Cohesion Plus was pleased to work in partnership with the North Kent Caribbean Network to deliver this year’s International Reggae Day on Friday 1st July in Gravesham. The event marked the birth of reggae music which hailed from Jamaica and provided the local diverse communities and particularly those of Caribbean descent an opportunity to come together and celebrate.

Some 200 hundred people attended the festivities and enjoyed sets from DJ Flate and ‘Denim’ a trio of vocalist who performed reggae classics throughout the evening. Cuisine from the Caribbean and traditional rum punches were also served as part of the festivities.

Michelle Bramble, Chair of the North Kent Caribbean Network commented, “We are so pleased to have finally been able to celebrate this iconic day in person since the onset of the pandemic. Our group consists of elders who travelled to the UK during the 1940’s as well as the generations that followed them thereafter. We also have members who have ties to the Caribbean and the Commonwealth overall. This year’s International Reggae Day gave them all a chance to get together, dance and celebrate music that has deep cultural meaning, is rich in heritage and ultimately speaks of unity. We are grateful to our partners Cohesion Plus for their continued support and we look forward to putting on similar events with them where the community is at the heart.”

Gurvinder Sandher, Artistic Director of Cohesion Plus commented, “We’re really proud of our continued partnership with NKCN and particularly of this event which saw everyone come together and celebrate music, culture and art from the Caribbean. We believe as an organisation, that it is vital that all genres of art and culture should be showcased, reaching audiences that necessarily wouldn’t have the opportunity to access it as well as the audiences that do have access, but don’t really see their culture represented in the mainstream. We are really thankful to the NKCN for all their hard work and we look forward to working together.”