Kingsway Park celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr with a community event

Date published: 21 June 2019

Kingsway Park High School staff, students and the local community celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr in style on Friday 7 June.

Honoured guests on the evening included Mayor Billy Sheerin, Tony Lloyd MP and the school governors, were given a tour of the event by the executive student leadership team.

The school hosted its first ‘Eid event’ which aimed to bring people of all faiths together to celebrate the auspicious occasion. The rain didn’t deter people from coming to enjoy the festivities and the energy was palpable.

Performers from Bhangracise, based in the North-West, kept the attendees dancing throughout the evening which culminated in a dance-off.

Caterers kept everyone fuelled with copious amounts of south-Asian food and Asian tea, whilst Mazidah’s Bakery, a cake business set up by KPHS student entrepreneur Mazidah Begum and her sister, kept everyone full with her delicious sweet treats.

Year 8 Business and Enterprise students set up shop on the evening, having been given a budget of £25 and the challenge of returning a profit with a strong business idea suited to the event. Both groups of students managed to double their money in a fantastic effort.

Staff from KPHS ran a very popular tombola which was busy throughout the evening and the technology department hosted an Eid-themed photo booth.

Olivia Whittaker, a north-west based photographer, took some fantastic pictures of the event.

Guests were able to get crafty with colourful paper lanterns to take home at another stall.

Bounce n’ Boogie provided inflatable castles for the young and young-at-heart and Jen’s creations, a Rochdale-based face painter and balloon modeller, created beautiful, glittery designs on the party guests.

Heavenly Henna, a group of north-west based Henna artists, were kept busy all evening by attendees and there was lots of shopping opportunities to buy accessories and beauty products from Emaan’s and Lash Queen. ZK carpets offered discounts and product giveaways.

Organiser, Zainab Asghar, a member of staff at Kingsway Park High School said: “It was our first community Eid event at Kingsway Park High School and it was an overwhelming success.

“We wanted to make sure we could we really encapsulate what Eid is all about; community spirit, acceptance no matter what race or religion people may come from and ultimately we wanted it to be fun for everyone who attended.

“I’d like to thank the team of staff who worked tirelessly over the past few months to help bring the event together and Ms Deborah Ball our head teacher for her support. We hope it will be the first of many events at the school.”

Many local businesses supported the event including; Bhangracise, Cake Box, Emaan’s Fashion, ZK carpets, Heavenly Henna, and Zak’s Ice Cream van.