Better Stars Bradford - a project celebration event
17 October 2024
To showcase our project’s achievements since 2015 we hosted ‘Better Stars Bradford’ at Bradford Cathedral on 10 October 2024. Over 160 people attended, including current and past project staff, volunteers and Better Start Bradford staff.
Since the programme began, we have delivered over 22 projects and each project was showcased with a large celebration board showing their background, highlights, impact and quotes from service users.
The celebration boards were presented in an ‘exhibition’ style down the whole central aisle at the cathedral, with videos, and additional materials displayed alongside. The event also had lovely celebratory music and an afternoon tea for guests.
Gill Thornton, Director of Better Start Bradford, and Vicki Smith, Funding Manager from The National Lottery Community Fund, thanked all our projects for the impact they have had in Bradford, on the overall A Better Start Programme and on national early years policy.
Commenting on the event, Gill Thornton, Director of Better Start Bradford, said:
It was quite mind-blowing to see the exhibition showing how many amazing things our projects and Better Start Bradford have done with so many of our parents and children. Feedback from the attendees was massively positive, and they were also awestruck. Congratulations and thank you to everyone who attended and all the team members who worked so hard to get it all together, it was an unqualified success and you should all be very proud.
Vicki Smith, Funding Manager from The National Lottery Community Fund, said:
It was a privilege to attend the Better Stars Bradford event and see and hear about all the achievements of the Better Start Bradford projects. The last 10 years have not been without significant challenges - austerity, COVID, political uncertainty and the cost-of-living crisis, which has impacted the lives of babies and young children in all five of the A Better Start areas and across the UK.
Despite these challenges, Better Start Bradford has shown unwavering ambition for the families of Bradford, displaying such creativity and innovation to reach into communities to offer support and solidarity when it was needed the most.
From a wider perspective, evidence and learning from the ABS programme is already starting to influence national policy and practice. Most recently ABS has been referenced in the 1001 days manifesto for babies. It has also been mentioned in the Government’s Start for Life Guidance and learning from ABS has influenced the development of the Family Hubs and Start For Life programme.
Your work has also played a part in developing our own new strategy. The evidence and learning from all five partnerships fed directly into our Children and Young People mission.
Better Start Bradford is part of the 10-year, £215 million A Better Start (ABS) programme funded by The National Lottery Community Fund. Focusing on early childhood development, there are five ABS partnerships based in Blackpool, Bradford, Lambeth, Nottingham and Southend, all working to give babies and young children the best possible start in life. Working with local parents, all the partnerships have developed and tested ways to improve children’s diet and nutrition, social and emotional development, and speech, language and communication.
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