Sunday, 18 November 2012

INTER FAITH WEEK 2012, DAY 1: BBC RADIO LEICESTER


I'm on BBC Radio Leicester this morning from 0740, speaking for ten minutes about Inter Faith Week with Lucy Collins (photo above), who is sitting in for Monica Winfield.

While waiting to go on air, I meet Ali and Muhammad from Masjid Al Husayn, on Duxbury Road. They're going on the show immediately after me, to talk about the local Shi'ah community's public commemoration of Ashura in Humberstone Gate this Saturday. We agree to stick around and chat immediately after we've done our respective stints on air, to discuss ways we might support each other in the events of the coming week. In my eagerness to impress - aggravated by only having had four hours sleep - I mistakenly mix up Ashura with Muharram. All credit to Ali and Muhammad for being gentlemanly and not correcting my error.

I'm glad to see that Lucy has done her homework and knows all about our exhibition in Highcross as well as the other events we're involved in throughout Inter Faith Week. I get the chance to promote all of them and tell listeners how to access information via the events section of the Council of Faiths website and the special page on my blog.

I thought I'd done my homework too and have tried to anticipate some of the questions Lucy might ask me live on air. But she throws a me a curve ball when she asks me what I think of Clarissa Dickson Wright's recently publicised comments about her experience in Leicester. At least I don't have to respond to that hoary old chestnut about whether we're doing no more than preaching to the converted during this week. - although I'd prepared a pretty good response to that one!

No comments:

Post a Comment