DIVERSECrawley celebrate 'World Day for Cultural Diversity' with dance and storytelling

DIVERSECrawley celebrated ‘World Day for Cultural Diversity’, which is the biggest day on the annual calendar of events for the group.
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The group last celebrated the day in 2019 due to the Pandemic, so they very excited on Saturday, May 21 2022, to have another face-to-face celebration.

The day started with Diverse Story Reading at Crawley Library to children as young as three.

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Group member Ashwin told an Indian story and Nevelina read a Bulgarian story (translated into English). The children were very interactive and captivated by the diverse stories.

The Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex, Susan Pyper promised to show the Queen our write-ups during her next visit.The Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex, Susan Pyper promised to show the Queen our write-ups during her next visit.
The Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex, Susan Pyper promised to show the Queen our write-ups during her next visit.

At 2pm, dressed in our colourful traditional outfits, DIVERSECrawley welcomed guests of honour, including the Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex, Susan Pyper, with drums and shakers in the carpark at Crawley United Reformed Church.

The programme started with the Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex unveiling the group’s vibrant and beautiful legacy Banner (by fabric artist Sam Murray).

The Banner has congratulations messages in 31 different languages and fabrics from 25 different cultures, to celebrate Crawley's 75th anniversary.

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Sam Murray explained the process and timeline of when diverse community members moved to Crawley for various reasons.

Diverse Puddings 'Fit for a Queen' AreaDiverse Puddings 'Fit for a Queen' Area
Diverse Puddings 'Fit for a Queen' Area

The Banner will be the centerpiece of their October and November Crawley Museum Exhibitions, which the proceeds will be donated to the Crawley Museum.

Eight different cultures (namely Irish, Sri Lankan, Indian, South African, Kashmiri, Turkish, Pakistan and Barbados), entertained the attendees by playing musical instruments, dancing, talks, poetry and storytelling.

Some performers were as young as 7 years old!

DIVERSECrawley showed the Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex the group’s Diverse Puddings ‘Fit for a Queen’ area, with desserts from Poland, India, Portugal, Turkey and England, as well as Exotic fruit salad and juices.

Traditional dancing from around the world was on displayTraditional dancing from around the world was on display
Traditional dancing from around the world was on display
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On leaving, the Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex was presented with a Dossier of “The Queen’s royal visits to our Commonwealth Countries” which included write-ups by DIVERSECrawley’s committee members from South Africa, Barbados, India, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ghana and Sri Lanka.

About 100 community members attended our event, with some standing (as we ran out of seats), but the feedback so far, was that it was fun, enjoyable and even educational, so DIVERSECrawley are looking forward to “World Day for Cultural Diversity” 2023.

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