THE owners of a South Lakeland-based events company are hoping to reach out to businesses in Cumbria and encourage them to have ‘conversations about racism’.

Janett Walker and Sophia Newton, both of Windermere, who together run Flock Events and PR, held an extensive question-and-answer session online where people were encouraged to ask them ‘awkward’ or difficult questions.

This was in the wake of the death of African American man George Floyd at the hands of police in the USA, and the mass ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests which subsequently broke out in many countries.

Ms Walker said her and Mrs Newton’s Q&A event showed them how keen people were to ask questions.

“They wanted to understand the issues and they actually wanted to become anti-racist and become allies,” she said.

And now the pair are reaching out to Cumbrian businesses, offering to host similar events with employees and encourage them to ask and consider questions of racism, free from judgement.

Ms Walker said there were various steps businesses could take to help tackle issues of racism and discrimination in the workplace.

“They can think about their recruitment processes a lot more than they actually do,” she said.

“What agencies are you using? What are their values? Again it’s very easy for people to go ‘I’m not racist’.”

The pair are also considering the possibility of setting up a Black Lives Matter group in the county.

Mrs Newton said: “We are all on this planet and we really should be working towards a fairer society.

“It can be quite an uncomfortable feeling to realise that if we don’t do something about it then we are part of the problem.

“We have to do something and that means here [in Cumbria] as much as anywhere.”

Ms Walker and Mrs Newton kicked off their meetings with a Zoom conference with employees of Kendal-based business VA Consultants.

Visit Flock Events and PR on Facebook or the company website at createaflock.co.uk to get in touch with them.