|
|
Assalamwalaikoum,
Well done to all concerned. Keep up the good work.
Taleb
Durgahee, Eastbourne Islamic Cultural Centre |
|
Thank you for a wonderful
evening yesterday. My mum and I thoroughly enjoyed
meeting new people and writing the article in my role as
a journalist.
I hope I can be of
service to you in the future, and look forward to the
next bring-a-dish celebration.
Nadine Marroushi |
I
returned to your website after receiving your
newsletter, to which I subscribe. Well done
with the CCDN, it is
such a vibrant organisation and I hope it goes
from strength to strength.
As
my greatest love is food I will attend one of
your "bring a dish" events and hopefully produce
my own humble offering!
If
any of your members run their own businesses
within Sussex or are involved with local
organisations, they may wish to advertise on the
website too.
Flavours
of the World delivered to your door at less than
Supermarket prices!
|
|
I just
wanted to say how great I think your project is, and
that we, Kim and at least Gemmaine, one of the Hastings
carnival princesses, look forward to seeing you.
Michael Kingscote
|
|
"We
really think you are doing a wonderful job and fully
support you all in your efforts."
Inge & Tony Killick |
|
Very much good, good music on your
Internet Radio shows for Young People!
Pupil of Filsham Valley school |
|
I like the
look of your site. It is clean and clear and looks like
it is easy to use.
Maggie
Hawke, Chair of Hastings Rainbow Alliance
http://www.hastingsrainbowalliance.co.uk/ |
|
The websites
of the Internet radio shows are fabulous!
Its great to see lots of things while listening to the
shows.
One can see that you had lots of fun!
Attendee of
Creative Partnerships, Hastings & East Sussex
event at the De La Warr Pavilion |
|
Your
Internet radio shows are a great way to give young
people in Hastings a voice.
Dance
Worker - Active in Hastings
Active
Hastings is a community Sports Project, which takes
place every weekday evening at numerous locations across
Hastings and St. Leonards on Sea.
Sport
sessions take place in non-traditional venues ie.
Tesco's Car park, Safeway's car park and local
multi-games areas.
Our website
also has event listings: http://www.activeinhastings.org.uk/ |
|
Well done, its so great to see the pictures!!!
Love
|
|
I
just wanted to thank you for making myself and Catherine
Luck Taylor so welcome last Monday, when we came from
Brighton to attend your meeting.
It was really inspiring to see how committed and
advanced you are with your work as a community, and to
see such a variety of individuals from varied ethnic and
cultural roots, with an enormous amount to offer and a
real determination to make things happen.
Irene Mensah |
|
"Here,s an opportunity to thank you for the great
evening, and your generous donation to my charity The
NSPCC. The girls and myself enjoyed the evening very
much, and will be glad to offer our services at your
future events when needed."
Faezeh, Sheik's
Delights Belly dancing |
|
I’m writing to support your points that BME groups under
the umbrella of CCDN must be able to be elected to the
Community Network. BME people have always played an
important and growing part in the economic and social
life of
Hastings, dating back to the
1500s and beyond when Romani Gypsies first came and
settled in our town. The increasing number of BME people
coming to
Hastings is an important part of
the towns social and economic regeneration that probably
has far more effect in revitalising our town than
millions spent on regeneration projects. Ethnic
diversity is also an extremely important part of
maintaining and creating social stability and a
sustainable society.
Any attempt, therefore, to deny the voice of any
community or network that unites people of diverse
backgrounds such as CCDN is a retrograde and worrying
development that must be resisted vigorously. Any
process which seeks to deny the voice of BME communities
from important fora, must also be transparent and
accountable and based on legitimate democratic processes
if it is to avoid charges of racism. I wholeheartedly
support your efforts to ensure that our common voice is
represented in every forum which has any impact on our
lives.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if your require
any support, either in my professional role as a
journalist or in a personal capacity as a Gypsy man who
is an active supporter of the Celebrating Cultural
Diversity Network.
