MEETING AT HIGHCROSS TO DISCUSS MULTI-FAITH PRAYER ROOM

At Highcross this lunchtime, for a meeting with staff there to discuss the proposed Multi-Faith Prayer Room.


Rosemarie Fitton comes along with me. Rosemarie is on a short placement with Leicester Council of Faiths, as part of her MA course at St Philip's Centre in Interreligious Relations. I've asked Rosemarie to do some desk research on the topic of prayer rooms and quiet spaces in public buildings (which is her specialist academic and professional area after all). She's produced a ring-binder's worth of fantastic material garnered from (mostly online) sources all over the world, showing good and bad practice, public reaction, media coverage etc. She leaves a copy of this with me, so that the Council of Faiths can offer it as a resource to Highcross (and any other premises or organisations who seek our advice on this topic in future). This is a real boon to us and gives us a tremendous practical tool for offering specialist advice in this field. Thanks Rosemarie!


When we arrive, John Florance of BBC Radio Leicester is waiting at the Information Desk. John picked up on this through my earlier blog post. He's interested in recording stages in the development of what might appear to be a small, but significant episode in Leicester's ongoing multicultural story. He interviews Rosemarie and me (separately) for a short piece to be broadcast later in the week. Since it's early days for this project (and since no one from Highcross felt it appropriate to speak to local radio about it at this stage) Rosemarie and I have to be big on general support for Highcross, but sparing on the detail. John said he'd never heard me be so positive - but in a completely nebulous sort of way. That's one of the special skills I've honed while in this post, John!


Two members of staff lead us to the spot that Highcross intends to use as a Prayer Room. I'm not at liberty to reveal its location at the moment, for reasons I'm sure you'll understand and appreciate. Even in a city as comfortably multicultural as Leicester, this is still a sensitive issue for some. Besides, Highcross want to do this right, and for it to reflect well on them as an institution which cares about its customers and will which will take reasonable steps to meet their needs, they don't want it all to go off half-cocked.


Here are some things I can say about the proposed Prayer Room:

• The facility is accessible, both in terms of location and of entry and exit.
• It can accommodate wheelchair users.
• It will be secure, since it can be locked from the inside when in use and from the outside when not in use and it is in a well-frequented, well-lit area of the centre.
• Users will have to ask for the key from the Information Desk (they will have to leave contact details, such as mobile number, in case they wander off without returning the key).

The four of us spend half an hour inside the proposed room, during which time we discussed specific issues about how it should be fitted out so that it's in a fit state for this special kind of use.

• Softer floor covering, perhaps a springier form of tile, easy to keep clean.
• Provision of one or two prayer mats or rugs (which would have to be kept clean to the appropriate standard).
• Low padded seating (Rosemarie's research folder has photos of the worst seating that could be provided for a Prayer Room!).
• Dimmer switch for lighting.
• Emergency pull-cord to be left in place.
• Soundproofing in the form of "absorber boards" with nice finish (not only to reduce noise from outside, but also to prevent people outside from hearing praying or chanting from within).
• Access to running water (and paper towels with appropriate disposal facilities).
• No photographs or religious illustrations of any kind on display.
• Perhaps a set of inspiring quotations could be framed and mounted on the walls.
• Contact information for Leicester Council of Faiths could be provided, rather than individual faiths' places of worship.
• A set of rules for use of the facility should be displayced on the inside of the door.

Here are some of the general questions we consider today:

• How many people would be liable to want to use it?
• Of those who might want to use it, how many would actually do so?
• Which communities would be represented among likely and actual users?
• Would it be fair to ask users to leave basic monitoring information when they ask for the key (e.g. first half of post code, faith community membership)?
• What pressure points would there be on the use of the facility, in terms of time of day and times of the year (e.g. related to particular festivals, commemorations, fasting periods etc)?

As you can imagine, faithful reader, it's not possible to answer many of these questions at this stage. Highcross is viewing this whole thing as a sort of "entry level" project. Its popularity and usefulness will have to be monitored and evaluated over the first year or so, to see if any amendments have to be made. Appropriate and sensitive monitoring and evaluation is an area in which Leicester Council of Faiths can have an ongoing involvement in the project.


While this may appear to be a fairly small-scale development, it is still going to be a significant outlay by Highcross for the benefit of their customers. We at the Council of Faiths appreciate that - and we hope that the eventual users of this facility do too.