The soul of any community lives in the heart of its people.

IT WAS A PROFOUND PLEASURE TO ORGANISE THE BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATIONS AT THE UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE 8TH YEAR ON FRIDAY THE 28TH OF OCTOBER 2022

A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR AMAZING KEY SPEAKERS.

MR Roland Butcher – First Black Cricketer to represent England

MR Iso Bassey – Founder of the Cross River Movement

Bradford based Jerry Red Dred Crawford – Founder of Collective Impact

Bradford born Anthony Peltier – Retired School Head Teacher and retired Senior Police Officer

Rico Jakk – Advocate for African heritage

Thank you to Sir Enotie Paul Ogbebor for your brotherly support on the day and sharing your knowledge

A BIG THANK YOU to are amazing performing artists – London based Jennifer Sobola and Bradford based Sinead Campbell

Special thanks to our media partners for this event, Black owned MBI Visuals managed by Malakai Israel,. Yusef Alam of Telegraph and Argus Newspapers and Steve Mulindwa

Thank again to amazing supporters Ebele ObumseluAnzir BoodooGogo Anyanwu Jr.Debbie GoltEric ReverenceAndrew Morrison and so many others present on the day .

Thank you to my amazing sister Nicolette Fernandez Okewole for all your selfless support

Watch this space for all the pictures and video footage

#blackhistorymonth2022 #blacklivesmatter #cityofculture2025

OUR ROLE MODEL OF THE WEEK IS ROLE MODEL OF THE WEEK IS MALAKAI ISRAEL – FOUNDER OF MBI VISUALS.

INFORMATION ABOUT HIM CAN BE FOUNDE BELOW . CONGRATULATIONS TO MALAKAI ISRAEL

ABOUT THE AMAZING MALAKAI ISRAEL

Founder of an award winning video marketing agency based in the West Midlands. I have 14 years experience in online marketing and art design. I also have 13 years of experience as a videographer.

My video productions have been featured on large Internet youtube channels: VEVO, SBTV & LINKUP TV, with a combined subscribership of 22 million plus.

I was tasked by Tim Watchorne, Jason Maza (Brotherhood, Bullet Proof, Shifty, Anuva Hood) & David Proud (BBC/EastEnders) to create a music score for a Panasonic G3 Promotional Video. Was great fun working on it!

I was also part of a film production team, providing original soundtracks and voice over, for a feature length film entitled “Last Flight to Abuja”, with a star cast including hollywood actor Hakeem Kae-Kazim. The film went on to win multiple awards, including Best Sound.

The film grossed 8.35 Million Nara in its opening weekend with an attendance of 9,638 and went ahead to gross 24 Million Nara beating Hollywood movies such as The Amazing Spider-Man, Think Like a Man, The Avengers and Madagascar 3.

It was released in many cities, including Lagos and London, where it was rated at 4 stars by Odeon cinemas. Also receiving over 2 million views on Ibaka TV’s YouTube Channel.

So far the film has grossed over 57 Million Nara making it one of the best selling movies in Africa and is currently streaming on Netflix.

As production manager I also helped to create a short film entitled “Second Wind” Directed by Andrew Webber (AW Broadcast). My duties were fulfilled, finding lead actress Emma Jeng of ‘Coronation Street’ (ITV), Emmerdale Farm (ITV) ‘Doctors’ (BBC) and Hollyoaks (Channel 4), filming b-roll, organising sets, securing locations, finding and securing props & supporting actors.

The film went on to be showcased at Portobello Film Festival in London, The Kingston Film festival in Jamaica, The Movie Video & Screen Awards and The Black International Film Festival. Backed by The British Arts Council, “Second Wind” was nominated for multiple awards. I did this for free, as I valued the experience over the money.

I also worked on a music video for talented Nigerian artist Priscilla Nwachi. I was first assistant director and camera operator on this project entitled “Just Like You”. Directed by Andrew Webber. This video was broadcasted on two African TV stations.

At the moment
I’m looking to work with educational organisations, creating professional video production and video marketing.

OUR BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATIONS TAKES PLACE AT UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT

The guestlist for this annual event is full.

Do watch this space for video footage of the event which will be available on OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

KINDLY SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AT http://www.youtube.com/user/etekatoks

MBI VISUALS BASED IN WOLVERHAMPTON WILL BE ONE OF OUR MEDIA PARTNERS AT BLACK HISTORY- UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT

MBI Visuals Ltd is a family run business.
Founded in 2018, Malakai had a feasible vision to build a legacy for his children. Having already gained 13 years experience in content creation and Marketing, it just made perfect sense to pursue his passion, to put everything into forming & building his own company.
With a previous background of creating on and offline marketing strategies, visualising marketing campaigns and bringing them to fruition, designing content, improving SEO, updating websites and blogs, creating mailing lists, writing press releases and producing video adverts, successful entrepreneurs would agree that mindset, self education, determination and experience always wins!
With exciting prospects, passion & drive that cannot be hidden. With new Co-Founder Chris on board, Malakai is determined to steer MBI visuals in the right direction.
MBI is a forward thinking B2B video marketing agency, providing top notch video production and e-commerce marketing solutions to local and national businesses.
MBI Visuals is a Registered supplier to Cheshire West and Chester Council.

