SIR – Thank you for your very comprehensive guide to the events over the weekend before, including the Lord Mayor’s parade and the Urban Festival. But why was no reference made to the Pentecost Praise celebration which brought over three thousand people to the City Park on the Sunday?

This truly festive event commemorated the birthday of the church as a global movement of the Holy Spirit, moving from the exclusiveness of the first Jewish Christians to an all-inclusive all-embracing family of many cultures and many traditions.

To hear the assembly saying together the Lord’s Prayer in English (both modern and 17th Century versions), as well as Urdu, Hindi, Polish and many other languages not only echoed the speaking in tongues of the first 120 apostles on that first Pentecost day, but also reminded us that the church is a truly multi-cultural organisation, a voice of sanity at a time when there is so much zenophobic Little Englander propaganda against those foreign guests who make this such a rich mix in our city.

Karl Dallas, Church Green, Bradford

Editor’s note: Although not part of the events round up in the Friday paper, the celebration was the main picture story on page 11 in the T&A on Saturday, May18, previewing it for the following day.