Fifty Beeston residents came together yesterday (13 September 2017) to share food and friendship at an event organised by Aspiring Communities and South Leeds Live At Home.
A group of volunteers served a mouth-watering selection of Asian food provided by Aspiring Communities including bhaji, curries, rice, chapatti and a sweet rice pudding. The hall at St Andrew’s community centre buzzed as people tucked in.
Here are some of the comments from around the tables:
“It’s nice to mingle, we worked with ladies from Asha Neighbourhood Project to get ready for the Beeston Festival parade. We should get together more often.”
“I tried the food, but I’m afraid I’m not a curry fan.”
“It’s nice to mix and try their food. It’s the first time I’ve had curry and I was a bit frightened, but I’ll definitely have it in the future!”
“I’ve enjoyed the atmosphere and I’ve made new friends, we should have more events like this.”
After the meal and the raffle, Shamraze Mohammed from Aspiring Communities gave a short talk about Islam.
He briefly explained the Five Pillars of Islam: Submission, Prayer, Ramadan, Charity and Pilgrimage, but stressed that observing these was not enough. It is important to be a good person and reflect the characteristics of the Prophet Mohammed – peaceful, loving and humble.
Questions from the floor included what is the Qur’an? and why is Islam portrayed negatively in the media?
Shamraze wound up the event thanking people for coming and urging to keep in touch and keep asking questions.
Aspiring Communities recently won a long running planning battle to convert the former Ice Pak factory on Barkly Road in Beeston into a community centre.
South Leeds Live At Home run events and services for older people in Beeston, Cottingley and Hunslet.
Wonderful, more of this sort of thing please! Well done all. xx