In the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, support from North Meets South Big Local has enabled volunteers Aisha and Annette to turn their vision for a children’s Messy Play project into reality.
Aisha Meah couldn’t have picked a worse time to move to Marks Gate.
“It was during COVID-19. I didn’t know anybody, my kids didn’t know anybody, and obviously it was difficult to meet people or make new friends,” she recalls.
“Honestly, I hated it and I wanted to move back home.”
‘Home’ to Aisha back then was Birmingham. Going to Marks Gate, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, was all the more challenging given she was the mother of four (now five) children, three of whom have additional needs. Plus, she also works as a nurse.
The moment that changed everything for her – and would have a ripple effect among parents and young children across this community – came in October 2021.
She was trying to find kids’ activities in the area and was recommended to go and see Catherine Dainuke, the community coordinator for North Meets South Big Local.
They first met at a Halloween arts and crafts session that had been put on by North Meets South. Aisha recalls, “I went home, thinking ‘something is missing here’. Then it came to me. What we needed was a mess!”
To be clear, what she had in mind was somewhere any kid could turn up, make a huge mess for an hour and do things they couldn’t do at home. They could use food colouring, pipettes, cornflour, spaghetti, edible paint, whatever. And while it would be open to all, it could be especially beneficial to kids with additional or special educational needs, along with their parents.
“My children love sensory play,” Aisha explains. “It’s okay having a sensory room but it means they can’t create, can’t play with or manipulate things in whichever way they want to.”
It was also at the Halloween event that Aisha first met Annette Jones, who has lived in Marks Gate for nine years. During this time, activity groups for kids had disappeared, through a combination of COVID-19 and cuts to local services.
Aisha and Annette hit it off immediately. Annette is a mother of two, has one child with additional needs and, like Aisha, is SEN-trained.
They approached Catherine, who advised them to put together a business plan for their new venture, which would be called Messy Play. Then North Meets South provided them with enough funding to keep the project going for two years.
Their shared belief that this was addressing an urgent need within the community was vindicated when 62 kids and their parents turned up for the first session.
Crucially, Catherine also wanted Messy Play to outlive North Meets South, which will complete spending its Big Local funding this summer.
“She kept drilling into us ‘become a CIC [Community Interest Company], become a CIC, become a CIC’,” Aisha recalls. “At first I thought she was being a bit full on and I was saying ‘Well, why is this important?’ She said, ‘Because you become your own entity, you can get your own funding.’
“I’m not from a business background, so I had no idea what to do. But she guided us and, looking back, I totally understand why she was doing it.”
They applied for more funding through a borough-wide Community Chest programme. Annette describes the experience of pitching to an audience as ‘absolutely terrifying’ but adds: “so many people came up to us afterwards and said there’s nothing like this round here for children.”
While funders will often have set limits to the projects they can support, and might have been cautious of putting too much money into a start-up fronted by two volunteers, Messy Play successfully secured £5,000. They have also received support from the ASDA Community Champions programme.
What North Meets South also did for the two mothers was fire up their ambition.
There are currently two Messy Play sessions held each week. One is on the south side of the community, while the other on the north side. The two areas are split by a major A road.
“We want to take it as far as we possibly can,” says Aisha. “I’m hoping we can spread out to different parts of the borough and further across London.”
Annette adds: “It’s important that people can share what they’re going through. In the past we didn’t talk about it if a child had additional needs, it was almost kept in the dark.”
“I would like to have a set place where we could come every day, where parents meet and have free time. Where we can put artwork on the walls. The dream is to make this a career.”
They won’t be lacking in demand. The most recent census showed that the population across Barking and Dagenham had grown by nearly 18 per cent between 2011 and 2021.
Amina Iqbal, who lives three miles away in Dagenham, brings her one-year-old daughter to Messy Play every week.
“It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for,” says Amina. “Finding playgroups is a real struggle and it’s so important for any children’s social skills. We’ve been more aware of this after COVID-19. I love the fact the activities are immersive and it’s amazing seeing the kids interact with each other.”
Meanwhile, Marks Gate is very much home now for Aisha, and Messy Play has become so much more than a project.
“It’s been an incredible journey for me. I was adopted when I was younger. I’ve got siblings who have additional needs, my sister’s got Down’s Syndrome, and my brother is autistic. It has been a constant part of my life and I wanted to do something that would bring SEN kids together.
“But if it wasn’t for Catherine and North Meets South, then Messy Play wouldn’t exist. Now I see children interacting and having fun, adults making new friends and saying: ‘That was the best hour’. That’s everything to me.”
