The Piper Arts Centre celebrated its first Christmas in style at Prior's Court by being the hub of a number of festive activities celebrating the festive season. 

The Piper Arts Centre was officially christened for Christmas with a grotto built for Santa to hand out presents. One of the music rooms was transformed into a festive paradise which worked incredibly well to support autistic young people with complex needs we support to engage with the acitvity. The layout of the room meant although it looked different, the young people were able to come in and meet Santa with confidence, and the presence of the outside door meant that they were able to remove themselves from the room if they needed to straight into a wide open space. As a result of this, the grotto went off without a hitch, despite it being the first year in this location. 

The next activity was our Young Adult Christmas party on the same day which took place in the main performance space. Santa once again made an appearance, as well as our resident DJ Manny. Every young adult was also given a gift, and they all had an absolutely amazing time with music and dancing. 

Read more Piper Arts Centre updates

Finally, the last festive activity the centre played host to was our annual Carol Concert. In previous years, the concert has been held in our dining hall and one of our large training rooms, neither of which are particularly fit for purpose of such an activity. While there are definitely some learns for next year in terms of layout, far more young people were able to attend the Carols this year than have been in previous years - and so enjoy a special festive experience with their families.

A huge part of the reason every single one of these activities was such a success was because of the incredible hard work all the staff have been putting in making sure each of the young people have been accessing this purpose-built space. 

It is also thanks to generous donations to our Christmas Appeal that we are able to provide activities like this in the first place.

Donate to our One Wish, One Gift, One Magical Moment appeal