Families celebrated the first day of school at a sports club yesterday in spite of a few rain showers.

The 13th Progressive Labour Party Southampton East Branch Back 2 School event, held at the Southampton Rangers Sports Club, saw children and families from across the island kick off the school year with music, food and fun castles.

Children had the chance to travel around the constituency on a train, have their faces painted, or take a ride on a Bermuda Fire & Rescue Service truck.

Seven-year-old Kypton Hollinsid said that his highlight for the day was a ride in the cherry picker, with the BFRS mascot Sparky the Dog.

He said: “You get to take a ride up into the air and then you come back down. It’s real fun.”

Kypton, a Bermuda Institute pupil, said that he went to the fair almost every year, since he started school. He explained that he would attended to make friends, collect school supplies and play on the fun castles.

The Back 2 School event saw volunteers from both the neighbourhood and businesses help to donate food and school supplies to attendees.

Kypton’s mother, Takira, 37, said that the event was a great way to alleviate the cost and stress of school for many families.

She explained: “It helps out a lot because it’s very expensive for children to go to school and there’s a lot of stuff that they need. This helps out a lot to cut the costs.”

Ms Hollinsid, from Somerset, admitted that the fair was not as well attended in recent years as it used to be because similar back-to-school events had started to pop up across the island. In spite of this, she maintained that the event was a success every year because of the amount that the community enjoyed it.

She said: “The children have lots of fun, it’s a good environment and in the end it’s something nice that they’re doing for the children of Bermuda. It’s a good giveback.”

Zane DeSilva, the Minister of Tourism and Transport and constituency MP for the area, said that he put on the event with Leah Scott, the MP of Constituency 30, as a means to build the community.

He added that he held the event at the Southampton Rangers Sports Club to remind others that it was still a staple in the community.

Mr DeSilva explained: “It just lets those that may have some other intentions know, that this is our community club and we’re proud of it.”