LEICESTER PEOPLE'S PHOTOGRAPHIC GALLERY: OPEN EXHIBITION

This evening I'm attending the preview of the Open Exhibition at Leicester People's Photographic Gallery. Over 150 photographs showcasing the talents of photographers from the East Midlands and beyond. Very good turnout, very nice atmosphere.

I took the photo above of Ian Davies, Director of the Leicester People's Photographic Gallery, beside two of the pictures that were included in our "Favourite Faith Photos" exhibition, that went up during Inter Faith Week last year (November 2011) and stayed on display in the gallery for nine months.

This evening I got an accidental swig of Bucks Fizz, the first mouthful of alcohol I've had since my teens. I'm not childish enough to go, "Bleurgh!" and spit it out - and there was nowhere to get rid of it discreetly. Upon swallowing it, it felt like violence was being done to my internal organs. Lesson to be learnt: not everything that looks like orange juice is actually orange juice. I was too busy trying to figure out what was vegetarian in the buffet (answer: apart from chips and nachos, nothing apparently) and never thought that glasses of orange juice would be sitting side-by-side with glasses of Bucks Fizz. I'd had some juice from the same table just a quarter of an hour before, so it didn't occur to me that in picking up another one, I'd be playing Russian Roulette!

It's a man's life in the Leicester People's Photographic Gallery. The Open Exhibition there runs until Saturday 6 October. Vote for your three favourite photos from the amazingly varied display.

PICTURE PERFECT

That's me walking out of Leicester People's Photographic Gallery this afternoon with our Favourite Faiths Photo exhibition under my arm. These are the sixteen pictures (two for each of the communities represented on Leicester Council of Faiths) which were put on display during Inter Faith Week at the end of November last year. They've remained on display in the gallery till this week: that's the better part of nine months. Thanks to Ian Davies and his guys at the LPPG for their support. I can now officially declare Inter Faith Week 2011 closed - just three months to go till the next one!

INTER FAITH WEEK 2011, DAY 5: ISLAM 101

At 1500 we’ve scheduled the eighth of ten public meetings for Inter Faith Week, under the series title, "Communities of Faith or Belief in Leicester". We're putting on two talks per day in the Adult Education College (or, more precisely, in the Leicester People's Photographic Gallery which is attached to the Adult Education College).

This was to have been a Beginners' Guide to Islam - or Islam 101 - but despite a vigorous search and what I thought were firm promises, the speaker I was hoping would be here hasn't turned up. Thankfully, no one has turned up to listen to the talk either, so there's no need to make apologies this time.

The photo above is one of two images representing the Muslim community included in the Favourite Faiths Photo exhibition launched this week at the People's Photographic Gallery. The picture was taken at an Imams vs Vicars cricket match held at Grace Road, home of Leicestershire County Cricket Club. Just to ramp up the inter faith quotient, the picture includes Hindu and Jewish umpires.

Photo sourced from St Philip's Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi-FaithSociety, with permission.

INTER FAITH WEEK, DAY 5: JUDAISM 101

At 1200 today we have number seven in a series of ten public meetings for Inter Faith Week. These hour-long introductions to “Communities of Faith or Belief in Leicester" 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).

The speaker for this Beginners’ Guide to Judaism – or Judaism 101 - is Dr Martin Stern, of Leicester Hebrew Congregation.

The photo above is one of two images representing the Jewish community in the Favourite Faiths Photo exhibition, launched at Leicester People's Photographic Gallery during Inter Faith Week. The picture shows a detail of the Town Hall Square Fountain, a gift to the people of Leicester in 1878 from Sir Israel Hart (1835-1911), prominent member of the city's Jewish community and four times Mayor of Leicester (photo sourced from Kiran Parmar, with permission).

INTER FAITH WEEK, DAY 4: JAINISM 101

At 1500 we have the sixth of ten public meetings scheduled for Inter Faith Week, under the series title, "Communities of Faith or Belief in Leicester". We're putting on two talks per day in the Adult Education College (or, more precisely, in the Leicester People's Photographic Gallery which is attached to the Adult Education College).

The speaker for this Beginners' Guide to Jainism - or Jainism 101 - is Mehta Pradip, Vice-President of Jain Samaj Europe.

There are no takers today, so Mehta and I sit together for half an hour or so, chatting usefully about the Council of Faiths, Inter Faith Week and the place of the Jain Centre and community in both.

The photo above is one of two Jain images included in the Favourite Faiths Photo exhibition launched this week at the People's Photographic Gallery. The picture shows worshippers in the Jain Centre, Oxford Street, with the Centre's staned glass windows on show. This is believed to be the only Jain place of worship in the world featuring this short of display, which blends something of the previous use of the building with its current purpose.

INTER FAITH WEEK, DAY 4: HUMANISM 101

At 1200 today we've scheduled the fifth of ten public meetings for Inter Faith Week, “Communities of Faith or Belief in Leicester" at Leicester Adult Education College (or, more precisely, in the Leicester People's Photographic Gallery, which is part of the Adult Education College).


