Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe is encouraging people who live or work in Warwickshire to attend a special conference in the county next month, being organised to bring communities together to fight hate crime, embrace differences and promote cohesion.
The Love Instead of Hate Community Conference is being organised by the Warwickshire Hate Crime Partnership to coincide with Hate Crime Awareness Week. Hate crime is a widely unreported problem as victims don’t always think a crime has been committed. This event will aim to provide a greater understanding about what constitutes hate crime and how it can be reported within Warwickshire.
The event takes place at The Life Church in Bulkington Road, Bedworth between 10am and 3.30pm on Saturday 20 October and is free to attend. The conference format will be a mixture of presentations and more interactive sessions, including the opportunity to take part in a creative art project and an African Drumming workshop.
Families are being encouraged to attend, with activities and supervised workshops laid on for children. There will also be joint activities for families to take part in together to make the day fun and entertaining for all, with a buffet lunch laid on.
The Commissioner will be among those speaking at the event, with others scheduled to talk including BBC TV and radio presenter Trish Adudu, who will talk about her own experiences as a victim of hate crime; Dan Biddle, who is a survivor of the 7/7 London bombings and now works to improve access for the disabled; and Sylvia Lancaster, who founded the Sophie Lancaster Foundation as a lasting legacy to her daughter, who was murdered by two teenage boys because she was a goth.
The overall conference objectives are to:
- Raise awareness and reinforce messages about hate crime and the importance of reporting;
- Encourage communities to speak out against hate and report incidents;
- Empower and inspire people to be actively involved in combating hate within their own community;
- Update communities about the work being undertaken in Warwickshire by partners (“You said, we did”) and obtain ideas about new areas of work.
Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe said: “Events like this help to bring communities together and help all the agencies to establish what is working well, what can be improved and also help bring in new ideas to combat the problem. It will also help raise awareness of all the ways which police and their partners are working to help victims of hate crime and bring offenders to justice.
“As a community we must do all we can to change attitudes to reinforce the message that hate crime is unacceptable and should never be tolerated. I want to encourage as many people as possible to register for the event and I hope they will find it enlightening and thought-provoking as well as entertaining for the whole family.”
Spaces at the conference are limited and residents need to register their interest in advance of the event. Follow the link below to book a FREE ticket now: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/love-instead-of-hate-warwickshire-community-conference-tickets-44186542137.
The venue is within walking distance of Bedworth Rail Station. There is also plenty of car parking which is free.
To find out more about hate crime and how you can report and get help and support in Warwickshire, visit: www.reporthatenow.com.
