Magical moment as children's entertainers Jollypop scoop award

THE founder of a children’s entertainment company said “it means everything” after scooping a prestigious award.

Kingsclere resident Kate Izzard, who set up Jollypop with business partner Grace Durber four years ago, won the children’s entertainment specialist of the year in the southwest England category at the 2021 Prestige Awards.

The award is the company’s second win this year after also securing ‘best children’s entertainment in Berkshire’ in the Little Ankle Biter’s Awards.

Speaking to the Newbury Weekly News after the latest win, Ms Izzard said she “can’t put into words” what the award meant.

She said: “To be recognised like this is just incredible for a small business like ours.

“We originally set Jollypop up with the aim of providing something consistently high quality.

“Both Grace and myself noticed there was a real gap in the market for consistently high quality performance and costumes, because it’s all about keeping the magic alive.

“Children really believe in us – we turn up at their party and they believe they’re meeting the real character.

“That’s so important to us, so to be recognised for the quality we’re giving is just...I can’t put it into words. It means everything.”

It has been an incredibly difficult 15 months for businesses, particularly for entertainment companies which haven’t been able to offer the level of service they usually do.

Jollypop is no different, and the company has had to frequently adapt as the level of restrictions change.

Ms Izzard said it had been a hard fifteen months for Jollypop, which had to move its services online to be able to keep going, but that the support from the local community had been “amazing”.

She continued: “It’s been incredibly difficult, mainly just the not knowing.

“It’s incredibly hard, particularly with entertainment because so much of what we do is bouncing off the atmosphere within the room, so to move everything online was really hard.

“But we did, and we were incredibly privileged to be able to offer online services, to just help little ones during such a difficult time.

“We know how hard it was for them, so to be able to offer anything which could bring them a smile, make them feel less scared was incredible.

“We’ve had incredible support – with the last twelve months, we’ve had to reschedule a lot, and the absolute love from all our customers has been amazing.

“Again you can’t put into words how much that means as a small business, because locally that’s how you grow and how your company keeps going in really difficult times, like a pandemic.

“The support has meant the world, and from our Facebook page you can see the number of likes and supportive comments.

“I can’t put into words.”

Jollypop is a “premier service for character performance and children’s entertainment spanning Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey.”

The company offers twenty characters to choose from for the Deluxe Character Party and fifteen different Themed Party options.