Despatch from Sheffield

Sheffield - one of the UK's largest cities - holds a special place in my heart. I was born here and, after working in "big business" in Edinburgh, Newcastle and other cities, returned here to start a fresh life out of the rat race. What struck me when I came back after 15 years away was how cosmopolitan the city had become.

In Sheffield, we've a proud history of welcoming newcomers and making them feel at home. Poles, Hungarians, Czechs; people from the West Indies; students from China, Hong Kong and Africa; political refugees from Chile; asylum seekers from Eastern Europe...they all add to the richness and diversity of our city.

"Sheffield people are really friendly," said Zachary, 24, an IT worker from Zimbabwe now living in the city's Highfields district. "I love it here - it's great."

But in the wake of the London bombings, evidence is mounting that sinister forces are at work. Posters from the BNP and an organisation called "England First" calling for repatriation have gone up in the Meadowhead area - where a lot of newcomers study at the city's Norton College.

Website entries have questioned how asylum seekers can get council accomodation when there's an eight-year housing list wait.

And one writer claiming to be from Sheffield tried to post a message on a BBC message board saying: "Asylum seekers are as welcome here as a paedophile at a kids party."

Then on Saturday (july 9 2005) the flagship Abbeyfield Park multi-cultural gala in Burngreave was called off when in full sway - with 8,000 people evacuated - after a bomb scare.

The gala last year won the Cohesion Award in the New Deal for Communities Achievements Awards competition and is
regarded as a landmark event in the city's calendar.

It was scheduled to be Sheffield's largest one-day event with 60 full-time and 30 part-time organisers having committed six months' work to the project, backed by 100 volunteers.

More than a dozen local bands and music acts from hip-hop to rock were listed on this year's bill, with stalls selling goods ranging from craft items and clothes to food from across the world.

But the party came to a halt at 4pm (five hours before its scheduled finish time) after police received a number of bomb warnings.

Local journalist David Walsh said:" Vendors had to abandon stalls, and thousands of revellers, many with young children, surged towards the exits.

"Eyewitnesses said some people resorted to climbing over walls and crush barriers were used as makeshift ladders so people could get out."

Lighting engineer Gary Priest said: "It was just getting to the point in the afternoon where everyone was relaxing, listening to some fantastic music. The park was evacuated quickly - it was very disappointing but necessary."

Police with sniffer dogs scoured the park in brilliant sunshine as the Bomb Squad was called in. But nothing was found.

The scare may be viewed - in the light of what happened in London - as a local inconvenience.

But a lot of people in Sheffield are hoping it's not the sign of worse things to come.