BOARDING: Students throw a culture club party

Boarding students, led by sixth former Eunice Adeyemi, organised an entertaining cultural evening, with food, dance and music from the various countries represented in Johnson House. In addition to fascinating student presentations on aspects of life in other cultures, everyone joined in a lively rendition of Yorkshire's very own On Ilkey Moor Baht'at! See our photo gallery, below

THE evening was the brainchild of 17-year-old Eunice, who is taking politics, economics and religious education at A-level and plans to study law at university.

The teenager, from Saltburn-by-the-Sea and of Nigerian heritage, explained: “There is a lot of diversity in the boarding community which we wanted to recognise and celebrate.”

Ten nationalities were represented at the event, from Bangladeshi to English, French, Indian, Italian, Nigerian, Norwegian, Ugandan, Ukrainian and Zambian.

The girls, some dressed in stunning national costumes, enjoyed songs from a variety of cultures playing in the background while they tucked into a sumptuous buffet, which they had prepared themselves.

The delicious classic international dishes on offer included jollof rice, puff puff, okra soup and plantain chips from Nigeria and biriyani, mishti and samosas from Bangladesh.

There was varenyiki from Ukraine, Middle Eastern shawarmas, home-made lemon gelato from Italy, pain au chocolate and baguettes from France and Victoria sponge and hot cross buns from England.

In addition to Sufwana Sayed entertaining everyone with her stunning traditional Bangladeshi dance, the girls enjoyed a series of cultural presentations.

Amaris Ajayi and Kitan Fagbamigbe talked about Nigeria, touching on the impact of afro beats on the music industry and the film industry being the second largest in the world in terms of output.

Sufwana talked about the impact colonisation had on Bangladesh and discussed native Bengali tigers and clothing.

Anabel Lugone revealed that Uganda is home to the big five of the animal kingdom, as well as explaining what the coat of arms means and what each colour on the Ugandan flag represents.

Mrs Mackenzie also led the girls in a rendition of Yorkshire’s very own On Ilkley Moor Baht’at, accompanied by Eliza Polito on piano.

Eunice, who enjoys playing netball at school, concluded: “I think the event went really well, it was nice to see people make an effort and engage. I think everyone really enjoyed the food and it was really nice to try something that you're probably not used to.

"The presentations were really insightful and informative and I learnt that Nigeria has the second largest film industry in the world in terms of the amount produced each year."

Darcy Harper added: “It was really great, and I especially enjoyed the food, despite being a fussy eater. I also learnt that the Acholi tribe in Uganda were known to be physically strong, proud and built to excel in physical activities, such as in the military.”

Isabella Carmichael added: “It was really fun and engaging. I learnt that Uganda is home to the most powerful waterfall."

Eliza Polito said: “I really enjoyed the evening and learnt that Bangladesh is home to Bengali tigers which live in a special forest.”

Well done to the organising committee (l-r) Kitan Fagbamigbe, Amaris Ajayi, Eunice Adeyemi, Anabel Lugone and Sufwana Sayed