AMFam

10/10/2026

This time next week we will be setting up for GRANDfest 2026! ✨

Join the Council's Good Relations team at the annual community celebration, bringing together music, dance, art, and food from around the world!

📅 Saturday 17 October 2026
⏰ 2-5pm
📍Queens Hall, Newtownards

FREE family-friendly event 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Live Music | Food | Arts & Crafts | Games | Dancing | FizzWizzPop MAGIC Experience | Amazon Jungle Reptile Show

There will also be Information stalls from many local services.

We look forward to seeing you there: bring your family and friends and enjoy a few hours of good fun together!

No registration required.

30/09/2026

✨Date for your diary: GRANDfest 2026! ✨

Join Council's Good Relations team at GRANDfest, the annual community celebration bringing together music, dance, art, and food from around the world!

📅 Saturday 17 October 2026
⏰ 2-5pm
📍Queens Hall, Newtownards

FREE family-friendly event 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Live Music | Food | Arts & Crafts | Games | Dancing | FizzWizzPop MAGIC Experience | Amazon Jungle Reptile Show

There will also be Information stalls from many local services.

We look forward to seeing you there: bring your family and friends and enjoy a few hours of good fun together!

No registration required.

14/09/2026

Wonderful to see our Tea with Paddington event feature in the Chronicle! Thanks again to all who came along - we look forward to seeing you and other friends at the GRANDfest event next month!

23/08/2026

Many thanks to everyone who came to Conway Square for Tea with Paddington today! It was wonderful to meet everyone, including a few new faces. We hope you enjoyed it - especially the marmalade sandwiches!

Hopefully we'll all meet up again this autumn, for GRANDFest - keep an eye on this page for news about that, and please do get in touch with Maurice if you need anything!

22/08/2026

We're having Tea with Paddington tomorrow! Come and join us for tea and coffee, and even marmalade sandwiches, and help us build a friendly neighbourhood network!

22/08/2026

The Link are running English classes in Ards - check out this announcement for further details!

Come to The Link Centre in Newtownards for ESOL classes.

Learn English in beginners classes.
Study English for Driving , where you will learn the language you need to study for your driving theory test .

English for Life in The UK test will get you started on your journey to ILR or citizenship exams .
Improvers English will help you with reading, writing, listening and speaking English at entry 2 and entry 3 levels.

The Steppingstone class on Monday mornings is for women . Babies and preschool children are welcome with their mothers at this ESOL class.

For more information contact [email protected]

16/08/2026

Just a week to go until our Tea with Paddington event! Hope to see you there, for some tea (of course) and marmalade sandwiches (of course)! Plus a chance to meet up with some friendly neighbours for a good conversation!

07/08/2026

We're going to have Tea with Paddington in the town square on Sunday, 23 August!

Come and join us at 3.00pm for refreshments, conversation, and a chance to meet your neighbours over a marmalade sandwich!

https://events.humanitix.com/tea-with-paddington

09/07/2026

Coming up in Bangor later this month!

Just a reminder that our Q&A, Girls group ,junior and senior youth clubs are closed this week and next - we will be sending out our summer programme to all members.

04/07/2026

Pictures from two events Maurice attended last week. These events were run by voluntary and community sector organisations responding to the racist violence we witnessed in Belfast in June.

"It was heartening to meet some of those who, largely under the radar, helped organise a whole network of volunteers who immediately sprang into practical action in support of their neighbours. Mostly women it should be said, and organised by women! They fanned across the city, got to work, bringing supplies, giving people lifts to hospital appointments, taking other people’s children to school for their exams, taking some into their own homes, calling in to check on others. A wonderful, democratic, neighbourhood response".

And it is that sort of neighbourhood network we want to build in Newtownards!