Expressions UK hosted the “It’s Never Too Late to Celebrate” event at the Leeds West Indian Centre due to the direct effect the Covid 19 pandemic was having on our community.

We thought would be a good idea to get our community together to mourn and honour our loved ones that we had lost during the pandemic.

As a community we are very good at supporting one another through grief, but due to restrictions many of us were unable to reach out physically which also made it difficult for us to pay our respects at funerals.

On the day we had a planting of a cherry tree ceremony of remembrance as well an unveiling of a commemorative plaque with the names of the loved ones we had lost from our community.

We celebrated their lives with live performances from;

Leanne Jeffers is a powerful Classical Crossover Artist from Leeds, most well known for being one of Michael McIntyre’s Unexpected Star.

‘The Big Show’ is a BBC 1 prime time show, airing to over 6.5 million viewers in the UK and is also televised globally.

Leanne’s debut EP ‘No Worries’ charted the iTunes Vocal charts at number 3 ahead of Tom Jones, Katherine Jenkins, Andrea Bocelli, Michael Ball and Alfie Boe, Celine Dion and Elvis Presley. The EP includes a mix of classical ballads as well as her own pop/RnB written material.

Tracks from her second EP are produced by multi-platinum selling producer Fred Cox who created success for Rag’n’Bone man on his number 1 selling album Human, as well as working with Sam Smith.

Leanne's new EP Lioness is released this year.

Her largest live audience consisted of 74,000 people at Leeds Party in the Park followed by 40,000 at Sheffield arena. Other venues include the Theatre Royal in London’s West End, the Hackney Empire and the Lowry theatre in Salford to name but a few.

The Cuzyz! Cassidy and Shonte Cannonier- Cousins

They started the dance group during lock down to keep themselves motivated and hopefully motivate others to keep dancing by creating dance videos in various areas of Leeds. They inspired so many dancers and also got spotted by Britain’s Got Talent! Local to Leeds they loved inspiring so many people. Cassidy is currently the World Adult Street Dance champion and Shonte is the current under 16s Street World runner up. They are both so passionate about dancing both attend Phoenix Youth Academy and both attend local dance schools. They have been dancing since being very young. They both love performing and creating new choreography and have recently made the Leeds Breeze Got Talent Finals.

 

Aneila Katoro-Clarke a 13 year old performing arts student that attends Capa Performance Arts Pathway at Trinity Academy Cathedral. This is where they will complete their GCSE in dance, drama and singing as well as the compulsory subjects. I am also a CAT student at Northern Contemporary Dance School, and a freestyle dancer at Cirque (Dancehouse). 

 

“I am a focused individual, my teachers describe me as hard working. I love my culture, I am Caribbean and African which I love both equally, I celebrate my roots with the West Indian Carnival in Leeds in which I was the titled Carnival Princess in 2019. 

I attended the Black Lives Matter protest because it’s my future as a young black child and the difference I want to see for me and future generations. I performed for the Black Lives Matter protest, on 21st June 2020.

I love performing, in the moment I come alive. I have a story to tell, and I do it best through movement; as an adult I would like to own a school that will encourage other children to do the same.”

In closing, words were spoken by Arthur France who is a valued member of our community. Arthur France, MBE, arrived here from St Kitts-Nevis in 1957. In 1966, two friends of his, Frankie Davis, from Trinidad and Tony Lewis, from Jamaica, students at the University of Leeds, organised a carnival fete at Kitson College (now Leeds City College – Technology). Ian Charles, also from Trinidad but settled in Leeds, was there too. Arthur France decided there should be a carnival parade along the streets of Leeds, as well as the indoor festival of music and costume. “People said I was crazy,” said Arthur, but through his driving force, with Ian’s support, plus help from others including Calvin Beech, Willie Robinson, Samlal Singh and Rose McAlister, Leeds West Indian Carnival was on the road for the first time in 1967. Arthur remains chair of the carnival committee, with Ian as its treasurer, to this day. Our History - Leeds West Indian Carnival (leedscarnival.co.uk)

This day was dedicated as a symbol and constant reminder of the love and support that our community had to offer. It truly was a beautiful day, thank you to everyone that attended.