The day after street violence took place in the Nottingham inner city ward of St Ann’s on 7 August, community leader Maxine Cockett got on the phone to the leader of Nottingham City Council, Jon Collins, in an effort to bring the community back together. The police station had been attacked and cars smashed in the violence in an area that suffers high youth unemployment.
Councillor Collins, who is a Councillor for that Ward, immediately met with community leaders, youth workers and local residents in St Ann’s and action plans formulated.
Cockett, from a Jamaican background, works for the Children’s Society, training mentors. Earlier in the summer she had been at the IofC centre in Caux, Switzerland, which, she said, ‘transformed me’.
Nottingham businessman Richard Hawthorne said that he was ‘absolutely certain’ that the violence would have been much worse were it not for a series of annual ‘Holding hands around St Ann’s’ Unity Days held in the community each Summer.
Glorious sunshine welcomed the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Councillor Michael Wildgust, at the eighth such event, on 16 July. He called the multiracial gathering to a time of quiet reflection on Robin Hood Chase. The annual event grew out of Hope in the Cities Community Dialogues, building on a dream that Maxine had about holding hands to bring peace in St. Ann’s.
The Mayor asked the gathering to join hands in a big circle, then have a period of silence, during which everyone was asked to think how they could reach out to other people – especially those who may come from a different background or generation - thus making St Ann’s a better place to live in unity.
A wide range of musical entertainment followed on the special outdoor stage. Activities also took place in the library and church, along with a drumming workshop. Earlier, rain had caused community organisation stalls to be relocated into the Chase Neighbourhood Centre. International food stalls continued outside under their gazebos along with a special bouncy castle.
Events like this aim to hold communities together at times of great stress.
English