National Family Week (UK)

National Family Week is an annual event in the UK which celebrates family life and encourages families to spend more time together while also highlighting the important role families play in society. The week consists of thousands of local events organised across the UK by supporting organisations including local authorities, sports clubs, charities, community and religious groups. National Family Week is endorsed by but does not receive funding from the UK government so funding for the initiative comes through commercial sponsorship.

Organisers

National Family Week was founded in 2009 by Nick Henry and Jane Nethersole of Henley Media Group^[1] and is run by Family Week Limited. It mirrors the established Canadian National Family Week which has been established since 1985. Unlike the Canadian week which is funded by taxpayers, the UK week is supported wholly by commercial sponsorship and the support of a large network of local, regional and national organisations with Family Week Ltd co-ordinating the activity .^[2]

National Family Week 2009

National Family Week 2009 consisted of over 4,000 events nationwide including a favourite family recipe competition, Family of the Year competition and search to find the next Big Family Idea where the Big Lottery Fund donated £150,000 to go towards turning the winning ideas into a reality.^[3][4] 2009 also included a successful Guinness World Record attempt for the largest picnic across multiple venues which was attended by ambassadors Sally Gunnell and Antony Worrall Thompson amongst other celebrities achieving 12,934 participants in 79 venues across the UK. Sponsors of the 2009 campaign included Sainsbury's, Bupa, Vue (cinema), Outwell, Seat and Legoland.

National Family Week 2010

Over 5,000 events took place during National Family Week 2010 and competitions were launched to find the best family photo and most talented family pet. A new Guinness World Record was also set for the largest three-legged race^[5] across multiple venues which included Twickenham stadium and the City of Manchester stadium with at total of 1,860 participants at 18 venues across the UK, on 5 June 2010. Sponsors of 2010 included Tesco Mobile, Hasbro, Chrysler and Vue (cinema).

2010 Family Survey

UK parents spend on average 49 minutes a day together with their children.^[6] Websites such as Facebook have become a major influence in the lives of teenage girls - much more influential than television, magazines, celebrities and even their own brothers and sisters.^[7]

National Family Week 2011

National Family Week 2011 was a huge success; one headline event in Liverpool, ten flagship events and over 6,000 local events took place all over the UK attracting more than one million people. The campaign's research once again raised mass awareness of issues impacting family life in the media and highlighted the importance of family life. The official Headline Sponsor of the 2011 campaign was French's Mustard.

Merchandise

Free National Family Week goodie bags are handed out at major events and contain freebies for kids, a voucher booklet and Family Time! magazine. Organisations co-ordinating events under the umbrella of National Family Week are also supplied with free merchandise, balloons, stickers, posters and banners to help promote their events.

Political supporters

• National Family Week is endorsed by many of the UK's high-profile political figures including:
• David Cameron^[8]
• Nick Clegg^[9]
• Alex Salmond ^[10]
• Boris Johnson^[11]

Celebrity supporters of National Family Week

• Jo Frost
• Terry Wogan
• Sally Gunnell
• Amanda Holden
• Esther Rantzen
• Gillian McKeith
• Joe Swash
• Siân Lloyd
• Pauline Quirke
• Jo Whiley
• Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan
• Antony Worrall Thompson

Supporting organisations

Thousands of local not-for-profit organisations and over 200 national not-for-profit organisations support and get involved with National Family Week.^[12]

References