DBID Sponsors the One World Festival 2011
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
We are big fans of the One World Festival. It has been running for the past two years, and has given us the opportunity to experience food, activities, sports and music from all around the world.
So when we heard it was in danger of being cancelled because of funding concerns, we jumped at the chance to help out!
We felt we were in a position to assist with the funding of the festival, and after consulting the organising team, we agreed to come on board as sponsors.
We’re delighted to hear that the festival will now go ahead as planned, and the One World team have also now been able to recruit a co-ordinator to help make sure this year’s festival goes without a hitch.
For those that don’t know, the One World Festival is the brainchild of Khalique Miah, a local resident of Bangladeshi origin. After falling victim to a racist attack a few years ago, he came to the conclusion that there was a real lack of communication and interaction between ethnic minorities and the wider community, and this was a primary cause of a lot of the problems.
Miah resolved to make sure something good came from his bad experience, so he came up with the idea of holding a festival to celebrate diversity in Dorchester and the surrounding area.
With help from Dorset Community Action, the first festival took place in 2009, featuring events including Kabaddi and tug of war. The festival was a brilliant success, and returned in 2010 bigger and better, with a greater range of events and activities such as belly dancing, cheerleading and a ‘Round the World Exhibition’ with resources provided by 33 countries.
This year’s event will be taking place on Sunday July 10th from 11am until 4pm on the Kings Road playing field.
In the run-up to the Olympics next year, we feel it is the perfect time to be celebrating the world’s many diverse cultures, foods and traditions. We hope that lots of you come down in July and take part with what is sure to be a great family day out. Let’s make sure the 2011 One World Festival is the best one yet!
