Lord Mayor's service celebrates "all faiths"

From today's Leicester Mercury:

Lord Mayor's service celebrates "all faiths"

City's diverse religions highlighted at annual civic ceremony

By Tom Mack

The new Lord Mayor of Leicester put religion in the spotlight yesterday with a service that embraced all faiths.

During the civic service, held each year at Leicester Cathedral  to welcome the new Lord Mayor into his or her post, Robert Wann read a passage from the Bible, and past Lord Mayor Manjula Sood read a prayer that was relevant to all religions.

In his sermon, Bishop of Leicester the Rt Rev Tim Stevens described Leicester as a city where "temples, mosques and gurdwaras punctuate the skyline, reminding us of the sacred links and shared aspirations of tens of thousands of its citizens".

He concluded by asking for God's blessing for Councillor Wann's work. Speaking after the event, Coun Wann said: "I thought it was an excellent service and the readings were very poignant. I'd been looking forward to it for a long time."

The Sikh High Sheriff of Leicestershire, Resham Singh Sandu, also attended.

He said: "It was a service for all faiths and people are here from all faiths – that's what Leicester is all about."

He added that he was planning to start a new tradition of the High Sheriff also having an annual service at Leicester Cathedral, and hoped to have one in September this year.

Councillor Sood, who is the chairman of the Leicester Council of Faiths, said: "The service was very moving and meaningful for the city. It was nice to have something for all the different faiths.

"The civic service is about everyone being together."

During his year in office, Coun Wann will be assisted by his chaplain, Canon Barry Naylor, who led yesterday's service with the Dean of Leicester Cathedral, Vivienne Faull.

Among the congregation were Ken and Eileen Coulson, from Glenfield.

Mr Coulson, 91, said: "It was great. I've been to a lot of the civic services because I'm in the Royal Marines Association and it's a very nice event."

Mrs Coulson, 88, said: "It was excellent. It was a different service because it was for the whole city, not just the people who were in the cathedral."

The previous Lord Mayor, Colin Hall, did not attend the civic service held for him last year.

He also banned the saying of prayers before full council meetings because he said it was outdated, but Coun Wann has revived the tradition.

Read this article, along with reader comments (and the opportunity to make your own) on the Leicester Mercury website: http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Lord-Mayor-s-service-celebrates-faiths/article-3607069-detail/article.html

LEICESTER'S NEW LORD MAYOR PUTS PRAYERS BACK ON AGENDA AT COUNCIL'S MEETINGS

From today's Leicester Mercury:

Leicester's new Lord Mayor puts prayers back on agenda at council's meetings

By David Maclean, Political Correspondent

Prayers before Leicester City Council's monthly meetings are back on the agenda.

New Lord Mayor Rob Wann has revived the tradition of prayer before the city's main full council meeting.

A short prayer has been said at the start of the meetings since 1997, with a year's gap between 2005-06 when Mary Draycott was Lord Mayor.

However, Colin Hall, on taking up the role last May, said the practice was "outdated, unnecessary and intrusive" and would not continue during his year of office.

He selected Allan Hayes, a humanist, to be his chaplain during the civic year.

This week Coun Wann selected a religious chaplain – Canon Barry Naylor – for his term of office, and brought back prayer before meetings.

At Thursday's annual meeting councillors and guests were asked to rise for prayer, led by Canon Naylor, for the first time in 12 months.

Coun Wann said: "Each mayor can decide how to do things during their year of office and Colin Hall had every right to remove prayers during his term of office.

"However, I thought it was important to bring prayers back. It's a moment of reflection before council business.

"It's a recent tradition but one that could be lost if we're not careful. The history of the Lord Mayor's position goes back hundreds of years and I think it's important to respect the history that is tied to the role.

"It's for future Lord Mayors to decide whether they stick with tradition or make changes again."

Canon Naylor said: "Spirituality, in whatever form, plays a part in civic life.

"Even though the prayers will come from a Christian perspective I will be selecting prayers which people from all faiths can relate to.

"I have served as chaplain to Robert for the past year when he was deputy Lord Mayor, and I'm looking forward to the year ahead."

Last year, Mr Hall declined to attend the city cathedral service which traditionally welcomes Lord Mayors into the new role.

Coun Wann deputised last year and said he would be taking part in the service when it is held on Sunday.

He has adopted the Royal Anglian Regiment Benevolent Fund for Leicestershire as his charity during the Mayoral year.

It helps serving and former members of the regiment and their dependents who are in need.

He said: "Soldiers and their families deserve more support than they currently get and I hope my appeal helps provide some of this in Leicester.

"I've made sure that the money is ring-fenced for people in this area, because I've always believed that charity begins at home."

For more information on the appeal, visit: www.leicester.gov.uk/lordmayor

LEICESTER SPEAKS 2010 LAUNCH EVENT

Less than 48 hours ago, this part of the city centre was held to ransom by the visiting English Defence League (EDL). Less than 24 hours ago, Billy Bragg and friends played a free gig on this spot to a crowd variously estimated at anything between 2,000 and 10,000 as citizens gathered for the We Are One Leicester Festival. At 1100 on this chilly Monday morning, we launch Leicester Speaks (AKA Local Democracy Week) in Humberstone Gate.

At the start of proceedings, John Coster (Editor of Citizens' Eye Community News Agency) and I, as Joint Chairs of Leicester Speaks, open the event on stage in front of the giant TV screen (which is, thankfully, inactive this morning). John delivers a typically fine opening spiel, hands me the microphone, tells me I'm doing a great job, slaps me on the back and steps off the stage.

I'm MC for the next hour, in which we encourage people to come up off the street, take the microphone and speak for 60 seconds on any subject of importance to them. We have a few ringers in the crowd, just in case we don't get enough people come up to fill the hour, but we needn't have worried about that. In the end, we have more than enough contributors. Some of these folk have probably never had the opportunity to speak in public like this before. Their contributions were recorded on video and posted online, so they're available to a huge potential audience. In the photo at the top of this blog post, I welcome Lord Mayor of Leicester Cllr Colin Hall on stage, to launch officially our week of activities across the city.

Cllr Manjula Sood, Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths, speaks on the stage this morning - while I do a not particularly good job of hiding behind a pole (photo above).

Leicester Speaks has its own blog, where you can read about today's event and watch a short video about it. Recordings of all contributions from the stage at our launch event in Humberstone Gate are available on the Leicester Speaks channel on YouTube. I'm sorry to say that my amusing improvised links from the stage haven't survived the editing process. I'm holding out for the extended version, with deleted scenes.