About Us

PROFILE

The Ghanaian Community in Bradford was formed on 3^rd July 2010 when a group of Ghanaians living in Bradford led by Wisdom Sateklah, Benjamin Tetteh, Al-Amin Al- Hassan and Caleb Agbeshie, decided to call a meeting of Ghanaians living in the vicinity to explore the possibility of forming a Ghanaian Association.

The idea of reforming a Ghanaian association in Bradford was birth at a memorial service held for the late mother of one of our prominent member. At this function Wisdom announced to all present that there is the need to for all of us to come together to form an Association. The aim will be to look after each other and provide help to one another in times like this. He further promised to arrange a meeting for all Ghanaians in Bradford to meet and discuss the idea further.

Eventually the idea culminated into a meeting at Park Lane Centre in Bradford where an encouraging number of eighteen Ghanaians and two non-Ghanaians attended. In a speech on that day, Wisdom who also chaired the maiden meeting quoted a part of the National pledge to remind all that the heritage and freedom we have today was won for us through the blood and toil of our fathers, and thus it is our responsibility to continue to uphold that heritage. He also emphasised the importance of Ghanaians remaining loyal to our motherland and be prepared to give back to it. He reiterated the usefulness of networking and gave several benefits and examples of what we can achieve as a legally registered group, should we agree to the formation of such a group.

Following the positive feedback from that initial meeting, subsequent meeting was held on xxx August, 2010 attended by twenty people. It was at this second meeting that the motion to form a legally recognised Association to be known as the GHANAIAN COMMUNITY IN BRADFORD (GCB) was carried. The meeting consequently nominated six (6) of the members present to form an interim executive until a general election was called. The following were the interim leaders and their positions.

ü WISDOM SATEKLAH CHAIRMAN

ü CALEB AGBESHIE TREASURER

ü AL-AMIN AL-HASSAN ORGANISER

ü ERNESTINA MATANAWUI WOMEN'S ORGANISER

ü DANIEL NUGBA EXECUTIVE MEMBER

ü BENJAMIN TETTEH SECRETARY

The interim leaders were immediately tasked to prepare and present to the next general meeting for approval a CONSTITUTION for the association. It was agreed also that the association will meet once in every 3 months. At its 3rd general meeting held on 16th October, 2010 the constitution of the association was adopted by the twenty-nine members present.

The Interim Executive remained in office for one year. While they were holding the fort till elected executive took over, they established a few important principles and procedures that set precedence to the direction the Association was to take, and all of those had remind to date.

Either solely or in conjunction with other sister organisations, the GCB has been embarking on events to get its membership involved in numerous social activities with the aim of moving the association forward while fostering amiable relationship with the local community. These events evidently made the GCB a force to reckon with at its infant stage and won the admiration of other national association leaders.

A summary of the aims and objectives of the association as enshrine in the constitutions are as follows;

To bring together all people from Ghana and people of Ghanaian heritage living in the Yorkshire Region for a united Ghanaian community.

1 To identify members' needs and offer support where necessary.

2 To promote Economic, Social, Cultural, and Civic activities among members and communities, and to the extent possible, seize opportunities to display and teach Ghanaian culture to the larger communities of the Yorkshire Region.

3 To use available resources to aid in the Socio-economic development of Ghana, and the Yorkshire Region.

4 To collaborate with professionals in Ghana to share experiences and challenges towards the development of Nation Ghana.

5 To establish communication links with other associations with similar objectives, and their members

6 To promote public safety and prevention of crime through advancement of racial harmony and community cohesion, mutual understanding, tolerance and respect in the interest of social welfare and the provision of facilities for recreation and other leisure-time occupation with the object of improving the conditions of life of those persons who have need of such facilities by reason of their age, disability or economic circumstances.

As mentioned above, the first task of the interim leadership was to present a draft constitution for the general meeting to be adopted. The leadership spent countless man-hours in researching, debating, writing and re-writing the draft constitution, which was adopted in October 2011.

The Executive thought it wise to factor an annual Ghana's Independence Day celebrations into our programs beginning with the 6^th March of 2011. This decision was taken at GCB's 4th general meeting held on 8th January 2011. The interim executive accordingly formed a committee to plan and organise its first ever Celebration in Bradford. The names of the members who joined the executive to form the Planning Committee are

EDITH PREMPEH CYNTHIA AGHESHIE

VIDA CORRIEH DANIEL ADDO-DANQUAH

GODSWAY ONYAMEAMA PROSPER KABOTSYOE

With very little precedence to follow, the Committee worked extra hard to meet deadlines. They held several planning meetings over very long hours per each meeting. The celebration took place at MAPA in Bradford, were an estimated two-hundred people attended. Among the twenty specially invited guests was then the Lord Mayor of Bradford Cllr Peter Hill who was also the Guest of Honour. In his speech, he commended the GCB and all Ghanaians living in Bradford and applauded them for peacefully co-existing with their neighbours.

A comprehensive report was produced and a copy was sent to the Ghana High Commissioner in London together with an invitation to be the Guest of honour for the next year's celebration. The invitation was accepted.

Another annual event the interim leaders started was our participation in the Leeds African cup of Nations (LACoN), which was then in its fifth year. Prior to this, the interim Leadership had organised a five-a-side football match for its members. This was held at the Bradford College Trinity Green Campus as a warm up event towards the LACoN. After the successful inter-team football games, GCB got registered to participate in the annual Leeds African Cup of Nations on 4^th June 2011 to play against other national association teams in the UK.

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The executive considered that such an event could be structured around two themes: the focal activity being the football tournament involving a dedicated football team; and a secondary event of funfair for members, mainly parents and children as the event is organised during school holidays period.

In our first year of participation, the GCB team was accorded the 'most organised and most commended for fair play'. Owing to the generosity of our members and the indefatigable GCB women wing, GCB became the nerve centre of the event offering free food and drinks to other participants and their families.

We also had Ghanaians from other cities expressed admiration towards the organised nature of GCB at the function leading to four Leeds residents submitting their membership application forms same day to be part of the GCB.