Te aves baxtalo (Good luck)
Jake Bowers
(The Gypsy Media Company) |
|
Since its inception, and I am one of the founding
members, Celebrating Cultural Diversity Network has
become the back bone of the growing BME community in
Hastings
& surrounding areas. This network has attracted
thousands of members in its short life, helping, sharing
information, enhancing the importance of recognising and
celebrating difference in all cultures. I have lived in
Hastings
for over 20 years, moving here at a time when different
cultures were uncelebrated. Young People needing
encouragement, cultural guidance to gain confidence and
self worth were lost within in system, and the older
people were the same. For this reason I felt I must get
involved and support the birth of this network to avoid
the same loss in another generation. CCDN create the
environment where people can feel confident in their
skin sharing culture, history and customs with all ages
and be proud. CCDN need to have an input within the
broader community helping to increase cultural knowledge
in all areas e.g. health, education, as the diversity of
Hastings
increases. We need to be able to answer questions, solve
problems as they arrive. The includion of CCDN in all
areas of community life is the way forward for a healthy
open society. No working without the includion of a
representative of CCDN. Please consider this!
___________________
Please focus on supporting young women and single
parents, I am a founding member of Celebrating Cultural
Diversity Network, attend the Bring A Dish and meetings
regularly and I am still offering a lot of my time to
support the important work!
Arlene Sawyers (Chair of
Markwich
Gardens
Association) |
|
I along with many other members of BME communities
regularly receive e- mails keeping us all equally up to
date with BME communities daily activities via CCDN and
we are then able to get actively involved in passing
this information to other members who are not
electronically in contact. I also regularly see more
articles from BME communities in the local Newspaper due
to a lot of good and hard work within CCDN.
Representation of BME on the LSP is of course essential
in a town of growing diversity!
Brenda Lynes-O'Meara, Counsellor/ Psychotherapist |
|
"Thanks and congratulations for such a lovely evening on
Saturday. Truly successful and made the pier come alive
(like you did twice in the
Hastings
town centre): all impressive achievements. My personal
favourite little touch was the beautiful decorations on
the gate posts at the foot of the pier... and it was
lovely to see members of Castle Ward Forum going out for
a night too! Congratulations to all of the CCDN team who
worked so hard to make the magic happen."
Erica Smith |
|
Please prioritise Language support and to build
resilience. I will help with networking, sharing
information and local authority support. CCDN's input is
very encouraging.
Atiya Gourlay, Equality Officer of ESCC |
|
As a Member of CCDN I have been kept in touch regularly
throughout & have attended meetings since when it
started and received regular e-mails with all the latest
news and events by e-mail, which I share with many
others. CCDN events have been well covered by the Media,
making this accessible equally to all communities.
I have lived in Hastings
and St.Leonards-on-sea practically all of my life as
part of the
Bangladesh community;
and Never before was there anything within this area
that represented such a diversity of communities by on
Large!
This work is crucial, has our support and we must have
our voices heard!
The work of CCDN including of BME community groups is
simply life changing for many, and must be respected as
being part of our way of living and belonging!
Amanda Rabbani |
|
We need a MultiCultural Resource Centre to support the
work!
May O’Regan |
|
We are committed to a multi-cultural way of being and
believe that CCDN works hard towards building up respect
amongst diverse communities, that share heritage with
one another and enjoy each other.
David Ball & Trish Walmsley |
|
We
were very pleased to be part of your event last Saturday
- we found it very well attended and we had some
interest in Fostering and Adoption. Mainly we think it
probably helped to raise the profile of Fostering &
Adoption.
Thanks again - the only feedback re the venue was it was
in a very good location but not of a very high material
standard! Sounds like Hastings pier could do with
spending some money
Jennifer
Fostering & Adoption Teams |
Just
wanted to thank you for a lovely weekend last week, we
all really enjoyed the festival and appreciate the hard
work you put into the event. We want to thank you for
making us most welcome at the Centre of Creativity -
home and your wonderful hospitality.
We all look forward to seeing and working with you all
again.
Zehara, Jan and Urban Gypsies |
|
"CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Sankofa 2005 was a fantastically
diverse and truly multicultural affair, and we enjoyed
it very much. The production on stage was fantastic, the
green room was well appreciated, and the variety of
artists was inspiring and extremely entertaining.
Thank-you so much for inviting us to play, we had the
best time, and please pass our thanks and
congratulations to everyone else involved"
Kat Lee x Naked Angel |
|
The art workshops are a great inspiration to many
children and I am glad to offer my skills on a regular
basis. I also enjoy the meetings some of which I
attended since the formation of CCDN and I still do now.
Also some of my friends are keen to be more involved. I
offer Art & Craft, crochet, origami and needlework!
