WORSHIPPERS heard that their message of peace and unity would make Swindon a “leading light in the world”.

The town’s Baha’i community came together on Saturday to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of their faith’s founder.

The worshippers follow the teachings of Baha’ullah, the son of a government minister and born 200-years-ago in Tehran, the capital of Iran.

Declaring himself a manifestation of God left him ridiculed and exiled from his home country. The Baha’i faith remains persecuted in strongly Islamic Iran.

Meeting in Old Town’s Christ Church Community Centre, Swindon’s Baha’i community enjoyed an evening of music, dance, food and talks.

Community organiser Fidelma Meehan unfurled a banner by children at Lainesmead Primary School, created from illustrations of world flags.

The massive artwork was created as part of a project that saw Fidelma and beatboxer Marvin Joe visit primary schools across Swindon – asking almost 300 children how they’d tackle the world’s ills.

“I used to think we need to build a better world for our children. Now, I think we need to build a better world with our children,” said Fidelma, adding: “We need to leave better children for our planet.”

Fidelma said that more schools would be getting involved in the project in the coming months. She called it an “unstoppable movement” promoting the message of peace.

She said: “I told my friend Christina, ‘I have a dream that Swindon is going to be a leading light in Europe.’ She said I was thinking small. We should be a leading light in the world.

“Nothing can prevail against an idea whose time has come.”

Identical twins Billy and Louie Hughes, just 14, duetted on two tunes that captured this message of world peace. One – Sing Together – had been written just hours before it was performed.

Robert Buckland, MP for South Swindon, told the group: “At the heart of the faith you believe in is this sense of unity – that sense of coming together.

“That is Swindon in so many wonderful ways: a very diverse city, but most of us have come to Swindon for a reason. That sense of common purpose is something I see every day.”