Llanelli’s largest multicultural get together took place 0n Saturday (Jul 29) at the Selwyn Samuel Centre.
Groups from Romania, Poland, Russia, the Ukraine, South Korea, Nepal, Thailand and Syria amongst others were represented at this colourful festival of food, language, dance, song and music. Those visiting the centre looked to be enjoying sampling it. At a local level there was ‘Y’r Hen Fenyw Fach Cydwely’, the Tenovus Choir and plenty of Welshcakes on offer.
The event provided an opportunity for the groups to mingle and mix as well as showcasing their own individual cultures through food, music and dance. South Korea may have surpassed itself sending world renowned pianist Aija Kim along. Aija transported everyone to another dimension with her fantastic piano recitals including a version of Calon Lan worthy of any world stage.
The food and drink on offer was colourful and tasted wonderful too. There appeared to be food from every corner of the world. The organisers said that the idea was borne from the growing diversity in and around Llanelli.
One of the organisers, Kenneth Warnes told Llanelli Online: “We are very happy with the numbers. The reason we put it on was that we did a survey last year and we found that there were nearly sixty languages spoken in the Llanelli area and we have fifty six culture groups. So we thought why not have a party to celebrate the diversity of Llanelli.”
It certainly was a party atmosphere with plenty to entertain young and old including face painting, a bouncy castle, Zumba workshops, dance and drumming workshops and enough tea and cakes to feed an army.
The Llanelli Tenants Network really excelled itself with stalls offering food, arts and crafts, help and advice and opportunities to learn and share from each other’s cultures.
The event was free to the public and it drew a large number of visitors to the Selwyn Samuel Centre.
Multicultural Llanelli from Llanelli Online on Vimeo.
