The Southampton Mela Festival 2025 was a huge success! All throughout the sunny day, there were vibrant colours and many, many people. There were several cultural parades spaced out through the day, one including a group of people walking around the festival with a Chinese dragon and a drummer. As well as the parades, there were also lots of performances on stage such as dancing and singing. Southampton’s Mela festival celebrates the arts and culture of South Asia. There were a great variety of food stands around the festival, mainly selling foods originating from South Asia. At our SVS stand, on Saturday, about 50 people stopped to talk to us about volunteering and how they would like to get involved with being a part of the change. Some people gave feedback to Healthwatch Southampton about their experiences of health and social care services. We also sold some plants that have been grown by our volunteers at the Community Roots allotment.
Written by Eve Jenkins, SVS work experience student