Community cohesion is important in every neighbourhood.

If people are unable to get on, tension and intolerance start to emerge, which can lead to fragmented communities.

Bradford prides itself on its vibrant multicultural mix, where people from all backgrounds live and work together.

That community harmony is further nurtured through special projects that encourage people to get to know each other in ways that would not otherwise be possible.

One project, which, from humble beginnings, has seen much success in promoting community cohesion, is hoping to attract more members and further its valuable work within the district.

Parkside Creative Threads began as a small group which met in a classroom at Bowling Park Primary School in New Cross Street, West Bowling.

Run by Donna Harper, an independent family learning and community cohesion adviser, it began as a basic sewing class, designed to help parents and carers make simple alterations to their children’s school uniforms.

“It was about helping people learn to take up hems on trousers, that sort of thing,” says Donna. “Parents came and helped each other – some were good with a needle, and they helped those who were not. But it allowed them to sit and chat, and get to know each other.”

The sessions went so well that once the school-based scheme ended, Donna – who has funded the project – moved the class to Parkside Community Centre in Avenue Road, where it was reborn as Parkside Creative Threads Project.

A visit to a quilting exhibition in London inspired Donna, who felt that the skills demonstrated by families in the groups presented an opportunity for them to work together to create a ‘community cohesion friendship quilt’.

Mums, dads, aunties, cousins and grandparents of pupils from the school and wider community agreed to work together over four months to create two quilts with Donna and Musarat Raza, a textile designer and museums officer from Bolling Hall Museum.

“It was incredible, with parents from different schools and different parts of the community coming together,” says Donna. “Some of them could not speak English, but they shared their sewing skills with others. There were people from different social and cultural backgrounds who lived on the same street and used the same shops and schools, yet had never spoken to one another before. They made friends with each other – it was quite powerful.”

Early last year, armed with sketch pads and pencils, the group – which is open to women and men – made a number of visits to Bolling Hall Museum to study and sketch items from the museum’s historical textile collections and used the interior design and architectural features for inspiration.

The resulting large, colourful wall hanging was exhibited at the Great Northern Quilt Show in Harrogate, and displayed at Parkside Community Centre.

The group grew as parents from other schools in the area began to attend, and Donna introduced more inspirational activities including visits to local parks, museums and moorland.

Guided by a professional artist, they sketched the landscape on the moors near Haworth, then created textile pictures that were shown in Cliffe Castle Museum.

And they took part in a costume design project with Cartwright Hall Museum. The group visited the museum’s costume collections for inspiration and designed, sewed and embellished period costumes which were modelled on International Women’s Day in March.

More activities are planned. “We all love it – you get people from different cultures meeting, who would never otherwise have met,” says Lyn McDermott, 55, of West Bowling, who attends the group with her daughters Kay, 34, Rachel, 28, and Lyn, 25.

“It has also given people more confidence. My daughter Rachel modelled one of the dresses and it boosted her confidence.”

Mother-of-three Asia Salim has made friends at the sessions. “We do things that we would not normally do. People don’t realise how creative and artistic they can be unless they are given the opportunity. Everyone gets involved and helps each other. It gives us something common to talk about.”

Donna has applied for funding to expand the project to other parts of the district and would like to hear from schools or community centres who may be interested in hosting the activities.

All the group’s work will be exhibited at St Stephen’s Church in West Bowling on the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebration weekend in June.

Parkside Creative Threads meets at the Parkside Community Centre, Avenue Road, West Bowling, on Wednesday mornings. For more details, contact Donna on 07922029996, or e-mail donna@schooltraining.com.