Grantham African Afro-Caribbean Social Group holds third party in the park, raising money for charity

An African and Afro-Caribbean social group held an event on August Bank Holiday, raising money for two charities.

Dr Angela Esiwe is chair of the Grantham African Afro-Caribbean Social Group (GAAC), which was established in 2018.

The group recently ran its third successful summer picnic party in Queen Elizabeth Park on Sunday August 27.

Angela said: “I’m pleased to say our summer party went well and we were fortunate on the Sunday that we had some sunshine.

“We enjoyed so many activities on the day which included a raffle draw.”

The star prize was a hamper of hair products from Klugs in Grantham, with £109 raised.

The money raised will be split between the On Yer Bike scheme founded by Sandra Mullin MBE and a charity supporting the homeless in Grantham.

Angela said: “We were established in 2018 with a few members and grew tremendously during the pandemic.

“One of the members had started off a Grantham African-Caribbean Group and it was called something slightly different back in 2007.

“There were two years where nothing happened, then I started the Whatsapp group. Before then, there was no social media involvement.

There are now 139 members of the group, which is run by a volunteer committee of 11 people.

Angela continued: “When I moved to Grantham in 2012 from Peterborough, where there were a lot more people of colour, there was an end of year party in December at the community centre in the Earlesfield estate.

“It was really nice because people wore traditional attire, people brought traditional food and we started off with a prayer.

“It’s not just Africans, and people not just of one religion, christians and muslims all coming together to have a good time, there were families and kids there. I realised that there were so many people there.”

There was no end of year party in 2016 due to the death of a friend of the group, but by 2017, Angela believed that the annual event should return, eventually setting up the Whatsapp in 2018 to make it easier to communicate.

Angela added: “We never used to do a summer party, but during the pandemic we couldn’t do our end of year party because of social distancing. We decided why not do a summer event and the first one was two years ago.”

Loreen Oloo is another committee member, who handles the social media side of the group.

She said: “The group is very important in the sense that, if for example, a new person has relocated to Grantham, especially if they are Afro-Caribbean, they don’t know what’s going on and it’s just easier when you move to a different town or country to have people that you relate with.

“If I went to town and met another Afro-Caribbean person, we’d exchange greetings and my first question would be “how long have you been in Grantham? And if they’re new”, we’d say we have the African family in Grantham, are you interested? Most of the time they are, because it’s like a little family where we help each other to know what’s going on in Grantham, where to find what in Grantham. It’s very beneficial.

“It’s a platform where we empower and inform each other as well, like where to find what. It’s really important especially because our culture is slightly different, our foods are different, some things that we do are a bit different.”

Angela added: “What often happens through the group is that we are able to share that information. Once a week, people who have little businesses share information there.

We have caterers etc and if we want to celebrate each other, some people will invite the group for events like Eid. Even just simple things like discussing a topical subject on the news.”

Both Loreen and Angela were asked what their favourite part about the group was.

Loreen said: “Bringing people together, because Africa has 52 countries, and in the group there’s people from more than 10 countries.

“There’s Kenyans, Nigerians, Zambians. What happens in Kenya is different to what happens in Nigeria, so it’s nice because we get to exchange and learn each other’s cultures as well.

“For me, that’s the best thing because I’ve learned so much from other people’s cultures, just from being in the group.

Angela said: “For me, friendship has been an important part of it and getting to know about my culture more and also teaching it to other generations.

“I have two boys and they have picked up a lot about the culture from attending the events.

“They were excited to hear the drummers performing, seeing people in cultural attire, tasting the different foods as well. Definitely, friendship is a big thing for me, especially during the pandemic, that was hard.”

The group do not charge for the events, but do ask for donations to go towards meeting venues and sometimes use raffle draws to pay for venues.

Loreen added: “All of our parties, we call them Afro-Caribbean parties, but they’re usually public because we bring our British friends as well and they’ve enjoyed it. It’s good to experience a different culture and food and stuff.”