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John Griff: Working together to support other people

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Over the past week I’ve had the opportunity to see a couple of examples of how very different sectors of our local community have been reaching out to help others, with great success.

Last Friday night, I was an invited guest at the multicultural fashion show put on by the Zimwomen Association in the Guildhall.

The aim was to help raise money for the current mayoral charities: The Northampton Sea Cadets and the Megan Flutterby Fund.

As well as a series of impressive fashion collections being given their first spring and summer outings on the catwalk, the evening included an impressive diversity of music, mime, monologues and more.

There was even a rock band which caused an impromptu dance-jam on the Guildhall stage, led by His Worshipful The Mayor.

A buffet, mini-indoor fashion market, fund-raising raffle and an auction completed the line-up of entertainment for the audience.

Here was a great example of a town fully embracing the multi-cultural world in which we live and in which we as a community are able to thrive.

With contributions influenced by Asia, Africa and Europe, talented local designers, models and performers carried the evening through to a raucous and successful end.

The Zimwomen Association did a tremendous job of pulling everything together and in doing so they put down a marker that others would do well to follow.

The plan is to make the event an annual one. I wonder how many more locally-based cultural communities can be included because there must be enough in existence to make it global next time.

After Friday night’s fantastic fashions, Saturday saw the April Fools Harley Run roaring into the town centre.

Marking a decade since it first took place at the invitation of the then mayor, Councillor Terry Wire, the run from Sixfields to Abington Street displayed not only the amazing machines (and fashions) of Harley Davidson owners from around the town and further afield, it showed off their generous nature.

It was an informal demonstration of what must have been millions of pounds worth of bikes helping to raise funds to support the brilliant work of the Cynthia Spencer Hospice.

I saw owners lifting excited small children on to saddles so that they could have a junior riders-eye view of the block-paved street ahead.

I also saw more than one admiring-looking father, perhaps wishing that he could have enjoyed the same experience.

This was a different kind of cultural event, but no less tribal.

Certainly it was a time for friends with a shared interest to convene and enjoy each other’s company, but it was more than that.

Through the generosity of the biking community, the ride reached out to everyone in town that day, inviting them to not only share in the view (and sounds) of some amazing machinery, but also to welcome them to an event which is a firm fixture in the town’s annual diary.

It has raised many thousands of pounds for the hospice over the years.

That it has continued for so long is an immense tribute not only to the bikers and Terry Wire himself, but also to the hundreds of people that I mingled with in the extremely welcome sunshine of Saturday.

One decade completed; more surely to come.

These were two events, celebrating community and embracing anyone and everyone who wanted to be a part of them.

Both are fine examples of local people working to support others; examples of the good that really does go on constantly in this part of the world.

If actions really do speak louder than words, ours is a community of the clamorous.

And glamorous.


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