Pakistan Flood Victims

I spent the afternoon in Parkfield at a family fun day designed to raise funds to help the victims of the dreadful floods in Pakistan.  At the Lib Dem conference Nick Clegg talked about his visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan earlier and how flying over the floods brought home to him the scale of the disaster.  The area covered and the lack of infrastructure to cope don't bear thinking about.  A group of women in Parkfield had organised today's event and it certainly seemed to be a success.  I met lots of people I haven't seen for some time, years in a few cases, and was introduced to people I hadn't met.  People did seem to appreciate the fact that someone from outside the community had come along to support them.  For the first time in many years I sampled Kashmiri tea, and the vegetable samosas will be much appreciated later.
Much is made of the way in which British people pull together in times of adversity and it was certainly in evidence today.  First, second and third generation British muslims of Pakistani origin were working with people whose own roots might well go back to the Viking invaders or the Normans.  It really didn't matter - the need to help those devastated by the floods flattened any barriers there might be between individuals and groups.