Mayor Elisha McCallion

DERRY City and Strabane Council has announced details of this year’s Community Relations and Cultural Awareness Week.

It will take place from September 28 to October 04 and will celebrate the city and district’s cultural diversity and encourage people to participate in the wide range of exciting events planned.

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Cllr Elisha McCallion speaking ahead of the launch, which takes place on Monday 21st September at 10:30am in the Garden of Reflection, DiverseCity Partnership Building on Bishop Street, explained that the main objective of the week is to highlight that although we have come a long way in terms of cultural acceptance, there is still room for improvement.

“This event allows us to demonstrate our passion as a community for diversity and the value we place on it,” said the Mayor.

“The theme of this year is ‘One Place, Many People,’ and we hope to inspire and act on this encouraging message throughout the week.

“We pride ourselves on being a culturally diverse and community centred city and hope to celebrate this throughout the week of exciting events and we will be encouraging people to think about what it truly means to be a part of a community and how the diversity should be an asset rather than an obstacle in creating solid foundations, “ she said.

Angela Askin is a community relations officer with Derry City and Strabane District Council and she says she hopes the public will come along and participate at many of the events organised during 28 Sept – 4th October 2015.

“In understanding and taking account of other cultures we learn to build a mutual respect that the community needs to thrive and grow and the week of events is a great way of being part of that process.“

Among the events scheduled to take place during the week are a celebration of Filipino Traditions, ‘Hot Potatoes’ Cafe Culture Style Conference, a trip to the Crumlin Road Goal along with many other interesting training courses and networking events.

All details on community relations week events can be found atwww.derrystrabane.com

The launch is open to everyone so please feel free to come along to hear about the interesting free events taking place during the week.