Bridgwater Together, an annual event celebrating the Somerset town’s vibrant cultural diversity through music, food, storytelling, dance, film and information sharing, recently took place online.

Rather than cancelling or postponing the event, the organisers, supported by Somerset Diverse Communities, found a creative way to host the event using the video conferencing platform Zoom, and audiences logged on to enjoy presentations and performances from the representatives of minority communities living in Bridgwater.

Michal Puzynski, BME community engagement worker at CCS, explained how the team used existing funding from the Hinkley Point C Community Fund, in a new and innovative way to ensure communities were still able to connect - even when they couldn’t be together.

“Due to the coronavirus outbreak, many concerts, festivals and other events that bring people together have been cancelled or rescheduled," Mr Puzynski said.

"However, we’re doing our best to adapt our activities to the current situation.

“The event was made possible thanks to the support of Somerset Film, Hidden Voices, Diversity Voice, Bridgwater Town Council and the unions TUC and UNITE, as well as part of a grant for £170,747, which is being awarded to CCS over three years from the HPC Community Fund, for which we are very grateful.

“We are aiming to minimise the impact of coronavirus on people’s mental health by bringing people together to reduce the feelings of isolation that many are struggling with right now."

Highlights from the programme of events included Alisa from Serbia, who presented a fascinating interview with her sister about what it meant to be Serbian living in the UK, and there was a wonderful film from a group of Polish children highlighting how important it is to find ways to connect even when we are separated – very pertinent in these times. 

Mariusz, from Poland, discussed the importance of dreams from the comfort of his own bed, followed by a spell-binding performance on a piano of a self-composed musical piece, entitled 9 Stars.

Jinny Uppington from CCS said: “It went brilliantly on Saturday night!  Michal did an amazing job and managed to capture a real sense of community spirit, even online.

"In these current times we need to find different ways of coming together and this event really achieved that.” 

If you run a local community project in Somerset and would like to find out more about grant funding from the HPC Community Fund call Somerset Community Foundation on: 01749 344949 or visit hpcfunds.co.uk