INTER FAITH WEEK 2010: DAY 7

This morning I'm off to teach a session of my Open University tutorial group at Nottingham Trent University (E301: "The Art of English" a third - honours - level linguistics course, if you'd like to look it up, faithful reader). At the train station, I bump into Mike Burden and Allan Hayes of Leicester Secular society, who are on their way to Birmingham for a regional meeting of the British Humanist Association. We talk for a few minutes about the event at South Leicestershire College, in South Wigston, earlier this week. Mike had been there and I'd heard reports about it from a few others who were also in attendance. "What a grim affair that was," was how he summed it up. I responded by saying that's what happens when the Council of Faiths isn't involved. We, as an institution - and I personally - wouldn't have stood for the kind of thing that was said to have been going on there that day. I don't mean we'd have been confrontational about it - but I'm sure we'd have seen that something would have been done.

Right-oh: it's the final day of our exhibition for National Inter Faith Week. I'm unable to get to Highcross till 1400. No dallying around Nottingham in Fopp today. When I do arrive, I'm delighted by what I see. Being Saturday afternoon and getting so close to Christmas, it's very busy of course, and that also means more people stopping and talking at the display. The team on duty right now is doing a great job: Ramesh Mashru (from Swaminarayan Mission) rock solid and unflappable, standing at one end of the exhibition as if commanding the tiller of a boat; Stephanie Maud (from Glenfield Bahá'ís and Chair of Leicester SACRE - the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education) and her daughter Anya chatting away amiably with members of the public; Sughra Ahmed (from the Islamic Society of Britain) in the aisles, pressing our flyer upon shoppers. Strictly speaking, we're not doing that - but Sughra is making such a fine job of it, that I can only encourage her in her efforts.

From 1600 to 1800, it's my (official) turn on the display, along with Rizwan Afzal and Riyaz Laher from the Federation of Muslim Organisations (FMO). They're in the photo below.

Late in the afternoon, there's a surprise visitor on the stall: my younger son Harry. Since I'm not expecting him, I do a double-take when I turn around and see him picking off some leaflets. He's dropped by with his mum and step-dad on their way to see the new Harry Potter in the Showcase cinema, which is part of the Highcross complex.

Oops! I've made a mistake about closing time. We have to pack up and be off the premises for 1900. I thought we had another hour. Penny Jones and Stephen Woodward are the final volunteers of the week; they get to do only three-quarters of an hour. Still nice to have them though (that's them in the photo below). And they put a fews nice comments into the reflective journal.

With half an hour to go, Alastair and Rabia arrive to help me dismantle the exhibition, pack it into the drum stands and wheel it all back to Pilgrim House. As we approach through Town Hall Square, I see the front door wedged open and hear unusual sounds within. As we enter the building, there's a meeting in progress of an African heritage, black-led meeting for praise and worship: loud and vibrant, in contrast to the chilly stillness outside.

Here are the reflective journal entries made by the volunteer helpers on this final day:

"Not a great deal of interest this morning - perhaps the snow has frozen people into focusing on Xmas shopping! My earlier shift in the week brought more interest and people took away leaflets and contact details. People do look though so it is still a good way of engaging the public's attention. It is a shame more people from the Leicester Council of Faiths are not actively involved - being out there and meeting the public is an excellent way of engaging in a multi-faith society. Today found myself with the same people as last year!"

"I volunteered on the Leicester Council of Faiths' Inter Faith Week stall for a couple of hours. Although it's indoors my fingers are freezing cold as I write this so please excuse the poor handwriting! I found most people who passed by the stall seemed indifferent to religion and others were very interested because their children were learning / teaching religion or because they belonged to a faith and wanted to learn more. I spent most of my time saying 'hello' to passers by who at times replied with the same and at other times even asked how I was! A handful of people seemed to react in a negative way which is quite sad really. Having undergone this experience I now value much more the time and energy volunteers give at stalls, especially in the winter! Well done and keep up the spirits, Leicester Council of Faiths!"

"I think many people who passed read the information but seemed hesitant to approach for a leaflet. It was really amazing to watch people's faces as the read the various quotes and I think it was an unforgettable experience. The hours passed quickly. Thank you."

"Lots of people glance at it and read the display. We had some lovely encounters today, not least with fellow volunteers! A privilege to be part of it."

"As usual it is very nice to see lots of people passing by the exhibition. In reality, what we present within the restricted space is quite excellent and informative too. In order to attract more people to the exhibition I suggest if we can use some audiovisual devices if allowed or at least some volunteers holding placards with messages reading, 'Come and visit our exhibition, we are promoting trust, understanding and cooperation among the various faiths of the city.' Those really interested would spare some time and come and visit the exhibition when we can have dialogue with them about the faith topics. Keep up the spirit."

"It was good to take part, albeit very briefly and at the the end and to meet other volunteers. The displays were very colourful and literature to give out good introductions. Wondered if a higher level banner could be incorporated so the 'side on' view had an overall title. Many thanks for the hard work!"

