Winning hearts and minds: fire service backs Plymouth Respect Festival
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service is supporting the 2013 Plymouth Respect Festival being held next weekend, October 12 -13. The event, which is organised by the Plymouth and Devon Racial Equality Council (PDREC), will feature a blend of music, entertainment and food from around the world.
Working in partnership with the PDREC, Watch Manager from Plymouth, Dave Evans who is on secondment from the Service explains his role: “Prior to the festival a range of school visits have taken place called ‘Step-up-4-respect’ a school and community visual arts project. I lead on this campaign, which aims to foster the spirit of respect among the city's young people. It’s about primary school children creating art for the festival; so far we’ve run 21 workshops speaking to over 500 children.
“Each school we visit, I introduce the campaign to the children and how important it is to respect the difference in others and then get the children’s feedback. Involved will be someone from the Fire Service, Police, University and PDREC.
“Working with an artist the children have created a variety of art with an anti-racism theme integrated into the work. The art includes puppet making, sculpture, mask-making and kite making and will be included in the festival at the weekend, reinforcing and displaying the messages city wide.
“It has been a great honour to represent Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service on my secondment to PDREC and I have been really pleased to be a part of the organisation of such a prestigious event in my home city.”
Anne Wilkinson, co-director of Plymouth and Devon Racial Equality Council said: “The work we do here is difficult, but we aim to win both hearts and minds of people so they are encouraged to learn about our work. It’s very important we are here, because we are the voice that can speak for a lot of people who would be very silent. The Respect Festival is the fun side for us, it’s our showcase and I’d encourage everyone to come along.”
The Respect Festival will see events taking place across the Plymouth university campus and city and among its other highlights will be a world food market. The food market will include local produce as well as ingredients from around the world, with everything from pasties to paella, and samosas to salt fish.
There will also be a range of community focused and awareness raising activities. For more information on the Respect Festival visit their website.
