Wakefield mosques come together for first time to hold summer fair

The fair was coordinated and held at Jamia Masjid Swafia, in collaboration with Ghausia Masjid, Madina Masjid and Al Markaz ul Islami.

One of the coordinators of the event says it was the first time that these mosques came together as a collective to raise the much-needed funds.

Moheen Shakoor, who coordinated the fun day, said: “All the masjids from Wakefield came together to hold a charity fundraiser for the education of Islamic students.

“The local mosques came together and it was our first event. It was a blast.

“I’m still tired from it! I’m so happy and impressed by the event.”

The main purpose of the fair was to raise funds to improve the Islamic education and facilities for Muslim children across the district.

In Wakefield, Islamic schools are not funded by the Government and so rely on donations.

At least 1000 people from various communities in the district attended the summer fair.

Moheen said: “Everyone came. There were Africans, Somalians, Syrians, people from the white community, it was really diverse.

“When you organise something for the first time, you can be a bit hesitant so I was amazed at the result, it was a massive success.

“Covid-19 was quite hard for a lot of people so this was an icebreaker for the community in Wakefield. “

The summer fair included ten inflatables for children, an ice cream van, face painting and henna, an assault course and stalls.

The event also featured a wide variety of cuisine, from Syrian, Turkish, Kashmiri, Indian and British food.

Moheen added: “There was a mix of different foods. It really brought people together, it was so beautiful.”

Councillor for Wakefield East and general manager at Lightwaves Community Trust, Mohammed Ayub, attended the event.

He said: “Brilliant atmosphere for the whole family. It was really nice to see a lot of the grown up kids from the Next Generation [project] there helping out. I felt really proud.”