AWAY DAY WITH NOTTINGHAM INTER FAITH COUNCIL

I'm facilitating an "away day" for members of Nottingham Inter Faith Council. Our host for this occasion is their Treasurer, Richard, whose lovely big garden is the setting for the photo of today's attendees.

Being the sort of meeting that it is, it's no surprise that those attending are from a variety of backgrounds and traditions - but I do like to list these all the same: Bahá'í, Brahma Kumaris, Buddhist, Christian (Anglicans and Roman Catholics), Jewish, Muslim, Quaker, Sikh.

Patricia Stoat, Chair of Nottingham Inter Faith Council (and who represents them on the Core Reference Group of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership) poses three questions at the start of the meeting which we return to during the plenary sessions and which form the topics for our buzz groups:

• "Where is the next generation?"
• "What resources might be available to carry on our work in the future?"
• "What is inter faith activity for?"

Of course, it would be improper to go into detail about our discussions here today. Suffice to say, we consider inter faith activity, dialogue and work in the context of the changing landscape of relations with civil authorities and service providers, public and private funders, legislation such as the Equality Act 2010 and the proposed Bill of Rights.

I'm grateful to my friends and colleagues in Nottingham Inter Faith Council for inviting me to join them for the day, to help facilitate their discussions. I hope we'll find reasons to collaborate again.

"FAITHS IN NOTTINGHAM" EXHIBITION LAUNCH

At the launch of a new exhibition and website for Nottingham Inter Faith Council. This is taking place at The Space, in Nottingham Contemporary: a striking venue for the event. I'm particularly impressed by the big screen, lowered from the high ceiling, on which screenshots from the website are projected.

In the photo above, my Nottingham counterpart (and fellow Glaswegian to boot), John Murray, who invited me this evening. John and I had spoken at length about this new exhibition, as Nottingham gained some advantage from our use of these pop-up banners for the last couple of years.

There's more content in this new exhibition than there is in ours. This one's more like a set of leaflets on legs. "Faiths in Nottingham" showcases the nine communities on the city's Inter-Faith Council (Bahá'í, Brahma Kumaris, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Quaker, Sikh). Each of the banners contains sections on what members of each faith believe and what they do as well as a variety of illustrations.

There's a nice complementary set of leaflets, which have the same text as is on each of the banners, plus information about local contacts for follow up enquiries.

There's a strong turnout: about 75-80 people by my reckoning. I meet a few old Bahá'í friends whom I haven't seen for several years. Some of them take a moment to recognise me until I start to speak; have I changed that much in recent times? I should just be thankful for having a distinctive voice!