UK: Promoting Falun Dafa at the City of Leicester Funday

Recently, a practitioner from Leicester, a city in the centre of England, received a phone call from the organiser of a large community celebration called Leicester Funday. The organiser asked if Falun Dafa practitioners could set up a stall at the event to display the exercises and to inform people about the practice. The event was attended by hundreds of people and featured amusement rides, live music and many different stalls.

After listening to one of the live bands that appeared, practitioners asked if they could demonstrate the Falun Gong exercises onstage. The organiser happily agreed and the Falun Dafa exercise music was played over a loud P.A. system whilst practitioners performed the exercises for the crowd. This generated a large amount of interest, as many people wanted to learn Falun Gong. The musician who was onstage after the practitioners was very happy to find out about Dafa. He said that he has practised qigong exercises for many years but liked the beauty of these exercises the most. The organiser of the event approached practitioners afterwards and said he was very surprised by the large amount of interest generated by this impressive performance.

Following the exercise performance, a film crew approached the practitioners and said that they were creating a television program of the event and would like to allow their viewers to learn more about Falun Dafa. They interviewed a local practitioner and also filmed the Dafa information posters. This practitioner had already appeared on the city’s largest radio station that morning, to inform the listeners of the latest news about Falun Dafa including the unjust trial in Hong Kong and the illegal deportation and subsequent labour camp incarceration of two Chinese practitioners from Cambodia. Near the end of the Funday, she also got chance to speak with her MP who expressed his support for the persecuted practitioners and his willingness to sign a petition against the unjust trial in Hong Kong.

Although thunderstorms were predicted for this day, the only use for shelter was to protect oneself from the strong rays of the Sun. A surprising amount of people told practitioners that they would like to come to the local practice site to learn the Falun Gong exercises for free. One girl was very excited to receive a flyer and said, “I’ve tried so many different meditation exercises such as T’ai Chi and Yoga, but always felt that there was something else. I think this could be what I was searching for.” The people of Leicester were both happy and curious to learn more about the peaceful nature of Dafa and were very shocked and surprised when they read about the persecution in the flyer. Leicester Funday was a very successful event that was enjoyed by everyone.