HalilMrT - Official

When you are out immersed in the #Diwali celebrations in Leicester....

......when you bump in to none other than.....

@BBCCiN Pudsey Bear.... @BBCLeicester s @jo_bostock

and my best mate off of the radio @Ady_Dayman 🎇✨️🫶

Happy Diwali to everyone celebrating today! 🪔✨❤️

One of the things I love about @Leicester_News is the incredible diversity of the communities that call our city home.

We’re lucky to live and work alongside so many different cultures, faiths and traditions, and to have opportunities to celebrate and learn from one another.

And today, Leicester does Diwali in a pretty special way! ❤️

Thousands of people will come together around Belgrave and Melton Road — our famous Golden Mile — for celebrations that are among the largest outside India.

For me, that’s what a diverse city should be about.

Not simply living alongside one another, but sharing, celebrating and belonging together. ❤️

Wishing everyone celebrating a joyful, peaceful and prosperous Diwali.

Happy Diwali, Leicester! 🪔✨❤️

#HappyDiwali #Diwali #Leicester #GoldenMile #Belonging #Community #Diversity

It was an absolute honour to be a judge at this year's BBC Radio Leicester Make a Difference Awards. ❤️

And after having the privilege (and almost impossible task!) of judging the Young Hero Award, I can confirm one thing…

The future is in safe hands. 🙌

A huge well done to the winner - Maxwell ❤️💪

The whole evening was filled with love, compassion, laughter, generosity, care and a huge sense of belonging.

It was a brilliant reminder of the incredible things happening in our communities every single day — often because ordinary people simply decide to do something extraordinary for somebody else.

A huge thank you to @BBCLeicester for putting together such a special evening, with a particular shout-out to @jo_bostock and @Ady_Dayman ❤️

And there was another pretty special moment for me…

Getting to dance with the children from Braunstone Community Primary School as they opened the evening by bringing our Britain's Got Talent (@BGT) performance back to the stage! 🕺❤️ It was great o be representing the area of Braunstone and our Trust - Discovery Trust!

From being their headteacher and taking them onto BGT, to standing alongside them again at an evening celebrating people who make a difference… that felt pretty special.

Oh, and just when I thought the evening couldn't get any better…

I got to meet Mr Motivator AND Angela Rippon! 😂🙌

What a night. ❤️

#BBCMakeADifference #BBCLeicester #YoungPeople #Belonging #Community #Education #Leicester

Sooooooooo.....
📢
I've been asked to be a judge at this year's @BBCLeicester 's...

Make a Difference Awards!!!!! 😍
(Thursday 3rd September).

I've been given the rather daunting task of helping to choose the winner of the Young Hero Award.

And reading the nominations has really made me stop and reflect.

We hear a lot about young people.

What they don't do.
What they can't do.
What they're supposedly getting wrong.

But perhaps, as adults, we need to look a little harder and listen a little more.

Because the young people I've been reading about have demonstrated levels of empathy, resilience, courage and care that many of us could learn from.

Young people who have faced things they never should have had to face.

Young people who could quite understandably have focused on themselves, but instead have asked:

What can I do for somebody else?”

As someone who has spent most of my working life in education, that's really stayed with me.

We spend so much time thinking about what we need to teach our children and young people.

Maybe sometimes we need to let them teach us.

About kindness.

About getting back up.

About caring for others.

About turning difficult experiences into something positive.

And about making a difference without needing a title, recognition or reward for doing it.

Our youngsters get plenty of bad press.

Perhaps every now and again we should change the narrative and shine a light on what is right with our young people rather than constantly searching for what's wrong.

I'm genuinely honoured to have been asked to play a small part in celebrating them at the BBC Make a Difference Awards on 3 September.

Looking forward to what I know will be a pretty amazing evening!

#BBCMakeADifference #YoungPeople #Education #Leadership #Empathy #Resilience #Community #Leicester

Never forget.....