Black History Month

A carnival atmosphere will descend on Hillingdon in October as the borough celebrates Black History Month.

Black History Month will officially open with ‘BIGFEST’, the borough’s annual street carnival, which takes place through Uxbridge town centre from 4pm on Sunday 7 October.

Everyone can get involved by taking part in the free workshops in Egyptian dancing, circus skills and carnival costume making on the High Street, Uxbridge from 12pm.

As well as celebrations, there will also be time for commemoration with a plaque being erected in memory of William Wilberforce, the campaigning MP who helped abolish the slave trade in Britain 200 years ago, and who lived at the Chestnuts on Honeycroft Hill in the Uxbridge area from 1824 to 1826.

Residents keen to find out more about their famous neighbour can listen to Wilberforce biographer, Stephen Tomkins deliver a talk about the politician and his work at 7.30pm on Wednesday 10 October in Uxbridge Library.

Black History Month has been celebrated in Hillingdon since 2001, but this year will have added poignancy due to the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery.

Councillor Henry Higgins, Hillingdon’s cabinet member for culture, sport and leisure, acknowledged the importance of celebrating Black History Month in the local area.

Cllr Higgins said: ‘I hope that everyone will enjoy this year’s events and take the opportunity to reflect on Hillingdon’s history and celebrate our future.’

He claimed that this year’s Black History Month in Hillingdon would be ‘bigger and better than ever.’

Many public events are planned and further information can be found at www.hillingdon.gov.uk/bhm.

www.hillingdon.gov.uk/bhm

www.hillingdon.gov.uk/index.jsp?articleid=11132

Self Reflective Essay

This was the first piece I wrote for the course. In my first week, I noticed posters advertising the up-coming Black History Month in October. Having moved to Uxbridge from an area (Aberdeen) where Black History Month was not really celebrated, I was interested to see what was being done in an area that was more ethnically diverse. The events also presented a good opportunity to make contact with Hillingdon Borough Council.

After contacting a press officer for the council and making enquires about what the council would be doing, I was sent a brochure of the forthcoming events that were to make up Black History Month and a press release that outlined everything that was happening. I also asked to be added to the council’s contact list so that I could receive press releases from them for future stories.

Originally I focused on the angle of Wilberforce’s residency in Uxbridge because I thought it might be a fact that many local residents were unaware of and because of the focus on the bi-centennial of the abolition of slavery.

However, I was encouraged to change the thrust of the piece so that the carnival was more prominent, thus making the piece more eye catching to the reader. I rewrote the piece with the Wilberforce memorial section of the further down the page, which gave the story a balance and showed the differing elements of Black History Month, celebration and remembrance.
I attempted to write the piece so that local people would be informed of what was happening and would be inspired to get involved.