The Winchester Sport Art and Leisure Trust (SALT) is looking to the future, with some exciting plans.

The annual Children of Winchester Festival (COWfest) will take place, on Saturday February 10, but change is afoot. 

This year, The Arc team is planning and running the festival hub at their Jewry Street venue, with SALT co-ordinating COWfest activities at other sites across the city centre. 

As in previous years, all festival activities are offered for free to local children and young people, thanks to support from Winchester BID.

The hub at The Arc will be buzzing with arts and craft activities, music workshops, mindfulness sessions, and inclusive sports. While some sessions are ticketed via arcwinchester.org.uk, there will be plenty of drop-in opportunities on the day, thanks to local providers District Sports South, Relax Kids with Jules, Moo Music with Ali, Jiggy Wrigglers, Winnall Rock School, Mimosa Montessori and the Winchester children's library team. Visitors can also enjoy the exhibitions 'Shoes - Inside Out' and 'Continuing The Thread' for free all day in The Arc's galleries.

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Children can gain free entry to the Westgate and City Museums for COWfest, and the two venues are offering a packed programme. Activities include drop-in origami and other art and crafts, historical storytelling and museum trails. Children and teens have also been invited to 'take over' the City Museum between 12pm and 2pm, by managing artefacts, designing video tours and visitor trails, and acting as museum guides. Pre-booking for the 'takeover' is essential via hampshireculture.org.uk/event/cowfest-2024-kids-museum-takover-6-13-year-olds.

The Royal Green Jackets museum at Peninsula Barracks is also offering free entry for families, with a museum trail and children's craft activities on offer. The Winchester Sport and Leisure Park has free climbing, family swimming and 'active antz' sessions available for COWfest, while visitors to the Brooks Centre can enjoy storytelling, balloon modelling and face painting in its soft play area. P&G Wells bookshop will host children's author and illustrator, Lawrence Roberts, for a reading and drawing session based on his new book Snip!

The full programme is available at cowfest.org.uk with extra details, timings and booking links. 

Emma Back, Winchester SALT's chief executive, said: "It's wonderful to have The Arc team in charge of the festival hub this year, and to see so many free children's activities on offer across Winchester. We hope this new arrangement will enable COWfest to thrive and grow. This year, we've seen several activities book up within hours of their release, so it's clear there's a huge need for this type of free event for local people."

Winchester SALT will see another of its projects graduate in 2024, as the Winchester Community Sport Alliance spins off as a new club-led entity, Sport Winchester. The new organisation is taking shape, with 20 clubs already on board. Club representatives can find out more by visiting sportwinchester.org.