Welcome to the Advent Calendar, this is day 2, and we’re jumping straight back into JSH as they kicked off the winter festivities in Harehills with their pre-Winter Welcome!
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Until Day 4, this is the newest event covered in the advent calendar, as it happened just last Saturday!
Featuring stalls of local sellers, information, a bouncy castle (no, really, in the middle of the street), play activities and much more. Oh, and of course, a barbecue!
The event was held on Ashton Road, again, no, really. As part of the Play Streets scheme, a section of Ashton Road by the Junior Sports hub was closed off and out came the tables filled with wares and food, Channel 4 had some representatives there, and Leeds Youth Services with their Mobile Youth Van.
Channel 4 and Duck Soup Films were there to talk to people in the area about their upcoming 8 30-minute episode series called Dance School (current working title), which is set here in Leeds, and features people of Leeds, along with 10 paid industry training placements, for Leeds based people, (no experience needed, it’s a foot in the door to a potential new career). If you, or someone you know, would like to break into the broadcast industry, this is an excellent opportunity to watch out for.
Leeds Youth Service (part of Leeds City Council) provided very popular entertainment in decorating t-shirts and tote bags. It seemed so quiet at first, but suddenly everyone seemed to know about it and crowded outside the van decorating t-shirts. Leeds Youth Service does fantastic work in the area through their Mobile Youth Van and working with various organisations and locations, including over the Halloween and Bonfire period.
Things picked up after lunch, with lots of people coming to check out stalls, play Giant Jenga, and take swings at the punching game – I’m not sure what attracted people to come in drives. Maybe it was the bouncy castle coming out:
Maybe it was the bubble machine that filled the sky with kid-delighting bubbles:
Or maybe it was the ever popular barbecue, and I’m not saying people were eager for burgers, but I heard one young person saying, “I’ve been waiting for five hours!”:
The BDB Harehills Banner became an impromptu photo studio, and when Richard Burgon (our MP) came along, it was time for a group photo:
I even managed to capture Adam himself showing off this fantastic banner:
It was an amazing day, it’s always great to see the people of Harehills come together and have fun, and I really hope the Winter Market becomes an annual tradition that we can enjoy again and again.
Here’s a slideshow from the day to cap things off
Harehills ❤️ Love 
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