People from Shadwell came together to celebrate their community this week in a fun day organised by Near Neighbours and TELCO. Hundreds of people from different backgrounds gathered in Watney Market Piazza to show their love for this diverse part of East London.

The event was supported by St Paul’s Church and the Daurul Ummah Mosque, among others. St Paul’s and Daural Ummah have already beeen working closely together on a number of projects including a Near Neighbours-funded gardening scheme.

Local resident Stephen, who attends St Paul’s told us it had been a wonderful day, “The day was only made possible due to the strength of local relationships. Shadwell is a small area but within it there happens to be an abundance of churches, mosques, and schools. The church and mosque enjoy a strong relationship built up over time by working together in the community. Working together has led to strong individual friendships between worshippers who share a heart for the neighbourhood, and together we wanted to do something to bless the community. The day was a great success, I spoke to an elderly gentleman who had lived in Shadwell for 36 years since moving from Bangladesh and said he’d never seen anything like this in Shadwell before. There was a really good mix of the community present, old and young, Christian and Muslim, and plenty of volunteers from different faith and community groups.  Plenty of people were asking when the next one would be, and it was heartening to hear that people were taking their ‘We ❤ Shadwell’ stickers home and sticking them up on their front doors around the local estates.

With balloons, face-painting, banners, stickers, henna, games, artwork and a tea party, there was plenty for everyone to do! There’s now demand for another event to take place in 2013 – watch this space…