Positive Bradford event to be repeated (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Celebration event for city to be repeated after big success last year

11:00am Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Bradford By Dolores Cowburn

An event aimed at celebrating the best of Bradford was such a success that it will be held again this year. Hundreds of people poured into Centenary Square last September to see the best the district had to offer as part of the Positive Bradford celebrations.

Now, organisers are promising an even bigger event, possibly in City Park, on June 22. Jane Vincent, the managing director of recruitment firm Candelisa People, and Saleem Kadar founded the event after deciding it was time to show the positivity across the district. Miss Vincent is holding a meeting at the Midland Hotel on Thursday from 10am for people to sign up to take part this year. “This event is going to be bigger and better than last year,” she said. “We will have bigger marquees, more people and will be setting up at 10am rather than noon. “More schools have signed up to get involved and a lot of major companies such as Provident Personal Credit want to be part of it. “We will have charity groups, art groups on board for the Heritage Day and will explain all next week. “There will be other stuff going on to get schoolchildren engaged, so people interested in finding out more about it should come along on Thursday.” Nearly 200 businesses including Hallmark Cards and Seabrook Crisps got on board last year while the Joseph Rowntree Foundation funded a main stage for local bands to perform with a £10,000 grant. Dancers Kala Sangam, a group of Eastern European Romanian gipsies and the Jaipur Kawa Brass Band also performed. Two volunteers from the Phillippines are helping with organising this year’s event as part of their Global Exchange programme along with other volunteers. There will also be a Heritage Day the same week, where venues not normally open to the public, including City Hall, the Peace Museum and the Cathedral will open their doors and access all areas to local people. Miss Vincent is in talks with the JRF to get more funding in a bid to make the event free.