My thanks to all those who gave their time and energy on the exhibition and to those who helped put it up or take it down: Rizwan Afzal, Sughra Ahmed, Shakil Amanji, Alastair Ballentyne, Grace Ballentyne, Samantha Birnie, Sonya Brown, Jill Carr, Ted Cassidy, Ramila Chauhan, Irfan Chhatbar, Chogma, Kevin Commons, Minou Cortazzi, Celia Cox, Ian Davies, Kiriti Doshi, Beverley Farrand, Amanda Fitton, Rosemarie Fitton, Stephen Foster, Tara Gatherer, Ian Grayling, Rita Green, Julie-Ann Heath, Angela Jagger, Penny Jones, Charlotte Jordan, Kelly Jussab, Suzanne Kelly, Marion Kennedy, Sarfraz Khan, Susthama Marion Kim, Riyaz Laher, Jan MacDonald, Scott MacDonald, Aramesh Mahboubi, Rabia Mahmood, Ramesh Majithia, Ramesh Mashru, Anya Maud, Stephanie Maud, Barry Naylor, Tony Nelson, Louise Perrier, Smita Shah, Noel Singh, Manish Sood, Manjula Sood, Carol Sourbutts, Yasmin Surti, Clive Sutton, Gursharan Thandi, Stephen Thompson, Natasha Trevadi, Simon Williams, Arthur Winner, Barbara Winner, Susan Woodward.

CREATIVECOFFEE CLUB

To the newly opened Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media Centre this morning, for CreativeCoffee Club. This is only its second meeting since relocating to its new home. I used to take part in the original CreativeCoffee Club, which met fortnightly in the Graduate Bar at De Montfort University. I missed no more than a handful of meetings there from the autumn of 2007 till summer this year. I felt that being there gave me a real boost in the early days of my post with Leicester Council of Faiths, giving me the opportunity to meet new people from a variety of backgrounds in and around the city, to hone the skills I needed to be an effective networker, and to find a variety of ways to talk about my post, my employer and myself – often to people who had no time for religion, faith or belief, and who could often be quite dismissive about it and the communities who identify with it. At the start of my time in this job, I was very much relying on resources and contacts from my earlier working life, mostly from my time in adult teaching. Since the mainstay of that teaching had been Creative Writing and the guiding figure for CreativeCoffee Club in Leicester was (and still is) Professor Sue Thomas, head of New Media at DMU, I found something of a ready-made entree for me there. Except, of course, as I kept saying around that time, Sue was teaching her students 21st century Creative Writing while I was working with ones who were largely stuck in the 18th century! Those early experiences at CreativeCoffee Club were by turns challenging, helpful and reassuring, both professionally and personally; I found new ways to describe and discuss my job, the issues surrounding it and the kind of people involved that helped people sit up and take notice, who may not have done so before. There still remains a major "disconnect" between most creative people in the faith communities and something like CreativeCoffee Club though; do the entrepreneurs, media developers, web designers, music and video producers who identify themselves strongly as Baha'i, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim or Sikh feel disinterested in this sort of thing, that they don't fit in or wouldn't be welcome? Things are changing, with more people at this meeting from what are called the BME (Black and Minority Ethnicity) communities than I've seen before, but it's still hardly representative.

Well, I’m keen to see how this new iteration of CreativeCoffee Club might differ from the one I was used to. Still the mystery of why the first two words are run together endures. There are mostly new people running it and new people attending. I saw photos online from the first of these new meetings and there was barely anyone I recognised. When I arrive at Phoenix Square, there are about a dozen people sitting round one big table (that’s different from the DMU days) a few minutes into a round table introduction (that’s different too). Each person is given two minutes (measured on a stopwatch on Jayne Childs’s iPhone) to speak about themselves, their work and how they heard about CreativeCoffee Club. One woman introduces herself as working with a firm of local architects who have drawn up the plans for a new Swami Narayan mandir in Catherine Street, which she says will be the biggest Hindu temple in Leicester, which is of obvious interest to me. Sarah Harrison, City Centre Director, is looking for a catchy name for the Leicester City Centre Strategy Board, which she leads. She tells us that the City Council wants to move away from talking about Leicester as being “diverse” and start calling it “cosmopolitan”. We spend some time talking about the difference between these two: some interesting nuances there (not all of them positive, in my opinion). I wonder aloud, playfully, how this sort of change might affect my job title!

Because of where I’ve sat, I am last to introduce myself. I’ve made a few notes in my trusty Moleskine notebook (it only counts as product placement if you’re getting paid to place them!) so that I can make what I have to say as relevant to the attendees as possible. The moment comes for me to speak, and the first thing I do is drop the notebook, which skites under the table! But I’ve done this so often anyway, there’s no need to kick myself for that. I make the point that long-standing involvement with CreativeCoffee Club has helped me gain a better understanding of social media, and how that’s reflected in the new website for Leicester Council of Faiths, which has links to our own Facebook page and Flickr photostream; we've now joined the fast-growing ranks of the twitterati and have an active presence in the blogosphere!