2 July 2021
After an insightful week of Zoom workshops and acts of kindness from our Kindness Ninjas, the weekend festivities were a great way to end the first Kinder Exeter Festival. Saturday was jam-packed with creativity, community, and compassion. We loved it so much, we wanted to share our recap of the day!
The day kicked off in Southernhay Gardens with Playful Yoga with Anouska. We saw a beautiful array of downward facing dogs, tree poses and a relaxing shavasana at the end of the session. This was made all the more entertaining by hilarious live commentary and action from The Commentators.
Following this, the Restless Theatre Company led rock painting and poster making. The event was a huge success with kids and adults alike getting their hands dirty with colourful paints. After a quick rearrange of the tables, we moved onto Origami with Caroline Preston. Everyone loved this intricate craft, and we were able to use the skills the following day when we released our origami kindness into the river Exe.
Once everyone made the transition from Southernhay Gardens to Cathedral Green, our Kindness Ninjas held a Kindness Quiz followed by a collaborative poster making session to make our own Kindness Ninjas! Head over to our gallery to see the results.
Whilst the Lord Mayor, Trish, unfortunately could not make the event in person, we had her on the phone and the wonderful Tobi relaying her words via loudspeaker in a regal red cloak. She reiterated the sentiment of the Kinder Exeter festival, stating that “when we are kinder to ourselves, we reach out and spread kindness to others”. These poignant words set us up nicely for our final event of the day, Taiko drumming!
Hailing from Newton Abbot, the Taiko drummers gripped everyone’s attention with their heart pounding drumbeats. Expertly choreographed, the music encouraged people to get up and dance. The audience loved it so much there were chants for an encore, to which the drummers happily obliged. We were treated to another mesmerising display of this Japanese drumming ensemble.
Saturday was a fantastic day filled with creativity and kindness, and we cannot wait for next year’s festival.
Check out our Instagram @kinderexeter to see more content from the weekend and special interviews with some of our event leaders!
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