Da Dunn |
|
Lewis had a great time and was very impressed with the
boys and Sky's dancing as well as the South Indian
traditional dancing. Lewis and his friend really enjoyed
themselves and they had fun cooking his Grandmother's
recipe for Jamaican Rice 'n Peas and Jerk Chicken and
baking Blueberry Muffins in order to contribute to the
Bring A Dish....................I also want to say
thanks for the invitation to the Kurdish New Year
celebration at the Maribou Restaurant.
Alan Hall |
|
I love the diverse mix of people in terms of social,
ethnicity and age in your organisation: this is
outstanding in
Hastings. The way the children
can play, "free range" and in safety is almost magical.
I am glad to support Celebrating Cultural Diversity
Network and happy to spread the word!
Neil Brown |
"I was very impressed and my family & I had a good time.
What came across was the talent from different cultures
that exists in our community. Rather than everyone
celebrating separately, in parallel, here was an
opportunity to celebrate and have fun together."
Cllr. Jeremy Birch, Leader of the Council |
|
We do thank CCDN for the lovely celebrations. We
appreciate this amazing collection of different
nationalities. You are a very successful community
organisation that have helped many people! We are happy
to help you to get from good to even better.
Mansour, Saad & Alyas |
|
As one of the founding members of Celebrating Cultural
Diversity Network I have and I still am actively
involved in many aspects of the work and hope to do so
in the foreseeable future.
To name but 3 examples: I have regularly attended and
contributed to meetings, attended Bring A Dish
Celebrations together with my children of Dual Heritage,
I have helped to spread the word and assisted with
transport of other families that could otherwise not
access the welcoming, educational, supportive and
inclusive atmoshere that CCDN creates.
Most recently, via CCDN I have contributed to a
Consultation Process on the future planning of Black &
Minority Ethnic Children who are Looked After/ Young
Carers whereby East Sussex County Council Equality
Officers pointed out the value of our/ CCDN's input
from a professional and experiential basis.
Our specific recommendations contributed significantly
to a new draft "Strategy for the recruitment of BME
Carers"from the ESCC Fostering service/ adoption &
permanence service, which is currently consulted on
within a wider remit, including the CCDN membership.
This is a good example of effective partnership working
on a strategic level and I trust that CCDN will go from
strength to strength to improve on our already strong
membership base that reflects BME communities here in
Hastings, St Leonards, Bexhill & East Sussex.
Leigh Morgan |
|
Thank you for your e mail. I have forwarded it to our
volunteers to have a look at the work you have been
doing for our local communities: well done!
This is a quick note to wish success to your project. As
you know we support and help refugees and asylum
seekers in Hastings
and
St Leonard's. I
would very much like to come to more meetings and bring
a dish parties but unfortunately it is very difficulty
to always find the time as I am running the group, but I
want you to know that we all fully support the
activities your group carry out to improve the way BME
communities live in this town and I forward information
to my members.
Yaser Dirki |
|
Just wanted to thank you for setting up the work
experience for K. from the
Ivory Coast. She told
me how helpful and useful the experience has been.
Thank you for being so supportive: she really
appreciates the work place experience you have been able
to provide for her.
I'd really like to talk with you further about the
possibility that CCDN can match mentors to some
individuals I've been working with.
Gill Lipson, REMAS HE: |
Assimilation [uh-SIM-il-AY-shn], noun
1) The effort toward becoming someone that you are not,
in response to
the pressures to conform to the environment to which you
have migrated
from your origin
2) The effort toward becoming someone that belongs more
naturally to
the environment that you are currently located in.
What
strikes me
1: When an Asian guy tries to assimilate in the "White"
Western
society, people give him shit as if he has violated the
core values of
human dignity.
2: When a British or Norwegian guy came to North America
and smoothly
assimilates, nobody gives him any hard time.
submitted by
Windlight (Chinese) |
|
Many of the recent BME
events have been successfully run by the Celebrating
Cultural Diversity Network, which I introduced to our
readers in the previous edition. I
am pleased to confirm that CCDN is a unique local BME
network, which is growing stronger after each Free Bring
a Dish Party as new memberships keep flowing in. CCDN is
getting support from HVA, the Arts Council to name
but a few.
Naima Nouidjem in her Editorial of the December
Edition of BME NEWS |
|
Please continue with the parties and your support to
refugees and asylumseekers.
Bouba Mara |
|
I can offer contemporary African Garments and
accessories in support of the work of CCDN.
Mor Gaye |
