In celebration of Random Acts of Kindness Day on Friday 17 February,
17 & Central is installing a Friendship Bench at the shopping centre and inviting visitors to help decorate it.

The ‘You’ve got a friend in me’ bench, will be located in the shopping mall’s centre court area as part of a community initiative to mark Random Acts of Kindness Day. A professional artist will be hand-drawing images on the white bench ready for guests to colour it in bit by bit and put their unique mark on it. The activity will take place between 11am-4pm and everyone is welcome.

“We can’t wait to see our Friendship Bench come to life with a colourful design, created by our guests,” said Gwendolyne Lobo, 17 & Central’s marketing manager. “Once it’s complete, we would like shoppers to take a moment, sit with friends and loved ones and be grateful for all the wonderful people around them. It’s important for us to include our local community as much as possible and I think this is a lovely way to bring everyone together.”

The bench will be ready for mini guests during half-term and to extend the fun even more, The Walthamstow Toy Library will be visiting the shopping centre with some lovely, seasonal craft activities for the kids.

The Walthamstow Toy Library is an educational charity, which provides a safe and stimulating place for young children and their carers to play, learn, interact and loan high-quality toys. Volunteers from charity will be in the centre court at 17 & Central on 11 and 12 February between 1pm and 5pm helping little visitors create their own Valentine’s cards, because what could be more special than a card that’s made from the heart? They’ll also be onsite on both 18 and 19 February from 1-5pm helping youngsters to make beautiful paper daffodils, which they can then distribute to loved ones as their own, very special random act of kindness.

To find out more about what’s going on this month at 17 & Central visit https://www.17andcentral.co.uk/news-events/fun-feb-crafting/.