To bring our fantastic BNO social inclusion ‘ChIrish’ project to an end, we had an exclusive Irish experience full of dancing, food, drinks and activities for our new friends from Hong Kong.

The day started at 11am giving everyone involved time to get into their groups and socialise in a relaxed and calm atmosphere, we decorated the tables and chairs with a mixture of Irish colours with Chinese lantern centre pieces which were positively commented on.

At 12pm we had a lunch of Irish stew, brack, crusty bread and soft rolls, this was complemented with a taster of Guinness, Mangers, Nash’s lemonade and Cidona apple flavoured soft drink. For desserts we had thick filled apple pie and fruit salad with cream and custard.

After a delicious lunch we asked the participants (a table at a time) to come and judge the pictures that were taken over the three-month period, with an entry of two pictures per person. After a scrupulous half hour of judging, winners were chosen, with one participant winning three times with a beautiful picture of Birmingham’s main land canal.

Giving the winners their very well-deserved prizes, we then continued the day with an Irish step dancing lessons, not a single person sat out of the lessons, with everyone now on the floor we were taught in groups of four the beginnings of the dance before moving onto the harder steps.

The room was filled with laughter during what we can only describe as a “dance of completely innocent joy”. Overall, it was a brilliant day, new friendships were made and everyone went home with huge smiles.