#wolverhampton #mbivisuals #blackbusiness #blackhistory #blacklives

BRADFORD BASED SINEAD CAMPBELL WILL BE PERFORMING AT OUR BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATIONS AT THE UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT

INFORMATION ABOUT SINEAD CAN BE FOUND BELOW

Bradford’s Sinead Campbell is a singer-songwriter, creative producer and Music Instigator with Bradford Producing Hub. She supports the music scene within the district, curates music events and runs Bradford Buskival. 

She is a soul singer who delivers smooth RnB basslines & propulsive rhythms. She seeks to inspire confidence in others and stands for connectedness. She has shared the stage with the likes of Basement Jaxx, Aswad and Arrested development, has support from BBC Introducing amongst others and is just getting started. 

#cityofculture2025 #bradfordcity #blackhistorymonth2022

Jennifer is an independent unsigned published song writer and artist, who for the past 17 years + has been writing, recording and releasing her own music under the artist name Da Sweetnezz.

Jennifer has written and recorded her own songs for various labels, and continues to build her own catalogue as a writer and performer. Over the years Jennifer has acquired a wide knowledge of the use of social media and digital marketing, and also due to her many years as an experienced and working performing artist Jennifer has built up superb networking and communication skills. Jennifer’s love for music, and performance has really brought her to some amazing places and introduced her to a wide range of people within the music industry which have helped to shape her carer as an artist.

Jennifer is also an accomplished and experienced operations management professional and administrator bringing over 6 years´ experience managing large and small offices, with advanced abilities in team building and workflow improvements. Jennifer is innovative and analytical with excellent project management, and communication skills. Jennifer has some experience working with numerous branches, including payroll and human resources. She is comfortable facilitating an efficient workflow and improving the communication between multiple departments, with an expert-level proficiency using software such as Microsoft Office, and Kindersoft.

#blackhistorymonth2022 #blacklivesmatter #cityofculture2025

BRADFORD BORN ANTHONY PELTIER WILL BE A KEY SPEAKER AT OUR BLACK HISTORY EVENT AT UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT.

INFORMATION ABOUT MR ANTHONY PELTIER CAN BE FOUND BELOW

BRADFORD BORN ANTHONY PELTIER WILL BE A KEY SPEAKER AT OUR BLACK HISTORY CELEBRATIONS DUE TO TAKE PLACE THIS MONTH.

INFORMATION ABOUT ANTHONY CAN BE FOUND BELOW

Born and raised in Buttershaw in the 1960’s, Anthony has returned to Bradford to be part of the change needed to prevent the knife crime epidemic, which continues to affect many cities across the United Kingdom.
Anthony is an accomplished Headteacher with 42 years experience in education with the last 20 years in school leadership.

Anthony has had four successful primary headships both in London and Birmingham. His Executive Headship of four secondary alternative provisions (PRUs) in Southeast London was the most challenging and rewarding. By building trust with disengaged young people and establishing collaborative working practices with statutory settings, Anthony created learning opportunities for some of Southwark’s permanently excluded young people who were at risk of crime and youth violence.

Anthony is an OFSTED-trained inspector, having achieved his NPQSI (National Professional Qualification for School Inspectors) in 2015. After receiving the Pride of Britain Award in 2002 for saving the life of a youth who had been stabbed in the heart, Anthony re-joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 2004. While policing the streets of London on evenings and weekends, he continued his work in education as a Headteacher because he believes working in these two integral public sector positions is the best place to work towards changing the mind-sets of young people.

Anthony is a Sociapreneur and change agent. As well as working to secure a cultural organisational change in all public sector and private sector organisations and institutions, Anthony uses his time to grow agents of change, young people who will develop the skills and attributes to influence and champion social change in their communities and networks. Anthony also continues to support Headteachers in his role as a School Improvement Advisor.

Anthony understands the plight of our black boys in schools. The achievement gap, the risk of Permanent exclusion, and the growing issues around mental health are all things he feels can be addressed through a collaborative working approach with parents, schools, pupils, and statutory agencies.

He believes people need to be honest about their responsibilities and be open to the fact that we cannot continue to lay all the blame on institutions and organisations for the failure of our black boys.

Anthony is the founder of Innovate for Growrh CIC, a social uplift company working towards creating change in our communities.

