Cheetham Hill cultural festival reunites community by hosting festival in person post-lockdown

Cheetham Hill residents celebrated the highly-anticipated annual Cheetham Hill Cultural festival at the weekend after celebrating the festivities on Facebook Live during the lockdown.

The annual festival went back to a sense of normality after hosting its first in-person event post-lockdown.

 Members of the Cheetham hill and neighbouring communities came together to partake in the beloved annual festival.  

With lockdown rules and social gatherings restrictions being eased, organisers found a way to safely host the festival while still abiding by covid safe regulations.

Organiser and Cheetham Hill resident Aaron Fletcher said: “Last year was very different but this year we were able to get back to what felt like a normal festival.

“Every single decision made had an extra level of caution – we had new things to consider that could have meant we’d need to change everything at the drop of a hat.”

To make sure all attendees were safe, organisers made put in safety measures at all venues.  The Manchester Local Care Organisation and the Integrated neighbourhood team  provided free face masks to revellers.

With each venue having their covid protocols in place, festival organisers made sure venues had face masks and hand sanitiser was readily available.

“There will always be worries around covid, we wanted to be able to celebrate the event like we always have,” Aaron said.

“But even with covid, everything felt right! It’s been incredible to remember that we are real people, not just boxes on a screen.”

Keeping up the joyous community spirit. This year’s Cheetham Hill’s cultural festival brought residents back to the familiar feeling of being part of a united community. Reuniting different organisations and communities together to get involved in the many activities they have to offer.   

The community’s celebration for the month of September and of the year was a memorable one for all residents from Cheetham.