UNITED KINGDOM / AGILITYPR.NEWS / September 18, 2026 / A community play space that has supported Buckhurst Hill families for nine years is asking local people to help keep its doors open as it begins a new chapter as a Community Interest Company.

The Playhub has spent almost a decade creating a place where parents, carers and young children can play, connect and find support.

Founded by Casta Littlewood nine years ago, it has now entered a new chapter as Community Playhub CIC.

Hebe Ockenden first came to The Playhub as a parent before becoming a volunteer and spending nearly four years helping to support its community. She has now joined Casta as co-director, with the pair working together to protect and develop The Playhub while keeping local families at the heart of it.

The immediate challenge is funding the physical space that makes all of this possible.

The Playhub has launched a GoFundMe campaign aiming to raise £1,620 to cover its hall hire for the October to December term. Supporters can also help generate ongoing funds by buying tickets through the Epping Forest Community Lottery.

But behind the fundraising target is a much bigger story about what a play space can become when it grows around the needs of the people using it.

The Playhub offers affordable stay-and-play sessions alongside a growing network of community and family support.

Families can access an Infant Feeding Café offering peer support, baby weighing and evidence-based information; a sling library; and a regular community food table supplied through Redbridge Zero Waste. The Playhub also welcomes local practitioners and community services into a familiar, accessible space where parents can seek support while their children play.

Free places are available for families who tell us they need one, with no eligibility checks or proof required.

The Playhub’s community extends far beyond the hall. It also runs a large network of local WhatsApp groups connecting families with friendship, information, activities, practical support and one another.

These include groups for parents of babies, toddlers and primary-aged children, as well as local activities, buying, selling and giving away children’s items, nights out, theatre trips, dads’ events and wider community conversations.

Rather than designing a service and asking families to fit within it, The Playhub has evolved over nine years by listening to the people coming through its doors and responding to what families say they need.

Casta Littlewood, founder of The Playhub and co-director of Community Playhub CIC, said:

“I’ve always tried to give the community what it needs, and The Playhub has grown as a reflection of that. “We listen to the families who come through the door and respond to what they need. That might be somewhere to play, somewhere to meet other parents, feeding support, practical help or simply somewhere they feel they belong.”

For Hebe, the journey from parent to volunteer and now co-director reflects the way The Playhub allows families not only to receive support, but also to become part of providing it.

Hebe Ockenden, women’s health and community advocate and co-director of Community Playhub CIC, said:

“I first came to The Playhub as a parent with my own child. Over time, I became a volunteer and increasingly involved in the community around it. Becoming co-director feels like the next step in protecting something that has become incredibly important to me and to so many local families. “I’ve always wanted to work in spaces that improve women’s health and wellbeing, particularly during pregnancy, birth and early motherhood. “What I love about The Playhub is that support doesn’t always have to happen behind a closed door or through a formal referral. Sometimes it happens over a cup of tea while your baby is being weighed, while you’re feeding your baby or while your toddler is playing beside you. “They say it takes a village to raise a child. The Playhub feels like what happens when a community actually builds one.”

The move to become a Community Interest Company is intended to protect and develop that community purpose.

Rather than transforming The Playhub into something new, Hebe and Casta hope the CIC structure will provide an already established community resource with greater opportunities to access funding, develop partnerships and build a sustainable future.

Their immediate priority is straightforward: keeping the hall paid for and the doors open.

They are asking local residents, businesses and supporters to help secure the coming term through donations to the hall hire fundraiser or to support The Playhub longer-term through the community lottery.

Even small contributions can collectively help provide the physical space in which children play, parents make friends, new families receive support, people access practical help and a community continues to grow.

Support The Playhub

Donate to the hall hire fundraiser

www.gofundme.com/f/hall-hire-at-the-playhub

Support Community Playhub CIC through the Epping Forest Community Lottery

www.eppingforestcommunitylottery.co.uk/support/community-playhub-cic