Plymouth Octopus Project will welcome members, new and old, to its annual Festival of POP after an absence of two years.
The Festival and annual general meeting of POP will take place on November 9 at The Beacon in North Prospect.
POP, which supports the voluntary and community sector across the city, wants to highlight and applaud the extraordinary work of individuals and organisations during the last 18 months, such as Keyham Green Spaces, Plymouth Football Boot Bank and the Devon and Cornwall Furniture Re-use Project.
The festival, called ‘Voices’ will give people the chance to tell their stories and, in doing so, enable their voices to be heard and, amplified.
It has been two years since the many and varied members of POP were in the same room. Since then life has been changed by the pandemic and the fatal shootings earlier this year in Keyham.
Throughout this time, individuals, communities, grassroots and city-wide projects and organisations have shown a determination to care for each other and to bring ‘Plymouth Together’.
Matt Bell, chief executive of POP said that building community spirit is part of the antidote to some of the challenges society faces.
“We have such an amazing community in Plymouth. We want to celebrate this and at the same time hear from our speakers on how we can do more and work together better to strengthen and improve our resilience,” he added.
There will be speakers, workshops and networking opportunities at this year’s festival all geared towards the continuation of ‘community’ through collaboration.
The key speaker, Cormac Russell, Zooming in from Ireland, is regarded as a world leader in community-driven change and citizen-centred democracy. Cormac has worked with communities, NGO’s and governments in more than 30 countries over the last 20 years.
The POP annual festival and AGM will take place at The Beacon in North Prospect on November 9 between 10am and 4pm. For details visit www.plymouthoctopus.org/events/pop-agm-2021/
