CUISINE from across the globe greeted guests at an event to celebrate Hartlepool's ethnic diversity.

The Cultural Celebration Event was held at the Grange Road Methodist Church with the aim of bringing together the town's ethnic communities, and which saw people from Nigeria, Thailand and Pakistan take part.

More than 200 guests enjoyed a variety of dishes including Nigerian fish stew, curries from Bangladesh and Pakistan, Thai noodles and Filipino desserts.

The event was organised by the Hartlepool Community Network with support from the Hartlepool Partnership and New Deal for Communities (NDC). Hartlepool Pinoy, which represents Filipino people in the town, and the Salaam Centre, in Murray Street, also helped organise the celebration.

Sue Sargeant, of Hartlepool Pinoy, said: "This was a real celebration for Hartlepool and hopefully it will become a regular event."

Although Hartlepool has a relatively small minority ethnic population, numbers are growing with residents representing a diverse range of countries.

Pamela Hargreaves, of Hartlepool Community Network, said: "We wanted to bring together all these different communities to show how they could take a greater role in what happens in the town.

"The network has a vacancy for a minority ethnic representative to serve the Hartlepool Partnership and there is certainly been a lot of interest expressed in that role."