Sayful helps to break down barriers

Photo: Picture: CHRIS SUNDERLAND

BUILDING bridges Sayful Alam

A MAN who helped to bring people together from different cultures in Oldham has been nominated for a Pride in Oldham award.

Sayful Alam was instrumental in setting up a friendship drive, linking Limeside and Clarkwell, which won a prestigious national gong.

He worked as equalities and community cohesion officer for First Choice Homes Oldham which teamed up with Contour Homes to bring the two communities together.

And their efforts to overcome the barriers which exist between Clarkwell, which is 90 per cent Bangladeshi, and Limeside, which is 90 per cent white English, beat more than 230 entries from across the UK to scoop the Awards for Bridging Cultures (ABC) community cohesion accolade.

Sayful and his colleagues helped to organise fun days, a football tournament, a community festival, and a team-building event at the Castleshaw centre.

The aim was to bring the two groups together to share and respect each other’s cultures and views.

The 38-year-old, who lives in Pinewood, Chadderton, with his wife and two daughters, now works with Great Places Housing Group.

He said after learning of his nomination: “It’s fantastic.”

Sayful said the project was successful and sparked a relationship between the two communities which continued.

He said: “I think it really worked.

“It built a bridge between the two communities, and some of the parents had a commitment to carry it on afterwards.”