City festival to celebrate 'unapologetic diversity'

Dancers perform at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Cheetham Hill

Members of a historically multicultural neighbourhood in Manchester say the 20th anniversary of their annual festival will celebrate “unapologetically diverse communities”.

Free arts and food events will be held during the four-day Cultural Festival Cheetham Hill and Crumpsall, which brings different faith groups together.

Chairman Gareth Redston, who is also chief executive at the local Manchester Jewish Museum, said: “Over the last year, we have all seen the increasingly worrying images and stories of conflict and division at home and abroad.

“It is our great hope that our wonderful, joyously, unapologetically diverse communities will serve to show what happens when people put aside their differences and come together to celebrate our shared humanity.”

Arts and music events will be held across the four-day festival

Balbir Singh, from the Central Gurudwara, added the event is "what we always wanted”.

“The best thing is to see the smiles on people’s faces at the festival. The harmony this event brings to all the local communities is our greatest achievement.”

School children are performing at the festival’s opening and events include candle making sessions, church gospel performances and a tour of Alla Horska Ukrainian Folk Art Museum, named after an influential artist and human rights activist who rose to prominence in the 1960s.

The area has been home to a range of communities since the migration of Irish Roman Catholics in the 19th Century and hosts places of worship including churches, mosques, synagogues and gurudwaras.