The Sri Lankan Integrated Cultural Association (SLICAM) marked its 10th Anniversary with a celebration attended by the Mayor.

The celebration happened on February 9 at Memory Lane Function Hall with over 400 in attendance from around the North West with members from Bolton Council.

Bolton Mayor, Hilary Fairclough, Bolton North East MP, Mark Logan, and Bolton Council Leader, David Greenhalgh, amongst others, were all in attendance.

Cllr Fairclough said: "It was so nice to be invited to share in such a wonderful cultural event, people from all over Greater Manchester and beyond celebrating what is good in our country.

"Looking back at how much the community has grown and what they have achieved in only 10 years I am sure they will continue to grow and play a big part in the communities of this country."

The Leader of Bolton Council, Cllr Greenhalgh, was also in attendance.

He said: "It was a privilege to be invited by the local Sri Lankan community in Bolton to share with them their 10th anniversary celebrations and to share in their awards ceremony as they celebrated the educational achievements of their teenagers who were studying at university.

"I was personally delighted to see how much the community valued educational attainment, and how they were creating role models for the younger children to inspire and encourage them to achieve."

Councillor for Bradshaw Mudasir Dean, said it is "pleasure" to have been working with the community group for a number of years, and described the group as "very hard working, they are proud to integrate and want to play a positive role in our town and region."

The group is open to all Sri Lankan's across the North West, with the mission to "achieve peace and unity within the Sri Lankan community living in the North West."

They started with a handful of families in Bolton in October 2009, but now regularly host around 85 families at their events, with plans to expand even further and integrate more families into the community.

Hussain Fiyaz, a secretary at the organisation, told the Bolton News that he is "very proud of where its come to" and that there is "lots of support from the community".

He added "The next generation are doing really well" with them growing up "very proud to be British".

"I have lots of hope for the future."

Mr Fiyaz had a lot of praise for the group's president, Minhaj Gaffar, who has been with the group since the beginning and "without his guidance and motivation we would not have reached this success."

For more information about the community group, visit the SLICAM Facebook page or slicam.org.