Vegelicious Case Study: Holiday Bites & Hurst Fest 2025

1,400 people attended Hurst Fest 2025 – the day-long family festival run by Smallshaw-Hurst Children’s Community. The event, held at Cedar Park on Queens Road in Ashton-under-Lyne took place on 21^st August was completely free to anyone who wanted to attend. It was one of a couple of projects run by the organisation during the summer holidays – the other being Holiday Bites.

There was a real variety of stalls and activities for people to enjoy at Hurst Fest, including festival hair and make-up, henna painting, inflatables, free burger vans (with halal and vegan options), live music, sports tasters and even a stall run by FareShare Greater Manchester.

Over the course of the day 500 superheroes, butterflies and tigers were painted onto children’s faces, 500 free hotdogs and burgers were consumed along with 550 free ice creams and lollies. It was thanks to volunteers, parents, grandparents and neighbours who raised funds, organised stalls and ran the day.

Holiday Bites

The other project run by Smallshaw-Hurst Children’s Community this summer was ‘Holiday Bites’. Research by the organisation revealed that local families often avoided their Pantry Store during the school holidays. Parents explained that they didn’t want their children to see them queueing for discounted food.

By offering Holiday Bites, in partnership with FareShare Greater Manchester, they were able to tackle holiday hunger, food poverty, stigma and food waste at the same time. During the scheme, 800 shopping bags worth over £12,000 were shared over 4 weeks preventing fresh veg and staples from going to waste.

In addition to the food bag distribution, families were given the opportunity to come together and cook, swapping new recipes and trying out new ingredients. More than 100 families tried new recipes together and more than 200 children got hands-on with the holiday cooking project. Families were able to swap recipe ideas across cultures

Following on from the success of Hurst Fest 2025, the Smallshaw-Hurst Children’s Community volunteers are already speaking to grant funders and local businesses about sponsoring Hurst Fest 2026.

Holiday Bites was supported by FareShare Greater Manchester through the Vegelicious scheme, which offers bulk orders of fruit and veg to community organisations. Participants just need to commit to receive either a half pallet (400kg) or a full pallet (800kg) of mixed fruit and vegetables on a regular basis (either weekly or fortnightly).

 

Interested in joining Vegelicious?

If you’re from a charity or community group supporting those experiencing food insecurity and would like to know more, please get in touch with Sharon, our Vegelicious Coordinator by emailing sharon.robinson@emergemanchester.co.uk.