United Colours of Kensington face painting team

Last week saw the AGM of the United Colours of Kensington face-painting team. I am so proud of them and was absolutely delighted to accept their invitation to the meeting

They formed about 18 months ago from local women in the community, from all different ages and ethnic backgrounds and have now been professionally trained in face-painting to a staggeringly high standard. They have had a lot of funding to get them to the point where they are now a highly professional outfit and all those funders are very pleased to be associated with them.

They have now appeared at 32 community events in the city, painting children's faces, events like the African festival, the Arabic festival, Chinese New Year, the Lord Mayor's Parade, Kensington Fun Day, Newsham Park Festival and many more. Everywhere I go, at every event, I can expect to see their blue polo shirts, working hard, painting. Apparently they can now do a face in three minutes, and they are true works of art.

It was particularly heart-warming to see them conduct their AGM, elect each other to committee places and give very thorough presentations on the finances, the year's activities and so on. This is a real success story, a real legacy of the Kensington Regeneration programme in particular who have done so much to encourage and work with the group.

Well done every single one of you, I was so proud to see you all get your certificates of achievement and to see your great work being recognised.