The Princess Royal’s visit to Nottingham was for a celebration of the Muslim Youth Development Project, which trains young Muslims to become voluntary youth leaders.
Wearing a calf-length tweed coat and flat knee-high boots, she made her way through the modest entrance of Bobbers Mill Community Centre, the Tardis-like hub where the project officially started a year ago. She was quickly led through to the sports hall, where display boards had been assembled to demonstrate some of the projects young Muslims in Nottingham have set up for the benefit of their peers. She took time to talk to each of the voluntary youth leaders in turn, as they showed her photographs and flyers of events they had organized. These included a three-mile fun run at Wollaton Park and a football tournament which brought together young people from multiple ethnic groups and backgrounds.
The Princess then took a seat in a room normally used for teaching young Muslim girls. Jim McKenna, chairman of young people’s charity Catch22, addressed an audience which mainly comprised young members of the Muslim community. He explained how the charity had been approached with the idea for the project by Dr Musharraf Hussain OBE, director of the Karimia Institute, which runs two mosques in Nottingham, as well as two Ofsted registered nurseries, an independent faith school, community center and community radio station.
