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| Taiwo (Tony) Rotimi |
An appointment this morning with Taiwo (Tony) Rotimi, Project Manager of LACBA (Leicester African Caribbean Business Association) Enterprise Academy, which is based in the Melbourne Centre in Highfields.
I'm here to discuss a couple of book proposals that Tony's been nursing for a while. I've worked with him before in a freelance capacity on a number of titles published under his name, but we haven't done anything together for some years now. We met recently at a workshop run by the Heritage Lottery Fund at Voluntary Action LeicesterShire and thought it a good time to renew working relations. The last few titles we worked on were The 365 Tools to a Fulfilled Life, Short Quotable Bible Verses and Behind the Clouds. In case you haven't seen or heard of any of these books, faithful reader, you can check them out by clicking on the respective titles or by visiting the website of the publisher, Platinum Consolidated.
Tony invites me to attend the launch of his latest book (one in which I wasn't involved), Understanding the Person of the Holy Spirit in a few weeks at the New Covenant Church. That'll be nice.
Tony belongs to Leicester Pastors Forum and he offers to raise the topic of establishing working relations between this body and Leicester Council of Faiths at one of their future meetings. This would be a good thing, as the Council of Faiths has never managed to establish strong relations with African Heritage Churches in the city. If Tony can help rectify this, then he'll be doing us all a favour.
This afternoon, meeting with Taiwo (Tony) Rotimi at Leicester African Caribbean Business Association (LACBA) in the Melbourne Centre, Melbourne Road, Highfields. I'm returning two manuscripts I've been copy-editing and proofreading for him over the past few months (in what I laughingly call my "spare time"). Working titles for the two scripts are "365 Tools for a Fulfilled Life" and "The Quotable Bible".
Tony (under his business identity as "Platinum Consolidated") has been commissioned by the African Caribbean Citizens Forum (ACCF) to help create a network of African heritage churches in Leicester. This is an area that the Council of Faiths has long had difficulty tapping into; hopefully, such a network would help us work alongside this important strand in the religious life of our city.
Tony introduces me to Wolde Selassie, Chair of Leicester African Caribbean Arts Forum (LACAF), who is also helping create this new network. I explain to both of them our duties as one of Leicester Partnership's Host Organisation, that we're obliged to work with faith groups that are not actual members of the Council of Faiths. I also explain to them how such a network might find representation on SACRE. I also invite them to attend the open-air prayer meeting for Haiti that the Council of Faiths is organising in Town Hall Square this Wednesday (3 February) at 1230.
