Green City Action, Abbeyfield Park House, Abbeyfield Park Road, Sheffield S4 7AG
panni@greencityaction.co.uk

Green City Action was set up in 1993. It is an environmental company based in Burngreave, Sheffield. Engaging people of diverse cultures in environmental issues is at the heart of its work.

The Abbeyfield Park Multicultural Festival was initiated and organised by Panni Poh Yoke Loh of Green City Action as a way of celebrating and connecting people of diverse cultural backgrounds with the environment.

Planning

Panni decided to take the practical approach and simply talked to members of the community to see what they wanted for their space. In the past there had been events in the park, but on a smaller scale. The result of the consultation with the local community resulted in the festival.

In April 1991 the management committee gave the go ahead for the Festival. It was planned for July of that year. Although this did not leave much time for the community groups to prepare, 17 very motivated people from different groups got to work immediately and ended up organising a really successful event. Since then the event has grown from year to year.

Funding Funding came from the SRB Budget. Five of the main aims of the festival are: • To celebrate the rich diversity of the Burngreave Area raising its positive profile and creating greater community harmony. • To provide greater multicultural involvement in environmental issues. • To bring people of all ethnic backgrounds together in a way that is relevant and appropriate to them respecting their culture. • To provide an opportunity for celebrating in Abbeyfield Park enabling people to enjoy its simple pleasures. • To increase awareness of the activities and resources provided by Green City Action

Future Plans

Green City Action hopes that in the future besides the festival they will use it as a focus to also organise programmes of activities leading up to it.

Further Information

You can log onto the BBC website for more information and photos from the festival

www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/features/abbeyfield–park/index.shtmlg

A few photographs showing some of the activities at the Festival