By Sarah Robinson

Published at 11:11, Thursday, 06 September 2012

OVER 200 youngsters enjoyed a free afternoon of music acts at Castle Park last weekend.

Park life: The Band Stand comes to life once more for Be Yourself In The Park

The Be Yourself in the Park event took place in Whitehaven on Saturday and featured a host of live music and activities throughout the afternoon.

A quality line-up of local stars including Balmoral Road, Amy Morton, Sarah Dockeray and Shore performed on the park’s bandstand stage in front of their peers, young families and children.

Mike Priestley, Inspira’s area manager for West Cumbria, said: “It went really well. For once it didn’t rain on a Saturday!”

Marquees were set up where young people could get free mocktails and buy snacks. The proceeds from the snack sales have gone to Alice’s Escapes, a charity set up by Ulverston girl Alice Pyne, 16, who is battling Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

An entrepreneurs tent was set up where Tom Salmon showcased his retro iPops, and Todd Morgan sold t-shirts.

Mr Priestley said: “In the course of the day, we had really good support from the PCSOs. They reported to us that on their patrols didn’t find any young people with alcohol at all, which was really good.

“The Youth Council’s aim was to raise the profile of the Youth Council. They wanted to show that young people can do positive activities on a Saturday afternoon in the park.”

Around nine members of the Youth Council attended the event and they recruited more youngsters on the day.

Activities were available for families with young children, including a bungee rope and gladiator style games.

The afternoon was organised by Copeland Youth Council, which is supported by Copeland Council, the Brathay Trust and Inspira (formerly Connexions).

Mr Priestley said Copeland’s Youth Council will be going to Bolton in October and is hoping to go to Westminster in February. Members are also hoping to plan another event for the borough’s young people in the next year.

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk