INTER FAITH WEEK 2011, DAY 2: BUDDHISM 101

At 1500 we have the second of ten public meetings for Inter Faith Week, under the series title, “Communities of Faith or Belief in Leicester". These hour-long introductions are being held in Leicester Adult Education College (or, more precisely, in Leicester People's Photographic Gallery, which is part of the Adult Ed College).

Leicester Council of Faiths is hosting these meetings in association with Leicester Adult Skills and Learning Service (LASALS). Chris Minter, Head of Service at LASALS, expressed an interest in supporting Inter Faith Week this year and we agreed that this would be an appropriate way for LASALS to do so, by allowing free use of its venue and facilities.

The speaker for this Beginners' Guide to Buddhism - or Buddhism 101 - is Dharmavidya David Brazier, of the Amida Trust. I pop in for the start of the session to welcome our speaker, ensure that everyone is sitting comfortably, offer a few words of introduction (setting this meeting in context of Inter Faith Week), leave a few leaflets, then dash back down to our exhibition in Highcross.

The photo above is one of two images representing the Buddhist community on show in the Favourite Faiths Photo exhibition, launched at Leicester People's Photographic Gallery during Inter Faith Week. The picture shows Jnanamati (left) preparing for his ordination as a monk in the Amida Order in December 2010; Susthama Kim (right) is instructing him in how to arrange his robes for the ceremony (sourced from Damian Smyth, reproduced with permission).

INTER FAITH WEEK 2011, DAY 2: BAHÁ'Í 101

At 1200 we have the first of ten public meetings for Inter Faith Week, under the series title, “Communities of Faith or Belief in Leicester". These hour-long introductions are being held in Leicester Adult Education College (or, more precisely, in Leicester People's Photographic Gallery, which is part of the Adult Ed College).

Leicester Council of Faiths is hosting these meetings in association with Leicester Adult Skills and Learning Service (LASALS). Chris Minter, Head of Service at LASALS, expressed an interest in supporting Inter Faith Week this year and we agreed that this would be an appropriate way for LASALS to do so, by allowing free use of its venue and facilities.

The speaker for this Beginner’s Guide to the Bahá'í Faith – or Bahá'í 101 – is Rod Duncan. I say a few words at the start, setting this talk in context with the ones to follow and with our other activities for Inter Faith Week. I leave a bunch of leaflets, then hightail it back to our exhibition in Highcross. When I leave, three people have turned up to listen to Rod. Another couple turn up a little later. I don't think that's a bad turnout for this sort of event: an old fshioned public meeting in the middle of the day in the city centre.

The photo above is one of two images representing the Bahá'í community on show in the Favourite Faiths Photo exhibition, launched at Leicester People's Photographic Gallery during Inter Faith Week. The picture shows the Shrine of the Báb on Mt Carmel, Haifa (sourced from Bahá'í World Centre Media Bank, reproduced with permission).

LEICESTER PEOPLE'S PHOTOGRAPHIC GALLERY PREVIEW

A few minutes after leaving Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living, where I'd been attending the regular monthly Core Partners meeting of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership, I stop at the top of King Street, to put on my coat. As I do so, I hear someone calling my name. A few yards down Wellington Street, sitting on the low windowsill outside the old record lending library, Ian Davies and Chris Minter are waving to me. Chris is Head of Leicester Adult Skills and Learning Service (LASALS). Ian is a community activist and photographer whom I got to know through CreativeCoffee Club at Phoenix Square.

As I cross Wellington Street toward them, they stand up and beckon me into the building, through the open fire exit door and up the stairs inside. The old Central Lending Library is in the final stages of conversion into a new venue for community education and cultural use. Its main feature in this new form will be the Leicester Peoples Photographic Gallery. So here I am getting a sneaky peek at the new gallery space and some of the pictures that will feature in the opening exhibit there. Ian's devoted himself to this project over the last several months and his hard work is clearly paying off. It's two weeks till the building opens to the public, but already it's an impressive sight. It's going to be a very attractive and busy venue, I've no doubt about that.

There's an offer of a public display of photographs for Leicester Council of Faiths during National Inter Faith Week in November. This is something I'm hoping to persuade our Board of Directors to get behind as part of the celebration of the Council of Faiths 25th anniversary.

I've joined the Leicester People's Photographic Gallery with a personal subscription of only £5 per year (which brings a number of benefits). Ian thinks I'm member No. 22.

I'd have liked to have stayed longer and had more of a look around, but I'm supposed to be at the Quaker Meeting House in just a quarter of an hour.

I hope that Ian can maker it to CreativeCoffee Club tomorrow morning. If he does, I'll give him the chance to say a bit about the Gallery .

The Leicester People's Photographic Gallery is the beneficiary of generous sponsorship and support from Jon E. Wright & Company, the long-established and well-respected digital printing business. And the Gallery has a well-subscribed Facebook page.

In the photo above, Ian is in the foreground, Chris is in the background.