Salford City College students organise event to celebrate Black History Month

Students from Salford City College celebrated Black History Month with events developed and ran completely by students. The special guest visitor was co-founder of Out of Africa Events, Raymond Bell who was interviewed by FutureSkills student, Tiwi Mazarura, and spoke about the importance of equality and the movement of ‘Black Lives Matter’.

The events started with a live Q&A with the guest speaker, and showcased a diversity of Salford City College talent performing and dancing to music of black origin; as well as highlighting a selection of the videos made by Out of Africa, ‘Honouring the Elders’ (of the Manchester Afro-Carribean community) which were often thought provoking. Tiwi’s Q&A included questions about Raymond’s background, what he does for the community, his involvement in Out of Africa Events, and what he thought of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. 

A lot of the ideas from the event originated from Tiwi (former pupil of The Swinton High School) whose first time it was in event organising. She said, “There is so much culture and history which has been made and it is important to understand what has been done by the generations before us. Raymond was so inspiring, especially to young people learning about the history of our culture.”

CEO/Principal, John Spindler said, “The College celebrates and values the cultural, social and ethnic diversity which students and staff bring to the college and it is so fantastic to see that this event was student led and how passionate the students are about culture and heritage. It is events like this which really bring everyone together and turn the College into a community”.

Jason Turton, Head of Faculty for Performance, Arts and Media said, “We couldn’t be prouder of the students for not only coming up with the creative ideas for this event but for planning it down to every last detail and so professionally. I received a humbling message from Laura Stripling, who makes the Honouring the Elders videos, in order to pass on her thanks to students for organising and praised them on the ability to run such an inspiring event.”