African Celebration at Darlington Library

The week-long event, Live Africa, will see a range of African artefacts put on display at Crown Street Library in the town, along with a display looking at the town’s connections with the slave trade.

A range of  fiction by African writers will also be available to borrow, suitable for both children and adults, as well as books on African art. African music CDs will also be available.

Events will begin this week on Thursday with primary schools invited to Crown Street to play African games, and on Friday October 20 the Skerne Park Primary School drumming group will be performing at 10.30am.

Then next week, the Live Africa events sponsored by Connexions begin when Karibu, an organisation based in Middlesbrough, which promotes African culture, will run a range of events from 2pm to 4pm each day, open to all, for free.

On Monday October 23 the programme begins with a Sounds of Africa drumming workshop. On Tuesday October 24 there will be a Discover Africa workshop looking at sewing and language.

Then on Wednesday October 25 events will focus on Stories of Africa, with storytelling sessions and poetry.
 
On Thursday October 26 there will be mask making and other arts and crafts activities, and on Friday October 27 the celebration will culminate with food, games and drumming performances.

Councillor Lee Vasey, Darlington Council’s Cabinet Member for Lesiure Services said: “These events are a wonderful way of bringing African culture to life and the historical aspects will serve to remind us all of the important role the continent and it s people have played in all of our lives today.”