SCHOOLS around Bradford and district have been bedecked in red, white and blue as they helped celebrate the first One Britain One Nation Day.

The event yesterday has been organised by OBON founder Kash Singh, a retired award-winning Bradford and West Yorkshire police inspector, whose mission is to unite the city and the country in harmony.

Many took part in flag-flying, face painting and dressing up. Others held special end of school singing sessions such as Frizinghall Primary School whose pupils sang songs including Michael Jackson’s Heal The World, Louis Armstrong’s Wonderful World, as well as Bradford Serenade and Bradford Born and Raised.

Mr Singh said: “This day will be an opportunity for all our children to showcase their love, pride and passion for our great nation, and a chance for our children to stand in solidarity with each other, to wave or fly the flag of our country for the kind, generous and tolerant people of our great nation.

“This would be the day to celebrate with vigour and pride and turn every school into red, white and blue as an insignia of the unity that is bound together by the thread of oneness nurtured from the love for our country and its people.

“I want this initiative to build up in Bradford and be taken up all over the country so we can all be united. It is my aim and I want to see children being proud of their city and their country.

Some of the schools which took part in the day’s events included: Carlton Bolling College; Lapage School; Brackenhill Primary School; Beckfoot School, Allerton; Beckfoot School, Bingley; Worth Valley Primary School, Keighley; Southfield Grange, Bradford; Beckfoot Heaton Primary School; One in a Million Free School and Clayton Village Primary School.

Mr Singh first launched OBON two years ago after taking the idea to then Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street who gave the initiative his blessing.

Mr Singh added: “We all need to live in a society where everyone is pulling together to create a peaceful and respectful coexistence based on all that we share in common.”