A special community event took place at the Castle Hill Community Centre in Ebbsfleet on October 12th as part of the Dartford wide programme for Black History Month produced by Cohesion Plus, Dartford Borough Council and Kent Equality Cohesion Council.

The theme of the event was to showcase local Black Business owned by women, reflecting the national theme of Black History Month 2023 of Celebrating our Sisters.

A number of local residents shared information on some of their respective businesses and activities that they run in the areas. These included Yoshina Bhopal who delivers Bollywood inspired fitness sessions, Dela Oresanwo and Rebecca Ajwole who both set up micro catering businesses during lockdown and were supplying the food for the evening. Other speakers included Eden Health who showcased their work around healthy living and the Afro-Caribbean Grocery which delivers traditional foods to the local community. There was also a demonstration from Tanya at TMG Business who got everyone up and working hard with a special boxercise class.

Performances by diverse artists at the event included Yohanne Osafo on the violin, a Bollywood dance workshop by So Bolly led by Yoshina Bhopal and a performance by Folkin Fusion who brought together the Djembe Drum from Southern Africa and the Dhol drum from Northern India.

Gurvinder Sandher MBE DL, Artistic Director of Cohesion Plus commented “We have been very proud to have developed a comprehensive programme for Black History Month working across Dartford. Today we were able to showcase some great diverse led businesses and some great artists, underlining the great talent that exists here in Kent. We as ever are very grateful to our partners for working with us and supporting our work not just in October but across the year.”