Lancashire’s Russian-speaking community turned out in force on the night of January 7th to celebrate Orthodox Christmas. This was a family event and organisers Inessa Gee-Ivanova of Lancashire BME Pact and Elena Duckworth of Global Expression both did a fantastic job. However even they were surprised by the turnout – 140 tickets were printed and all were sold within days, with many more people turning up on the night, with the result that St Anne’s Cricket Club was full to overflowing!
There was a really good mix of people – ranging from migrant workers from the Baltic States to Russian speaking students and academics, women from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and their English husbands and families and stars from Blackpool’s entertainment industry – and of course lots of kids, for whom it was a great chance to meet with other Russian-speaking children and keep in touch with their Slavic roots!
If you have more pics of this event that you’d like us to add then do email them to us by clicking here.
Below: Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost – the Russian Father Christmas) and the witch Baba Yaga in the 1964 movie Ded Moroz (click image to watch with English subtitles):
