Heaton residents from all ages and faiths came together to partake in a Peace Walk to show their solidarity against religious tensions in the world.
School children from Ravenswood Primary, St Teresa’s Catholic Primary , Chillingham Road Primary , Heaton Manor and Hotspur Primary created colourful banners to represent their multi-faith community.
Vinny Turner, Head Teacher of St Teresa’s Catholic Primary, was eager for his school to get involved as he said it helps to spread awareness to the children about the in their community .
He said: “It was great for the children to attend an inter-faith gathering, to give them the opportunity to get together with children from different religious backgrounds.
“It was a great way to promote diversity and to show compassion for everyone in our community.”
The group gathered at midday on Saturday at Heaton Mosque where words of peace and harmony were recited by religious leaders before walking along Heaton Road into Heaton Park.
Heaton Manor School children came up with the idea in 2017 , in response to the terror attacks in Manchester and London.
They wanted to show solidarity with those who lost their lives, were injured or affected, and to show that all the communities in Newcastle are united and can work together.
After the ‘profound effect’ the Peace Walk had on the community in previous years, Reverend Jonathan Lawson, Vicar of St Gabriel’s Church, was keen to continue to unite the Christian and Muslim communities together.
He said: “Over the past few years we have built a great relationship with the Mosque. Heaton festival was initially a Christian festival but we wanted to invite our Muslim friends as a way to show solidarity within our diverse community.”
“Last year the walk had a profound effect as a significant amount of people from different faiths or no faiths came together in harmony. We have much more that unites us than divides us”
Mohammed Sajid, a trustee and treasurer at Heaton Mosque, said “We received a very good response to the Peace Walk on Saturday. Many incidents are happening around the world and we need to bring peace and harmony within our multi-faith community”
“I am over the moon to be working with local schools with Reverend Jonathan Lawson, (Vicar of St Gabriel’s Church) to help show the solidarity in our diverse community and to be able to spread the message of peace within it”
The Peace Walk ended at Heaton Festival which was part of The Great Get Together campaign, inspired by the MP Jo Cox, who was killed on 16 June 2016.
The campaign encouraged communities from up and down the country to get together between 21- 23 June to celebrate kindness, respect and all they have in common.
Nick Forbes, Newcastle City Council leader, joined in the public demonstration to celebrate Newcastle's diverse community.
He said: “This is about showing that our city is a warm, welcome, friendly city where people work well in our local communities.
“And that's a really important reminder in such turbulent times politically and internationally that you build a community at a local level from the bottom up.”
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