Northstowe’s first Midsummer Festival to benefit from over £7k of Community Activation funding

Northstowe Hub CIO and Northstowe Arts CIC have been awarded over £7,000 to help deliver the inaugural Midsummer Festival in Northstowe, a new town under development north of Cambridge. The free community celebration is set to take place on Saturday 22 June 2024.

Northstowe Hub CIO and Northstowe Arts CIC are the first organisations to be named recipients of the Community Activation Fund, which is designed to support projects that help organisations to promote community cohesion and enhance the vibrancy of life in the emerging town. South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) is administering the fund on behalf of Homes England. The total figure awarded to support the Midsummer Festival was £7,786.

The Midsummer Festival will bring together community groups, organisations, friends, and neighbours from across Northstowe through an uplifting day of activities and entertainment around the Green and the Cabin, Northstowe’s temporary community centre. The day will be a diverse celebration of dance, music, heritage, games, food, and fun, with full details of the programme to be announced in the coming weeks.

Aligned with the ethos of the Community Activation Fund, the Midsummer Festival will help to promote the use of community facilities, improve access to arts and cultural activities in Northstowe, and support the health and wellbeing of residents. The funding will also go some way to supporting the local economy, with services subcontracted to different local businesses to help deliver a safe, inclusive, and engaging event.

South Cambridgeshire District Councillor Bill Handley, said: “This is an excellent first grant to be awarded under the new scheme. The Midsummer Festival on The Green will be a wonderful event for the whole community. With live music and dance, food, games, and so much more – it’ll be a wonderful occasion to again showcase what a brilliant place Northstowe is to live.”

Peter Cope, chair of Northstowe Hub CIO, added: “Bringing people together and cultivating a sense of belonging is really important when it comes to creating new places, and that’s exactly what we’re helping to achieve through the work of Northstowe Arts and Northstowe Hub.

“The Midsummer Festival will bring together many different facets of Northstowe’s diverse, already thriving community in one big celebration. As an emerging new town, Northstowe is still in the early stages of its story – providing residents with a unique opportunity to establish community traditions. Our ambition is to make the Midsummer Festival an annual milestone which evolves with the community that supports it.”

Even though the emerging town is still in its infancy – Northstowe is set to be transformed into a thriving new community of around 25,000 people over the next two decades – a diverse community is already shaping its unique identity. Over 3,000 people currently call Northstowe home, and there are a series of thriving community and faith groups, along with a dedicated Town Council, in place.

The Community Activation Fund application portal is accepting submissions and will continue to be open year-round. More information and full details of the submission criteria can be found at SCDC’s website.