Dave McNicholl is chief executive of Warrington Youth Zone and writes a regular column for the Warrington Guardian.
WITH the cost of living increasing, many parents are aware that the family budget will be even further stretched this summer school holidays, with the need to feed children and entertain them each day.
Over 20 years ago, former well-known Police Community Support Officer, Tony Spruce, started VPX (the Victoria Park Experience).
The family fun day, which was free of charge, ran from the early 2000s until 2019 when the pandemic caused it to be put on hold.
VPX was held one day each week during August and included a range of local organisations coming together to provide different activities for children, young people, and adults.
In 2025, Tony brought organisations together again to restart VPX.
Unaware that this was to be his last as PCSO for Warrington, we held four VPX events at Bank Park, Golden Square and Time Square, Victoria Park, and Warrington Youth Zone.
Over the four days, more than 12,000 people attended the events and enjoyed a host of activities, which included a celebration of National Play Day on the first day at Bank Park.
Although Tony has now moved on from Warrington, we are still in touch with him and he is helping us with the planning for VPX 2026, which will be one of the legacies of his time in Warrington.
One of the highlights last year were families attending with their children and the parents speaking to Tony and reminiscing about when they came to VPX as children themselves.
VPX will be running this summer each Wednesday in August: the 5th and 12th August at Bank Park in front of the Town Hall and 19th and 26th at Victoria Park, from 11.00 until 4.00pm including the same mix of activities from local organisations for children from pre-school age through to late teens.
Warrington Youth Zone is open every single day of the school holidays, including weekends and bank holidays, and we look forward to welcoming you and your children to come and have a look around or join up.
We still have space for local sports teams, uniformed organisations, or community groups to get involved in VPX and provide a showcase of the services you provide to the community.
So if you run a football team, martial arts club, community arts activities for children, then please contact Ellie Harrison on 01925977264 or email Ellie.harrison@wyz.org.uk so that you can showcase your club or group to many potential members from across Warrington.
To find out more about Warrington Youth Zone or VPX, please contact us at info@warringtonyouthzone.org.uk or call 01925-977277 or visit our website www.warringtonyouthzone.org or better still, pop in for a tour of the building.
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