On Thursday 28 October a group of 40+ people gathered at the West Indian Centre in Spon Street. They were there to begin to tackle the conflicts, misunderstandings and distances that exist between the various communities of African and African Caribbean peoples represented in Coventry.

Read more below ...

By all accounts the event succeeded in fulfilling this aim with some interesting and quality conversations taking place. The event was part of our Peace Festival calendar of events, but also appropriately coincided with Black History Month.

So who attended the event and what did we do? There were African Caribbeans, Africans plus a number of friends and allies. The event was both an opportunity for social contact and networking, as well as an opportunity for information exchange and cross-cultural learning.

Attendees were asked on arrival to place a flag on a world map to indicate where their Granny grew up, this was followed through in the introductions where people were asked to introduce themselves, by stating their name, say why they were at the event and restate where their Granny grew up.

After an introduction by Angela , Mark and Heather, we split into groups - one group of Africans, one group of Caribbeans, a group of South and East Asians, and a group of white Europeans. The Africans and the Caribbeans spoke separately about the myths and stereotypes that each group have heard about the other. The other groups spoke about the first time they had contact with or became aware of Africans or Caribbeans.

These conversations were followed by panel sessions in which a selection of Africans and the Caribbeans were asked:

• What's good about being African (or Caribbean) in Coventry?
• What's hard about being African (or Caribbean) in Coventry?
• What's good about living in a city with many Caribbeans (or about having more Africans living here)?
• What's hard about living in a city with many Caribbeans (or about having more Africans living here)?

As with all good parties there simply was not enough time and attendees were left wanting more, but they were given the opportunity to pass on ideas for the next event, some of which were:

• A focus group could emerge to take this forward
• Now that we have come together, let us organise a smashing Black History Month in 2011
• Organise Social Events
• Utilise the skills and talent of local BME activists
• Get rid of the myth of Africans hating people from the Caribbean
• Could this group be involved in Black History or Coventry Festival?

As this was the first time that I had led an external FolesHillfields event I was very pleasantly surprised by the number of people that attended, by the feedback that we have had since and by the excellent support I had from the rest of the FolesHillfields Team.