A celebration of hope and pride with Positive Bradford (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

A celebration of hope and pride with Positive Bradford

8:53am Tuesday 14th February 2012 in Behind the News By Dolores Cowburn

Positive Bradford, held last September, was an event aimed at celebrating all that was good about the district.

It was declared such a success that organisers announced last week that they would be holding another event in June.

Positive Bradford was the brainchild of two businesspeople, Jane Vincent, the managing director of recruitment firm Candelisa People, and Saleem Kadar, who had the vision and the drive to make it happen.

All the more impressive was the fact it happened with virtually no Council involvement, because it was for the people of Bradford by the people of Bradford.

This year, even more local businesses have signed up to get involved they including Hallmark Cards and Seabrook Crisps.

Miss Vincent said this year’s event is going to be bigger and better.

“We will have bigger marquees, more people and will be setting up at 10am rather than noon,” she said.

“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 and art groups on board for the Heritage Day, and there will be other stuff going on to get schoolchildren engaged.”

Why does she think Positive Bradford is such a success? Is it a benefit to have minimum Council involvement?

“I think because it is not everybody being paid to do it or being told they have to do it with a massive marketing budget, that changes things,” she says.

“It is people with a genuine passion trying to get Bradford back to where it needs to be and trying to make a difference.

“There is no money to be made, we just want to put Bradford back on the map.

“At first we got lots of flak and people said we would fail, but we haven’t and we all do it together.

“It is not political and we all have the same aim whatever our background. The Council has been really supportive letting us use the parks and in other ways allowing us to borrow market stalls and everyone is pulling together.”

Last year, just £10,000 was made available via a Joseph Rountree grant and hopefully more cash will come their way this year to make the event, possibly being held in the new City Park, an even bigger success.

Negative publicity and vibes can resonate about the district, but those behind this new celebration of Bradford hope that will all change with efforts to change the perception.

That can begin right at the start of a tourist’s journey, with taxi drivers encouraged to say what is good about the area, through to businesses declaring their support and getting behind their district.

You can tell that organisers mean business as they even have their own Positive Bradford website, speaking up for the city.

It states: “For too long, Bradford has had an unfair reputation, becoming an easy target for the media and the butt of too many jokes. We know the real Bradford, and we are proud to be a part of it.

“Positive Bradford is a coalition of people from the district and city’s business, arts and education sectors who think it’s time to stand up and speak up for the Bradford we love.

“We are business people and entrepreneurs, artists and web designers. We are teachers and students, community organisers and parents. We were born here, grew up here, or chose to make Bradford our home or our business location.

“We are realistic about the districts strengths as well as areas we need to grow, and we want you to help us make our city even easier to love.”

The Guinness World Record attempt to make the largest onion bhaji was created at last year’s event by Bradford College students and backed by Prashad restaurant.

Bradford Council leader Ian Greenwood agrees that the actual event is a success.

“It is not just the Council’s responsibility. The more people involved the better,” he said.

“We are not going to get out of the difficulty we are in by expecting other people to come along and do something for us. We need to take hold of our own responsibility and look to the future and work together.”