SUNRISE WALK FOR THE LAURA CENTRE

Up early this morning, to head out to Arthingworth Lodge (near Market Harborough) to take part on the Sunrise Walk. This annual occasion is a sponsored walk to raise funds for The Laura Centre.

Did I say this required getting up early? Rising at 0400, leaving the house at 0445, registering on site at 0530, then setting off together on the Sunrise Walk proper at 0600. There are around 100 people doing it, on five miles of road, tracks and fields. I officially finish last. But part of the reason for that is that I hung around at the back to get some nice photos, like the one above - a small number of the walkers (those tiny dots) moving along the top of a hill as the sun rises.

There's a lot of time for thinking while walking. I can't recall the last time I walked this long without having my iPod on. For much of the way, the walk itself offers a good analogy for life: just keeping going, try not to step in too much sh*t on your way. I'm deep in thought for the first mile or more, but before long I find my way back into the shallows.

At the end, a hot breakfast is provided (including vegetarian sausages, I'm glad to say). The morning ends with a balloon launch. Attached to the balloons are labels on which we've written things about the children whom we've lost and whom we miss.

The Laura Centre is a wonderful thing, supporting those bereaved by the loss of a child. You don't have to get up four in the morning then go walking five miles in order to raise funds, faithful reader. You can donate much more easily here.

NEW CITY COUNCILLOR VISITS WELCOME CENTRE

I'm glad to meet Councillor Sundip Meghani this afternoon at the Welcome Centre. Sundip was elected Labour Cooperative Councillor for Beaumont Leys (in the north west of Leicester) earlier this month. He's a lawyer by profession and has been a newsreader and presenter on MATV as well as Public Relations Secretary for the British Hindu Forum. We've been connected through Facebook and Twitter for a while, but I was paying particular attention to his tweets last Sunday, while I was in Glasgow. Sundip was tweeting regularly throughout that day, as he visited different places of worship around Leicester, on what appeared to be a personal pilgrimage. The places he visited were, in order:

Christ the King Church, Beaumont Way

Shree Sanatan Mandir, Weymouth Street

The Church of St James the Greater, London Road

Leicester Hebrew Synagogue, Highfields Street

Central Mosque, Conduit Street

Jain Centre on Oxford Street

Guru Nanak Gurdwara, Holy Bones

I've included links to each of these faith centres' wesites so that you, faithful reader, may have the opportunity to undertake a virtual pilgrimage of your own. If you know Leicester well enough you can reconstruct the route for yourself. if not, you can take advantage of one of the great affordances of the internet and jaunt from one to the next!

I tweeted Sundip from Glasgow, saying that I was impressed with his dedication, commitment (and stamina) and that since he so clearly had a personal interest in the diversity of faiths in Leicester, we should meet when I get back.

Sundip's an accomplished, charming and interesting fellow, with an obvious interest in faith community issues and social cohesion. We talk about such things for an hour or so. I give him a potted introduction to Leicester Council of Faiths and we discuss its history, current condition and future prospects. I'm sure this will not be the only time our paths will cross and I look forward to meeting him again.

I also wish him all the best in his work as a newly elected City Councillor.

That's Sundip on the left in the photo above, alongside Rosemarie Fitton, who's on short-term placement with the Council of Faiths as part of her MA Studies at St Philip's Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi Faith Society. There was a small moment of unexpected connection between the two of them when Sundip mentioned that he arrived at the Church of St James the Greater on Sunday afternoon, just as a service dedicated to The Laura Centre (a local charity that provides bereavement counselling to adults and children in Leicester and Leicestershire) was about to start. The purpose of this service was to call to remembrance those who have died in the past year, whose families and friends have sought assistance from the Laura Centre. Rosemarie told Sundip that she had been given the commission to refurbish the children's rooms at the Laura Centre, a job that was completed only within the last few weeks. I like these unexpected moments of positive crossover - serendipity is magical.