Santa Claus made an early appearance at the Girdwood Community Hub last week, thanks to the arrival of our much-anticipated Winter Wonderland event.

For the first time since 2019, we were able to stage our annual service user Christmas party and what fun it was. With people coming from services across Ireland, we were delighted to put on a great day of games and festive craic.

With DJ Mark Carey providing the soundtrack, Inspire staff and the people who use our services gathered for the celebrations, all while reflecting on a busy few years. Alongside the main events of catching up and enjoying the tasty spread put on by Nifty Nosh, the revellers hooked ducks, bowled bocce, tossed beanbags and engaged in several rounds of very competitive bingo.

In recent weeks, various Inspire services have been preparing a collection of beautiful Christmas wreaths. These were on full display at Girdwood, with partygoers having the chance to vote for their favourites. In the end, the residents from our Jean Todd Close intellectual disability service in Antrim emerged victorious. As well as this, attendees had the chance to do some Christmas shopping, courtesy of the Woodlands community wellbeing service in Cookstown and its collection of jolly yuletide crafts.

We were really grateful to see so many of our colleagues lending a hand. But we want to take this opportunity to give a BIG thank you to our fantastic charity partners, BCM Global, who also pitched in, helping bring the Christmas cheer to the event.

Check out our photo gallery, along with a very merry video diary of the day, below. Enjoy.

X