Spirits were lifted on the gloomiest day of the year as Feel Good Fest brought some positivity to Woking on “Blue Monday”.
The recent free festival in Goldsmith Park gave residents a much-needed escape from the January blues and a sense of community to people of all ages.
“The aim of the event is to bring the community together and to teach people on how to improve their mental health and wellbeing,” said Miriam Selman, community link officer for Woking.
“We want to bring positivity and make sure that everyone feels good and is happy as winter can be a difficult time for people’s mental health.”
Festival-goers enjoyed a day filled with uplifting and engaging activities designed to boost positivity and wellbeing with events including gentle work groups in the park, a planting workshop and community tea and talk.
The big draw was the virtual reality activity that allowed users to paddleboard down the River Wey or wander through Dorking through a VR headset.
“There was an amazing group of activities inside, some really warm friendly people,” said participant, Ivan Kozuh.
“It is cold outside but it is warm here if that makes sense.
“We really had some fun and the virtual reality headset is probably the winner today.”
“This was a fantastic event arranged by Surrey County Council to bring people together for health and wellbeing,” said Woking Borough Council leader, councillor Ann-Marie Barker.
“It’s a really great feel good event that I have enjoyed this afternoon.”
The council aimed to tackle loneliness and isolation by creating a fun and inclusive event that brought people together ahead of Blue Monday.
For more mental health and wellbeing resources, residents can visit the Healthy Surrey website and search “Mental Wellbeing” https://www.healthysurrey.org.uk/mental-wellbeing