Limmud lovers from all corners of the country descended on Merseyside on Sunday for a wide-ranging Liverpool event at the Hope Park campus.

Five-hundred people enjoyed speakers and activities ranging from a lecture on challenges in the Middle East from Israel's deputy ambassador Talya Lador-Fresher to Yiddish music and a Lag b'Omer parade led by Lubavitch's Rabbi Avremi Kievman. Sue Hadden and Sara Saville were the event co-chairs.

Former Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation rabbi Zvi Solomons - who led a discussion with young people on "Teen Idols: Are they good for us?" - praised Limmud gatherings for "empowering people. They make us all stakeholders in the Jewish future."

Educationist and Limmud co-founder Clive Lawton chaired the closing session on major concerns for British Jewry with a panel including local Labour politician Louise Ellman. Topics covered included antisemitism, countering misinformation on the internet and the renewal of Jewish learning.

A number of participants made an evening of it by going on to Liverpool's Jewish tennis club for a Lag b'Omer barbecue partly sponsored by UJIA and the Jewish Agency, with entertainment from a local band.