Brightlingsea WinterFest’s success this year means that people in the town will benefit from the festival’s Wellbeing Fund, which now has just over £11,000 available for grant giving.
More than 40 events were held throughout February and into early March by WinterFest, which ran in association with Brightlingsea Literary Festival, helping to banish the winter blues and raise community spirit.
WinterFest co-founder Dave Griffiths said: “We had an incredible programme of events for the special 10th anniversary WinterFest and had a great response from people in Brightlingsea.
“As always, our crew of dedicated volunteers pulled together to create a huge range of music, arts, spoken word and wellbeing activities. We are very proud of the fact that the majority of our events are free and accessible. Thanks to donations and some profits from our events a grand total of £7,381 was raised this year.
“This has given a boost to the Brightlingsea WinterFest Wellbeing Fund, which now has £11,154 available to respond to requests for equipment and activities to help local people with their mental, physical and social wellbeing. We keep the fund open all year round, so WinterFest will continue to make a positive impact, even though our 2025 programme of events has finished.
“WinterFest will also give a donation of £1,239 to the mental health charity, Mid and North East Essex Mind.”
Alix Sheppard, who co-founded Brightlingsea WinterFest with Dave Griffiths said: “When we started WinterFest 10 years ago we never imagined it would be so successful, or have such far reaching positive effects. It is truly humbling how many people contribute so much to help their local community and we are proud to be able to help people through the Wellbeing Fund and Mind donations. We want to give a massive thank you to local people for all their support, we really are so lucky to have such an amazing community.”
People of all ages in Brightlingsea can apply to the WinterFest Wellbeing Fund online by going to brightlingseawinterfest.co.uk/winterfest-wellbeing-fund.
