Community United celebrates five years with One Community cricket and family fun day
Community United’s fifth anniversary of the One Community Cricket and Family Fun Day was hailed a huge success, writes Richard Maynard.
This year’s event featured 12 cricket teams from across Berkshire, family activities by Berkshire Youth, cultural performances, and a variety of foods to share or sample, as it celebrated culture, community and inclusion.
Not even fears about possible bad weather at the weekend deterred people from going along and having a good time.
Alice Kunjappy-Clifton, director of Community United, said: “This is the one time that we bring communities together, to have fun. And they did come together, which is really, really amazing, especially during these challenging times.
“Because, there are some uncomfortable conversations about being a migrant and all those kind of things, and this is one time which we showed unity, which was amazing. Unity was strength.”
Teams taking part were: Newbury Youth, a new team for young people aged nine-16, who took the trophy from the defending champions Newbury Indians, last year’s champions, along with Newbury Malayalee Cricket Team, who came third, Newbury Racecourse, Bradfield Kites (Ladies team), Alliance for Cohesion and Racial Equality from Reading, Project Salama, Thames Valley Police, Time to Talk West Berkshire, Berkshire Youth, Newbury Warriors, and West Berkshire Muslim Centre.
The event was held at Falkland Cricket Club, in Newbury, who supported the event along with Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire Cricket Foundation and the Berkshire Cricket Officials Association.
Mrs Kunjappy-Clifton added: “Our hashtag is ‘culturally better together’. And we look through the cultural element of things, what is common, to bring communities together. So sports was one of them. Food was the other one. And, you know, music, dancing, you know, anything that's common between all of us.”
Saturday’s event featured food from the Malabar Express mobile van, and West Berkshire Council provided support with the Community Wellness Outreach and Smoking Cessation Programme through Solution4Health.
The mayor of Newbury, David Harman, performed the official opening, and the vice chair of West Berkshire Council, Stephanie Stephenson, presented the prizes.
Planning is already under way for next year’s event, which will be on September 20, 2026, and Community United will also be at Thatcham Festival on Saturday, October 18, hosting a Diwali market.
Mrs Kunjappy-Clifton said: “The whole idea is to try and see diversity in different ways. The thing that we are trying to showcase is belonging, the importance of belonging, what does belonging mean to people. So, hopefully, when we get the funding for the project, we are planning to do a belonging exhibition whereby people showcase ‘routes to root, whereby, you talk about where your ancestorship came from and to where you are.
“We want to be positive, and to showcase actually, we are inclusive, the communities are inclusive, and that's the most important thing. They are willing to come together.”
