POPCAN, the Penleigh and Oldfield Community Action Network, will no longer be operating due to a lack of volunteers.
Throughout the years the community group has held a number of well-loved and popular pop-up fun day events for children in the Penleigh and Oldfield area – a location in Westbury that has a high level of social housing.
POPCAN has held a special place in the hearts of many parents as well as their children through project such as making sure everyone had school uniform, with the ‘Uniform Hand It On’ scheme, as well as securing funding for a new safe resurfaced path through the park.
One of the group’s organisers, Jane Russ, says, “Started in early 2018 by Scott Jacobs-Lang of Sovereign Housing and myself, POPCAN was formed originally to try and improve things for the community living in the Penleigh and Oldfield park area of the town. Following dedicated work from Jacobs-Lang and his team the management of the Penleigh Estate started to improve and residents of the area began attending regular meetings which myself as one of the town councillors for the region.
“Over the next four years (allowing for Covid) there were annual free fun days, five free summer holiday dodgeball sessions each year and most popular, Skate Park days with games, music and demos on the skate ramps. The POPCAN team worked hard and played hard to make people aware of the wonderful asset that Penleigh park is to the area and with the support of Sovereign and Westbury Town Council they were a great success.
“However, it was always the same small band of people doing the work and when Scott left Sovereign, the reins were taken up by cllr Sheila Kimmins to chair the group. It had always been the intention that POP-CAN should be run by the residents of the area not the town council. Over the past two years the word was put out for more volunteers but there was no response and so sadly after four very good years POPCAN has been disbanded.”
Sheila Kimmins, who was appointed chair of the group in November 2020, has requested that POPCAN’s £1,000 grant from the town council should now be used to enable two more skateboard events to take place during next year’s school holidays.
