CALL FOR VIGIL AFTER US SHOOTINGS

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Call for vigil after US shootings

Former High Sheriff of Leicestershire Resham Singh Sandhu has called for multi-faith vigils to be held on Sunday in memory of the six people killed at a Sikh temple in the USA.

They were shot by former US soldier Wade Michael Page, 40, in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek last Sunday.

Page is understood to have killed himself.

Mr Sandhu, chairman of the British Sikh Association and The Sikh Welfare and Cultural society, said: "The entire Sikh community has been affected by the senseless shooting of innocent devotees at a gurdwara.

"We stand in solidarity and admire the strength shown by the victims, survivors and Sikh Americans nationwide.

"We want to make sure authorities in America and other parts of the world ensure Sikhs are safe and free to live their day-to-day lives and continue their worship peacefully.

"We request all Sikhs and other religious leaders to continue remembering those affected by the Oak Creek attack in their daily prayers.

"It would be a fitting tribute if Sikhs across the globe could organise inter-faith vigils this coming Sunday."

He thanked Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Christian groups, plus President Barak Obama and the prime minister of India for sending their condolences and condemning the attack.

The article doesn't mention that Resham Singh Sandhu is a former Chair and current Director of Leicester Council of Faiths. Nor is it stated that Leicester Council of Faiths is holding an open-air public prayer vigil (along with Leicester Sikh Alliance) for the victims and survivors of the Oak Creek Gurdwara shootings in Town Hall Square, Sunday 12 August at 1900.  This is a public event, to which all well-wishers are welcome.

working with the Local Strategic Partnership

Meeting in the Welcome Centre this evening with Dr Rachel Chapman, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Northumbria (in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne). Rachel is involved in a research project commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, looking at how Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) have been promoting equalities and how they have been engaging with locally-based equalities groups. She's considering case studies, identifying good practice and seeing how much of that good practice could be shared. She's interested in asking us what we've learned from our experience of working with our LSP and how much of what we've learned could be transferred elsewhere.

The main experience that Leicester Council of Faiths has of working with our Local Strategic Partnership is, of course, in our capacity as the Host Organisation for Communities of Interest in relation to religion and belief.

There are seven of us gathered round the table: Julie-Anne Heath, Alan Race, Resham Singh Sandhu and his wife Surinder (who, while not a member of the Council of Faiths, can speak for the Sikh Welfare and Cultural Society), Manjula Sood (our Chair, who arrives after an hour or so) and Gursharan Thandi. Gursharan is the focus for most of Rachel's questions, as she is one of the two representatives on Leicester Partnership for Communities of Interest in relation to religion and belief. The meeting lasts just over two hours (Julie-Ann and Gursharan have brought food and drink). I think we respond in interesting and varied ways to Rachel's questions. She's treating us as a focus group, recording our conversation on a small digital device. She's going to write up a report, anonymising our comments. She may be back in the future to do some follow-up work with us.

To read the published report ("The role of Local Strategic Partnerships and Local Area Agreements in promoting equalities") click on the link below:

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/research/63_role_of_lsps_laas_in_promoting_equality.pdf