Salisbury celebrates Black History Month

Published: 29 November 2012

Members of the public and nurses from Salisbury helped honour Black History Month (last month), by attending two events set up by the RCN to celebrate black history, culture and heritage here in the UK.

The South West RCN helped arrange two events in the Salisbury to recognise the contributions that black and ethnic minority communities make to our region.

The first event called ‘Communities Together ‘, was developed in collaboration with SCAR (Salisbury Coalition against Racism) and REACH (Salisbury District Hospital BME staff group) and held on 20 October in Salisbury Guildhall. The event featured a number of stands featuring displays from different countries and included cuisine for visitors to sample, such as Afro-Caribbean and Indian cuisine, Spanish tapas and Turkish snacks. The day also featured talks and dancing displays from various cultures.

The event was sponsored by Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, Salisbury City Council and WiltsREC, and enabled the general public to experience various cultures from around the world.

Chris Spencer-Smith, Assistant Regional Officer for the Wiltshire area, said:

” Having held these events annually for the last few years, this year’s event was definitely the most successful so far, with members of the public really joining in and taking part, enjoying samples of cuisine from different cultures, watching the dancing displays and listening to various talks.

“I personally found the talk on the assumptions made on Black African culture, to be really inspiring and informative. All in all it was a very interesting and enjoyable day”.

The second event was developed in partnership between the RCN and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust and was held in the Spring’s restaurant at the Salisbury District Hospital, on Monday 22 October.

The event, 'Mary Seacole and BME nurses at Salisbury District Hospital’  featured an electronic display showcasing high profile national BME nurses with stories from former and current BME nurses from the Trust.

Jeannett Martin, Regional Director for the South West, who attended the event, said: “The display attracted a lot of attention from staff and visitors to Salisbury District Hospital and featured some really interesting stories from BME nurses, it helped I feel, build awareness of the ethic minorities within the hospital and the enormous role they play within nursing in the South West. “

 
Front row (Left): Sandy Woodbridge (RCN Rep); Jeannett Martin, Regional Director for the South West RCN and Chris Spencer Smith, Assistant Regional Officer for Wiltshire.
Back row (Left): Rex Webb (SCAR), Steven Long (Salisbury District Hospital).