In 2020 when Anthony learned of Lynne Baird, founder of the Daniel Baird Foundation, and her work to have Bleed Control Kits in communities across the country, Anthony started his campaign to ensure all 32 London Councils had a Bleed Control strategy in place to support their communities. To date, 14 London councils have a Bleed Control Kit strategy in place.
Later that year while working with a secondary PRU, Anthony spoke with a group of young people about why they thought so many young people choose to carry knives. He was astounded by the ridiculous reasons they gave. Sadly Anthony has also spoken with young people who have been victims of knife violence and perpetrators of knife crime. He found that none of the young people
understood the implications of stabbing a human being. Their lack of understanding of the human body and the consequences of using a knife was clear.
The next youth change education program was born – Bleed Control Education. Anthony continues to seek funders to support this vital program for schools and young people across the country.

http://www.bst-services.co.uk/the-science
http://www.bst-seevices.co.uk/why-donate

ROLAND BUTCHER, 1ST BLACK CRICKETER TO REPRESENT ENGLAND TO BE A KEY SPEAKER AT BLACK HISTORY AT UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT

INFORMATION ABOUT MR ROLAND BUTCHER CAN BE FOUND BELOW

Roland Orlando Butcher (born 14 October 1953, Saint Philip, Barbados)^[1] is a former cricket player and coach, who played for England in three Test matches and three One Day Internationals from 1980 to 1981. He is recognised as being the first black cricketer to represent England.^[2] His brief international career was somewhat overshadowed by the death of Ken Barrington, and the ‘Jackman affair‘.

A cousin of Basil, Roland Butcher had come to the United Kingdom at the age of thirteen from his native Barbados.^[1] He was an aggressive middle-order batsman, who represented Middlesex between 1974 and 1990. His intuitive batting style owed much to the archetypical West Indian calypso flair.^[1] He “secured his place in history when he became the first black player to represent England, making his Test debut at Bridgetown in 1980-81”.^[3]

Butcher came to prominence during Middlesex’s successes in 1980 when they won the County Championship and the Gillette Cup, impressing with a rapid half-century in the final of the latter.^[4] He had actually made his England debut two weeks later, impressing with another half-century on his one-day international debut against Australia.^[5] He struggled more however on the 1980-1 tour against the West Indies who had the most powerful bowling line-up in the world at the time and did not play for England again.

In 1983, “he suffered a sickening injury which threatened his eyesight when struck by George Ferris“, but managed to recuperate and return to the sport.^[3] He continued to enjoy success with Middlesex, winning the County Championship again in 1982 and 1985, and featuring in victories in the finals of the NatWest Trophy in 1984 and 1988 and the Benson and Hedges Cup in 1983. In 1987 he won the Walter Lawrence Trophy for recording the fastest century of the season (in terms of balls faced) against Sussex

SOURCE- WIKIPEDIA

MR ISO BASSEY WILL BE ONE OF THE KEY SPEAKERS AT OUR BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATIONS AT UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT. INFORMATION ABOUT ISO BASSEY CAN BE FOUND BELOW

About Iso

Hi there, my name is Iso Bassey. I’m a husband, father, social entrepreneur and avid golfer.

I’m passionate about social issues especially as they affect my country – Nigeria and my state – Cross River.

Public Service

I served as Special Assistant, ICT (Information Systems) to Governor Liyel Imoke.

During my time with government, I led several initiatives aimed at improving service delivery to citizens. I chaired the local organising committee for the Nigeria National Software Conference and served on the planning committee for Calabar Festival (the foremost tourism event in Nigeria)

MR JERRY CRAWFORD ORIGINALLY FROM ST KITTS AND BASED IN BRADFORD, WEST YORKSHIRE, WILL BE ONE OF THE KEY SPEAKERS AT OUR BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATIONS TAKING PLACE THIS MONTH

Jerry Crawford was one of The Africa4u Award Winners at The Africa4u Awards for African and Caribbean Achievers living in West Yorkshire. (An event which took place early this year)

Information about Jerry can be found below

INFORMATION ABOUT JERRY CAN BE FOUND BELOW

Jerry Crawford  is a Community Worker/Activist, Event Organiser , Audio Engineer , Community Stars Winner, Change maker & Covid 19 Community Champion.

He helped set up Bradford’s 1st community recording studio running music projects for the social disadvantaged.

Over the years he has been involved in many community projects and worked in partnership with numerous organisations.

In 2020 he helped to organise peaceful protest for George Floyd.  

Collective Impact  also helps individuals, families or whole communities to bring about social change and improve the quality of life in our local area. They act as the link between communities and a range of other local authority and voluntary sector providers, such as the police, social workers and teachers.

Jerry Crawford AKA Red Dred who has been very instrumental in many music/media based projects and events. He has over thirty years of experience of Djing and organising events. 

Over the decades Jerry has provided entertainment at many functions weddings ,raves, house parties  christening, birthdays, community events,festivals and carnivals

Jerry is also a radio presenter which he has been doing for over 25 years. 

Jerry Crawford is one of the first pioneers to introduce house music to Bradford.

Jerry worked at Livestock Records Bradford’s 1st dance music record shop. He set up Bradford’s first acid house rave all nighter. In early 90s Jerry set up Reuben Sounds

Bradford’s 1st community recording studio at Bradford Community Arts where he started running music production and dj mixing courses. Over the decades he has worked with many organisations such as

Mapa

Xplosion

Bradford Council 

The Youth Services 

Bradford Festival 

Bradford Trident 

The Princes Trust 

SportsDev

Raise The Roof

BCB Radio 

Windrush Generations

and many more schools, community groups and charity organisations.

He is now working with Collective Impact a community organisation based at Mapa. 

#blackhistory #blacklivesmatters #cityofculture