Last Sunday, more than 120 people gathered together for the Big Sukkot Party as we welcomed our Jewish Neighbours to Ammerdown.

The Sukkot Festival is a celebration of the Harvest as well as a reminder of Jewish history and their temporary shelters as they travelled through the desert from slavery to the Promised Land. The children decorated the Sukkah – a temporary shelter built in the garden – with fruit and vegetables and paperchains.

On the paperchains they were encouraged to write the things they would like to improve during the coming year. The local school, Kilmersdon Primary made their own chains to add to the Sukkah and hung some of them in the school. Both the Chair of B&NES City Council, Eleanor Jackson, and the Deputy Mayor of Bath, Manda Rigby, joined us in the celebrations, along with a number of faith leaders. People of all faiths and none were welcomed.

Touching on Hate Crime Awareness Week, the series of Meet our Neighbours has encouraged people in the local community to meet people of other faiths through festivals, to learn about their traditions, engage in conversation and share a meal together.

This is part of the Ammerdown Interfaith Project (AIP) which was set up to address faith and race related hate crime. It is hoped that through connecting people, listening to each other’s stories and sharing them on again, we will break down prejudices; remember our common humanity and our need to belong; and be inspired to make a difference. The AIP is funded by the Methodist Church, The Beeston Community Trust and The Ammerdown Centre.

Christine Clinch