By Skye (LS1)
On Saturday 13th
July, housing developers St. George held their third Alperton Summer Festival
at Heather Park. The festival focused on the need for community spirit for the
children of the borough. Each year the event also aims to create awareness for
a local charity. This year money was raised for the Jason Roberts Foundation; a
foundation that raises money in memory of Cyrille Regis, a former English international footballer
who grew up in Stonebridge but sadly died in 2018. The foundation initially
focused its support in Brent but now works to support young people across the
UK, celebrating diversity and promoting respect. They provide “mentoring, life skills, education and training projects within its wider
sports activities and work with young people at risk of offending, those
excluded from school or struggling in the school curriculum, and young people
with physical and learning difficulties.”
Entry was free and
there was an array of live performances, music and food to give families a
chance to make a day out of the event. Children were entertained with slime
making and crafts, allowing them to play with friends, siblings and family but
also offering an opportunity to befriend new people. It was clear that such
events are important to the families who attended who wore huge smiles on their
faces. Many students from Alperton Community School also enjoyed the event. When
asked about their favourite part of the day, one student said “Alperton
Community School’s performances… especially the drama group, the impressive steel
performance…and the Dhol group, obviously, who never fail to surprise us with
their performance.”
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| Alperton Community School drama performance |
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| Alperton Community School students Dhol performance |
The festival also featured
fairground games, live music, slime Olympics, a wide variety of food stalls and
an art exhibit where children could create their own crafts. Art pieces made by
Alperton pupils were displayed. This presented true talent in which our school
holds, giving students a chance to express themselves creatively.
A large fire truck
escorted by firefighters from the local fire station also attended the festival.
“We are here to let the public come and see the fire engine, give fire safety
advice and just to let them know that we have an open service where people can
come and talk to us.” On the importance of community, the firefighter said
“It’s very important because community is who we work with, who we work for,
who we serve and also live with. Because we are part of the fire brigade we
also live in communities in London so it’s important to work alongside them and
integrate with them.” The crew were happy to be interacting with local
residents, displaying that being part of a community means a lot to them.
Another student was
asked what their favourite part of being in a community was and she replied
with how she likes the idea of people coming together. “Everyone is really busy
with their lives, everyone’s doing their own thing and to finally come out and
meet everyone and just be a part of something, feels quite special.”
A sense of
community is important to many people. It is often described as a way to get
close to others and to build relationships with those you never thought you
would. This sense of community can be said to be particularly important in
tight-knit places like the borough of Brent, an area of such diversity where
everyone has to work together to make a change. We should all take on some sort
of responsibility in a community like Alperton otherwise everything will stay
the same. A summer festival is a great way to make this change and to break any
divisions within the community.
Community means
something different to everyone, but to everyone it means something.
