On Tuesday 19th July, the UK went through two days of heatwave and recorded the hottest day in history at 40.3C at Coningsby in Lincolnshire. However, at the same time, many parts of London and across the UK we witnessed house fires and grassland fires devastating homes and habitats.

In particular, Beam Parklands Country Park, Ballards Road, Dagenham, about 20 homes and many vehicles were totally gutted out by fire.

The entire community, the Barking & Dagenham Council, the Fire Service, the Police, the NHS, and the business community came out in force to support these 20 or so families.

The Barking and Dagenham Council initiated a Crowdfunding page to support these families https://gofund.me/e48cb3d2 and the whole of Barking and Dagenham came together to support this cause, including their faith communities.

On Friday 22nd July, the Barking Community Forum (BCF) organised a Jummu’ah collection outside the Hedgecock Community Centre (HCC). In attendance amongst the generous and compassionate community and volunteers were Cllr Faruk Choudhury, the Civic Mayor of LBBD, Yousuf Khan of HCC, Imam Mostafa Abdalla, Shahanur Rahman of BCF, Zakir Haque, Anwar Miah, Faysal Ahmed  and Musa Ali a pupil of Manor Junior School.

Musa gave out packets of Turkish delight to encourage the crowd “It was a great experience for me to see people give money so easily for a great cause” said Musa. “I love volunteering for these activities” added Musa.

Cllr Choudhry mentioned that he would arrange for a direct handover of the funds to the Council’s pot. “My sincere thanks and appreciation to the generous residents of my ward and the surrounding areas. your support is not going unnoticed for these destitute families. We have also encouraged  everyone to donate on the Crowdfunding page.”

A generous £576.47 was collected and will be handed over to the Council, as soon as, possible.