Wellspring West Sussex

04/05/2026

Our first Wheely Wonders Family Day of 2026 was held at Applefield on Sunday 12th April and it was wonderful to welcome back 14 children with their parents. Luckily it was a lovely bright day – a big change after all the mud and rain through the winter!

Everyone loved seeing the animals again – the donkeys and goats were very happy too! Bedroom Slippers and Rosie the chickens were pleased to come out as well!

At Woodland Wonders Forest School with Jen and Sam, activities included making necklaces with Elder wood and creating pictures by bashing leaves as well as the challenge of building a bridge! Around the fire circle, families tried their fire lighting skills and enjoyed toasting marshmallows before lunch.

Lizzie's Craft Club was a spring themed afternoon, using magazine pictures to decorate card flower shapes as well as garden themed sun catchers. Lots of the adults got deeply engrossed in the crafts too while their children happily played on the field.

Chris brought his car full of all his amazing Freedom Through Fun circus skills, musical instruments, puppets, big bubbles and stomp rockets. We decided to put on a very special show – each child was able to come up and do their “act” with Oliver acting as a fabulous compere! We ended the afternoon with some parachute games and a group photo.

Thank you to all our fantastic volunteers – we couldn’t do without you all. Wheely Wonders days are still being made possible thanks to players and we hung our bunting and waved our flags to say THANK YOU!

22/12/2025

Read about Chris North's Freedom Through Fun workshops here:
http://www.wellspringwestsussex.org.uk/freedom-through-fun-2025.html

and Adam's Music Workshops here:
http://www.wellspringwestsussex.org.uk/adam.html

22/12/2025

Read about Lizzie's Holidays here: http://www.wellspringwestsussex.org.uk/lizzies-holidays.html

Find out about Wheely Wonders days in 2025 here:
http://www.wellspringwestsussex.org.uk/wheely-wonders-2025.html

While I have been working on this edition of the newsletter, it has been fun reminiscing about our family holidays and thinking, “how did we do that?!” When I was 3 we travelled with one of...

22/12/2025

The latest Wellspring newsletter - Big, Wide World! is now available to view/download from our website.

http://www.wellspringwestsussex.org.uk/newsletter.html

27/11/2025

Essential Toiletries Kits are available for families with children and those with disabilities from libraries across West Sussex.

12/11/2025

We held our Wheely Wonders Fireworks Day on Sunday 2nd November and it was a full one with 12 new children – 18 in total attending! We had beautiful blue sky all day even though there had been a lot of rain overnight!

Everyone had a great time with a farm animals then headed to the woodland with Jen and Sam for Woodland Wonders Forest School where there was lots of whittling and sawing to make sailing boats. Fire lighting skills were tested too!

Once again, the glasshouse was busy for Lizzie's Craft Club with everyone decorating card stars and circles as firework decorations, as well as some children doing scratch art masks. Biscuit was so happy to watch the children and even got to model one of the decorations!

Chris North 'Freedom Through Fun' brought musical instruments, big bubbles and stomp rockets which were a huge hit with all ages. We ended the year with a magic show and all children got the opportunity to be assistants while all the adults were a supportive audience!

A massive THANK YOU to everyone who has been a part of Wheely Wonders in 2025! It has been wonderful meeting so many new families and seeing children growing in height and confidence. We are so lucky to have wonderful volunteers too!

Wheely Wonders days have been made possible thanks to players and we hung our bunting in appreciation!

12/11/2025

On Sunday 12th October we 17 children and 2 babies came to Applefield for our Wheely Wonders Spooky themed Family Day. For three families it was their first visit.

The day started as usual with Rosemary and Angela the donkeys greeting everyone and having carrots while the goats enjoyed their leaves.

Woodland Wonders Forest School activities included making webs with sticks and wool and conker spiders with pipe cleaner legs! The children also sawed wood to make medals and Charlie created dumbbells with sticks and apples! Bug hunting, fire lighting and toasting marshmallows were all lots of fun too!

At Lizzie's Craft Club in the glasshouse, we “dressed up” superhero shapes with Halloween costumes using glittery paper and foam with lots of spooky stickers. Other decorations and pictures were made too.

Back outside in the sunshine Chris North 'Freedom Through Fun' had brought a wide range of activities and we ended the day having lots of fun with parachute games and Lizzie’s Spooky Dip box with exciting prizes for everyone!

Thank you to all the brilliant volunteers for the day and to all the families who joined us; we loved having you. This year Wheely Wonders days are made possible thanks to players and we hung our bunting to say THANK YOU!

08/11/2025

FLASHBACK to Sunday 17th August when we welcomed 15 children (which included 6 new members) to Applefield for our summer holidays Wheely Wonders Family Day.
Everyone loved meeting the animals – the donkeys got excited about apples, the goats were hungry for branches; and Bedroom Slippers and Rosie the chickens had lots of cuddles too!
At Woodland Wonders Forest School children got creative with woodcrafts and especially enjoyed bug hunting and relaxing in the hammock and on the swing.
Over at the fire circle, families enjoyed fire lighting and the all-important toasted marshmallows before lunch.
Lizzie's Craft Club was so busy with children and parents using pipe cleaners to create flowers, plants and other amazing inventions in mini terracotta pots. Suncatchers were also popular too!
We finished the afternoon with lots of fun with Chris North 'Freedom Through Fun''s magic show, circus skills, big bubbles, stomp rockets and parachute games.
Thank you to all our fantastic volunteers and families who joined us; we loved seeing you. We were sorry our September event was cancelled due to the unpredictable weather but look out for updates from our autumn dates!
This year Wheely Wonders days are made possible thanks to players and we waved our flags to say THANK YOU!

09/10/2025

We have some spaces available at Sunday's Halloween special Wheely Wonders! 12th October 10.00am - 3.00pm.
Lots of fun to be had, meeting and feeding the Applefield animals, Woodland Wonders Forest School, Lizzie's Craft Club and Chris North 'Freedom Through Fun'
Please use the link for booking children's tickets and more information.
Hope to see you soon!

Join us for our October Halloween special Wheely Wonders family day!

01/09/2025

Please join us for our next Wheely Wonders Family Day on Sunday 14th September 10.00am - 3.00pm.
Lots of fun to be had, meeting and feeding the Applefield animals, Woodland Wonders Forest School, Lizzie's Craft Club and Chris North 'Freedom Through Fun'.
Please use the link for booking children's tickets and more information.
Hope to see you soon!

Join us for our September Wheely Wonders family day!

16/08/2025

On Sunday 13th July it was great to welcome 11 children to Wheely Wonders. One family hadn’t been for a few years and for another, it was their first time. Old friends were reunited and new ones were made.
There was lots of fun in the morning with Richard and Sam at Woodland Wonders Forest School and children enjoyed the hammock and bug hunting as well as woodcrafts.
After lunch at Lizzie's Craft Club we created our own drums, shakers and other instruments using old cocoa tins, decorating them with coloured paper, pens and stickers.
A very special event was drumming with Adam Gellibrand – it was wonderful to see all the children being able to participate and overcome worries about the noise level.
The day rounded up with a tug of war initiated by the children and feeding the lambs their bottles!
A huge THANK YOU to our brilliant volunteers and to everyone who came. Looking forward to seeing more families tomorrow!
This year Wheely Wonders days are made possible thanks to players and we waved our flags to say THANK YOU!