1 week Ago By [email protected] (Thomas Cooper)
A caring couple are holding a free Easter egg hunt to ensure every family can enjoy the fun of the Spring festivities this year. Charlotte Blunded says she and partner Matthew Roberts ‘know what poverty is like’. The ‘eggstravaganza’ will be taking place on Tuesday, April 15, from 11.
30am until 1.30pm at Stansmore Park in Meir Square. No booking or payment is required - families simply need to ‘come along and have fun’.
Charlotte and Matthew currently live in Longton, but the pair grew up in Meir. They say the financial difficulties they faced growing up have inspired the organisation of this event. The mum-of-one told StokeonTrentLive: “We’re keenly aware of the challenges the area faces.
We also know that lots of people struggle around Easter time - eggs are very expensive nowadays and not everyone can afford them. So we thought it would be nice to give something back. “We’re going to be dotting little plastic Easter eggs around the park.
Inside they’ll have little tickets. Once you’ve found an egg, you can come back to the gazebo and claim your prize, whether it be a Creme Egg, a homemade cake, or whatever else we’ve got on offer. There’s different colours for different prizes.
“I grew up in poverty and there wasn’t really a lot around for kids like me. I’ve got three brothers and my partners got three siblings, so we understand how hard it can be - especially for single parents getting by on a minimum wage. I know I would’ve loved something like this growing up so hopefully a child out there can get something out of it.
” Charlotte - who runs Crumbs Bakery - had initially anticipated a small-scale event. But she says that an overwhelming flood of support soon turned it into something more. The 28-year-old explained: “We started off by going over to have a look at the park.
It was quite rough with glass everywhere, so we realised we’d need some helping tidying up before the hunt begins. That’s when we started getting other volunteers involved. “Councillor Lauren Davidson has been helping with the egg drive, some people at the park have offered to help with the clean up and some local businesses have been donating prizes.
Parker’s Butchers, Balloons Galore and S&A Candles have donated lots of hampers and vouchers. The Deep Pan Man has offered to supply pizzas on the day for the kids to enjoy, which I thought was really lovely. “It’s turned into a proper event really.
We've got over 300 Easter eggs up for grabs now. It’s gotten a lot bigger than what we first imagined. But we think it’s great.
It’s lovely to be able to get out there as a community and provide for kids that are in need. We just want to bring a bit of joy and happiness to everyone during the holidays. Nobody should feel left out.
” The charitable couple are hoping that this community challenge could become the first in a regular series of free family-fun events. Charlotte added: “Hopefully this goes well and we can do more things like it in the future. We’ve thought about hosting some over the summer and some over Christmas.
Mainly those holiday periods where budgets get even tighter for struggling families.”.
