Friends of Mansel Park, Millbrook Towers and District Community Association and Mansel Park Pavilion joined forces for the Mansel Park Gala Day. Over 600 people attended and took part in various free activities including African drumming.

The Foyes Corner Community Festival was a huge success with an estimated 4,000 visitors. The focus of the day was to bring people together in a fun and positive way. There were loads of fun activities and food stalls from different communities and organisers.

The Neighbourhood Involvement Celebrating Volunteers event was held in the Mayor's Parlour in the Civic Centre. Over 30 volunteers who work closely with our team were recognised and presented with a certificate for all their hard work in their neighbourhoods.

Jurds Lake Autumn Activity invited local people to go along and help thin woody areas to re-establish butterfly glades and bird breeding areas. In the afternoon and some aching muscles later, already butterflies could be seen gathering in the glade.

Merryoak Youth Club hosted a spooky Halloween night to increase parental support in running the club. Amongst other activities, PCSOs were made into mummies and some wicked fancy dress costumes entertained everyone during the evening.

A group of young people wanted to get involved and improve their local play park on Archery recreation ground. They worked with Neighbourhood Involvement and several other departments of Southampton City Council and other agencies to produce a mural which was installed on the play area fence as an eye catching landmark.

Saltmead Fun Day was the main family oriented summer event organised by the Saltmead Residents Association which was set up at the beginning of 2008. The committee members’ tireless efforts have been rewarded with an excellent turnout of 200.

St Denys Fun Day was officially opened by the Mayor on 30th August and was a memorable and enjoyable sunny day for the local community. The community centre was buzzing with a huge choice of activities for about 250 locals of all ages.

A Community Clean Up took place with Langbar, Bronte and Chine Resident's Association. A flat-bed lorry was quickly filled, collecting everything from leaves to car tyres and from tins cans to an old desk. They aim to hold regular clean ups in the future.

A family fun day was held in Riverside Park to launch the Sarah Merritt Foundation, a charity set up to support families in need. The day was a huge success with both fun activities and information from several organisations.

Southampton joined the national Keep Britain Tidy campaign with three days of activities in Weston. A clean up was followed by a huge free community event. There was also significant interest in starting a community environmental group for Weston Shore.