Pupils from two local schools came to Brunton Park as part of our #EFLWeekofAction activities to take part in an educational event organised by Show Racism the Red Card, in partnership with the CUFC Community Sports Trust and the club.
Youngsters from Kingmoor School and Brook Street School came together to participate in workshops exploring racism and stereotypes, designed to raise awareness and spark debate and ideas about these serious issues.
And the children were treated to a special surprise to round off the event when first team players Morgan Feeney, Tobi Sho-Silva and Dynel Simeu popped in to say hello and to answer questions about their thoughts and experiences with hate crimes and racism.
CST manager John Halpin said: “These events are fantastic and we can’t thank the team from SRtRC enough for coming along.
“The children got to learn about some very serious issues with the tasks they were set and you could tell that the messages had sunk in when they started to question the players later in the afternoon.
“Yet again this was an excellent event and I know all of the schools took a lot away from it from having been involved.”
Tobi Sho-Silva said: "Some of the questions the children asked were really thought provoking.
"It was clear that everyone had listened and taken on board the messages that had been given out during the day.
"These events are abour raising awareness of problems that we sadly still have in society, and it's a pleasure to be involved and to see the positive impact it has."
Morgan Feeney said: "It's great that the club and Community Sports Trust are able to host events like this because education, particularly for children of a young age, is the best way of starting to tackle this type of thing.
"In an answer to one of the questions I asked I was able to tell the kids about an incident when someone I knew said something wrong and they hadn't even realised until we pulled them up about it.
"That's why events like this really matter, so well done and thank you to everyone who made it happen."
Thank you to all of the children who came to the event and well done for the superb questions you asked.
Click HERE for more information on the Show Racism the Red Card project.