AN EVENT celebrating Black history which was led by a Bradford community group has now premiered online.

The event - which was on 29 October - was organised by the Africa4U Association, whose CEO, Tony Tokunbo Eteka Fernandez, has been organising annual Black History Month celebrations at the Houses of Parliament since 2013.

This year's event was virtual and held over Zoom, and welcomed a number of guest speakers, including June Isaacs – the wife of reggae icon Gregory – and Nigerian singer Charly Boy.

Also in attendance were Nims Obunge – pastor, chief executive of knife-crime awareness organisation The Peace Alliance and an independent mayoral candidate for London in 2021 – and motivational speaker Getrude Matshe.

Tony, who is originally from Nigeria, lived in London before moving to Bradford in 2018.

He said: "Due to Covid-19, we were unable to organise the Black History Month celebrations at the Houses of Parliament this year, so we resorted to going online.

"We organised the event in collaboration with the International Centre for Integration and Cohesion, as well as the Faiths Forum for London, and did it through an online recording, where we had famous speakers from around the globe.

"The event was recorded and is now being broadcasted across the world.

"Events like this are important, as part of highlighting the successes and experiences of Black achievers in today's world, in various sectors and countries.

"It also vital to use their experiences, success stories and journeys to uplift and empower others."

Tony considers himself to be an adopted Bradfordian - and has worked hard to help create more community cohesion in the district.

At the beginning of October, he organised Black History Month celebrations at City Library, which he said aimed to "allow people to exchange each other's cultures and ideas, because life is all about celebrating our differences and learning to understand one another."

“I think people need to listen, engage and collaborate in order to bridge that understanding and create change", he added.

"These events are good for Bradford, as they help us to give more insight about the bigger picture of not only Black history, but also of community leaders doing great things around the world, which helps us to bridge a better understanding."

To find out more information, visit myfernandez.com, and to watch the Black History Month celebrations, visit the Tony Tokunbo Eteka Fernandez Show on YouTube.