The speaker for this Beginners’ Guide to Humanism – or Humanism 101 - is Dr Allan Hayes, Director of Leicester Secular Society.


Unfortunately, due to ill-coordinated information about the venue, Allan is unable to deliver the talk. Through no fault of his, he's not directed to the right place, where at least a couple of people are waiting to listen to him. I'm sorry about this and offer our apologies for a good opportunity having been missed. This is especially regrettable as Humanists are not one of the communities of religion or belief represented on Leicester Council of Faiths and they have not taken part in any of the activities that we've organised for this annual event in previous years. I had deliberately put this public meeting in this year's programme of activities to help rectify this and to help bridge the gap between us - and Alla was the first speaker to commit to the talk out of all ten scheduled.

INTER FAITH WEEK, DAY 4: FAVOURITE FAITHS PHOTO EXHIBITION

You may be wondering, faithful reader, what's become of the Favourite Faiths Photo Exhibition at the Leicester People's Photographic Gallery. This is part of our fourfold presentation for Inter Faith Week (and the gallery is also the venue for the afternoon introductory talks that we're presenting in association with Leicester Adult Skills and Learning Service under the banner, "Discover Communities of Religion or Belief in Leicester").

Due to a technical hitch or two, it's taken longer to get the photos printed than we'd hoped. Then Ian Davies, Director of the Leicester People's Photographic Gallery, was rushed into hospital by ambulance on Monday afternoon with sever chest pains. That threw everything out of kilter at the gallery, including our display. So I'm glad (indeed, relieved) to get a message this morning from our contact at John E Wright (the digital printing company which produces everything displayed in the gallery) that our pictures are ready and have been delivered to the gallery. I ask Arthur Winner (who's come along to help out at the exhibition in Highcross) to come up to the gallery and cast his professional photographers' eye over the pictures. I haven't decided on how the photos are going to be displayed, which ones should go together and so on. But after th ten minute walk up to the gallery, we're greeted by Rob Howden, who tells us that the photos haven't shown up there. So Arthur and I take another ten minute walk over to John E Wright in Marble Street, only to be told that the pictures aren't there, that they were definitely delivered to the Adult Education College this morning. Ah, right so ... this is part of the problem with this new venue. No one knows what it's really called (or what it's supposed to be called, since no one wants to refer to it as the Old Central Lending Library - which is the way you end up describing it when you have to accept that no one knows where it is or what you're talking about!). So Arthur and I head over to the Adult Education College in Wellington Street where - lo and behold - our photos are sitting waiting for us, protected by the biggest swathe of bubble wrap I've ever seen *POP!*


We carry the collected 16 photos (printed on board which is rather too big and unwieldy to carry through the streets) up to the gallery, unwrap them and lay them out along one of the walls, so we can judge how they can be displayed (as in the photo above). I have to say that I'm disappointed in how a few of them have turned out. I'd hoped for better results to be honest (Arthur describes the colour in some of them as "punchy" - I'm not sure what that means, but it doesn't sound positive). In the end, I leave decisions about the order of display in the capable hands of fellow Scot John Toye.


When I come back round to the gallery later this afternoon (to meet the speaker for the Jain slot at 1500), John has been trying to hang the pictures, but tells me that all but one of the larger ones just don't fit! Rather than the whole area of the photo plus white space around it being A2, the picture alone has been printed A2 then additional white space added around. This makes them too big to fit in any of the allotted spaces at the gallery. This is strange and somewhat inexplicable, as the printer (John E Wright) does all the production of these prints for the gallery and should have been working to a set standard. John asks me to leave it with him to contact the printer and talk it over. By the end of the afternoon, John E Wright has committed to printing again the anomalous pictures, to the right size this time, at no extra cost to us. Since the bigger versions are now going spare, I take them down to the exhibition at Highcross, where we can use them to add a splash of colour to the display.

INTER FAITH WEEK 2011, DAY 3: HINDUISM 101

At 1500 we've scheduled the fourth of ten public meetings for Inter Faith Week, under the series title, "Communities of Faith or Belief in Leicester". We're putting on two talks per day in the Adult Education College (or, more precisely, in the Leicester People's Photographic Gallery, which is part of the Adult Ed College).

This should have been a Beginners' Guide to Hinduism - or Hinduism 101 - but our scheduled speaker pulled out and we've been unable to secure a substitute. Were it not for the fact that I'm speaker for the occasion. I go up to the College / Gallery to see if anyone has turned up to listen to the talk. The stalwart Marion Kennedy has, so I advise her that it's not on and apologise.

The photo above is one of two images representing the Hindu community in the Favourite Faiths Photo exhibition, launched this week at the People's Photographic Gallery. The picture is from the celebration of Annakut at Shree Sanatan Mandir, Weymouth Street  (sourced from Kiran Parmar, reproduced with permission).

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).