WHEN East Hampshire district councillor Ingrid Thomas, then portfolio holder for health and wellbeing, decided to live up to her role by promoting a health festival, she wasn’t sure if it would succeed.

She got her answer when crowds flocked to her ‘Festiwell’ at Four Marks recreation ground on July 9 to enjoy a day of activities related to ways to live a healthy life.

The idea for Festiwell, according to Mrs Thomas, was simple.

“If you live a healthy life you can live longer on your own. If you keep fit when young, you stay fit throughout your life,” she said.

Run by East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) and Four Marks Parish Council, this new event featured lots of ways to look after mind, body and soul.

Mrs Thomas said: “We all need to do more to keep ourselves healthy but it doesn’t have to be a chore. Festiwell showed us there are lots of affordable, accessible ways to keep in good health right on our doorstep.

“I was delighted to see so many people turn up on the day and I hope they left with lots of positive ideas about how to live a healthy lifestyle.”

And she added: “We have had lots of feedback already from people who went to the event said how brilliant it was. It was so lovely to see people enjoying themselves together as a community.”

Proving this were the people of all ages who took part in the fun runs, organised by Alton Runners, with one 80-year-old among those competing in the 10k race, while the children ran the 100 metres or one-kilometre races.

Another highlight for the children was the ‘smoothie bike’, which had a blender in the front filled with fruit which meant the rider had to peddle hard to turn it into a drink.

“There were queues for that all day,” said Mrs Thomas.

For the non-runners, there was a Walk to Health Group and a quiet tent for more mindful activities, while a sports taster zone gave visitors a chance to try archery, tennis, hockey, and bowls, and the Rural Areas Play Project offered fun and games, including basketball coaching.

Around the grounds were a variety of stalls featuring topics such as dentistry – The Shine Dental Practice gave out goodie bags and fresh fruit sticks – and medical services, while community groups, Street Watch and horticultural and allotment societies were on hand to give advice.

There was healthy food to eat and scores of district council volunteers were on hand to keep things active, helping people enjoy the blow-up assault course or climbing wall which attracted people of all ages.

Mrs Thomas, who lives in Four Marks, expressed grateful thanks to parish clerk Sarah Goudie, assisted by Lesley Chandler, and her own husband, parish councillor Simon Thomas, for their help in running the event, and to the district council volunteers “who were marvellous”.

She admitted when she first began organising Festiwell that she wondered if people would be interested.

“You never know when you do something for the first time, so I was so grateful to the people. We had around 2,000 who came,” she said.

It is hoped that Festiwell will return next year.