Flying flags for Dudley Multicultural Day

Dudley Multicultural Day aims to celebrate the diverse communities around the borough and demonstrate how the colourful past, present and future has made it a vibrant hub.

The event on Saturday, July 17, will take place in Market Place in Dudley as part of celebrations for Black Country Day being held on Wednesday, July 14.

It is the brainchild of Frankie Prazer, who has lived in Dudley for five years and said he had noticed a lack of events celebrating diversity in the town.

Frankie said: "I've done cultural events before in my home town of Luton and I wanted to do one here because no one had done one before and, in fact, the last multicultural event of any kind was an EDL march.

"I wanted to showcase the multicultural side of this town as the latest census will show the number of different ethnicities in Dudley and ensure they are celebrated, as they weren't before.

"They celebrate St George's Dday and Black Country Day, but they weren't celebrating Multicultural Day and I just wanted to ask them about how they are embracing the diversity in the borough."

The 50-year-old, whose family come from Karachi in Pakistan, said he had seen the number of communities living in parts of the region, with Romanian and Polish families in Lye, and Asian and African families all over the borough.

Frankie said that after speaking to Black Country Day organiser Dave Brownhill, he had decided to follow through with his idea and spoke about what people could expect on the day.

He said: "You can expect to see a range of song and dance from artists from different countries, including some artists who've never performed on a stage as big as this.

"This all comes after speaking to Dave and applying for funding, plus sponsorship from GMB Union and the likes of Dudley Interfaith Network, Gather Café CIC, Tamo Music, Banitta Maxx and Leslies Care Packages.

"We have a lot of volunteers helping out on the day and we have done everything we can to be Covid-safe, with hand gel dispensers and social distancing, so come down and see the diversity of Dudley in full display."

Dudley Multicultural Day starts at 11am on Saturday, July 17 at Market Place in Dudley.