Celebrating Edmonton's Bulgarian community

Hannah Bawden from Edmonton Community Partnership on how the charity is reaching out to Bulgarians in the area

An event was held in Pymmes Park celebrating Bulgaria’s 'Liberation Day' — An event was held in Pymmes Park celebrating Bulgaria’s ‘Liberation Day’

We hosted our first community event at our new Pymmes Park premises last month – celebrating Bulgarian ‘Liberation Day’.

It was a triumphant and happy day attended by around 210 residents, breathing life into the newly repurposed visitors’ centre in the Edmonton park. The event was three years in the making and was a celebration of culture, diversity and community in Edmonton with traditional Bulgarian costumes, music, dancing and food.

Younger guests were treated to a brilliant outdoor show by performers from Chickenshed, to great excitement. Enfield mayor Doris Jiagge attended, along with deputy council leader Ergin Erbil and Edmonton councillors Thomas Fawn and Gunes Akbulut.

Cllr Erbil said that “today and everyday we celebrate our borough’s vibrant Bulgarian and Eastern European communities”.

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Representatives from the Bulgarian Embassy also attended and welcomed everyone to the event as well as spending time speaking to residents and learning how they can offer more support.

Edmonton is home to a very large and growing Bulgarian population. As well as a celebration, the event was also set up to support residents. There were a range of charities and local organisations to advise on homelessness, immigration and access to council services.

Trevor Blackman, chief executive of Edmonton Community Partnership (ECP), said: “Our team has spent nearly two years asking residents what they need and building trust and we are so pleased that they all came to join us.”

The event was an important part of a three-year project funded by the National Lottery to reach out and support our ‘hard to reach’ eastern European and Roma communities and the success of this is a testament to the work carried out daily by ECP’s dedicated outreach team and our local partners including Enfield Council.

One satisfied guest, Mr Stoyanov, who attended with his four young children said: “It was a unique atmosphere!”

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