette. Buxton Drama League also marked the day by sharing photos of our projects with them.
Our High Peak Youth Robotics group headed off to Sheffield on 25 March for their FIRST Tech Challenge regional competition. Both of our teams performed admirably and there were successes and small wins throughout the day. Our senior team, Peak Bots, were part of the winning alliance on the day and, despite a smaller team allocation from our region, they still qualified for the national finals – that’s two years in a row! Read our review of the day on our blog post here. The team travelled to London in April to compete in the UK championships, amazingly finishing in the top 20! A huge improvement on last year’s result and a great achievement considering the restricted amount of time they have to work on the Challenge – just 1.5 hours a week. Our fundraising efforts for next academic year have been successful so we’re delighted to be able to continue this project for another year.
Also in April, we began our promotion for the Buxton Flowerpot Trail, leafleting around the local shops and businesses. The theme this year is ‘Children’s Stories’ inspired by the 100th anniversary of Winnie-the-Pooh. In May, we ran a pick-up-pots stall at the Buxton Spring Fair, Pump Room and Buxton Market, and held a private workshop at the Serpentine Community Garden with their Nature Tots and Home-Ed groups. We’ll be compiling the trail next week so keep an eye on this blog for the map.
Also in May, we marked Mental Health Awareness Week and Creativity & Wellbeing Week, and, at the beginning of June, we marked Volunteers Week, taking the time to thank our team for their many in-kind contributions to the running of Funny Wonders.
Our Season’s Greetings puppets have been booked for the autumn – they’ll be heading off to south Wales in September – and we’ve been in talks with an am-dram group in Cumbria about making puppets for one of their productions!
Our Changing Faces workshops continued throughout the term, with the group working on designing a coat-of-arms to spray paint using stencils, making flowerpot creations for the trail, and painting to music. We were also visited by one of our funders for the term, Mansfield Building Society. Spaces are available if any young person would like to join us – please get in touch.
Finally, on 13 June, we held a making workshop for our Buxton Carnival parade entry, but more on this next time!