GET (EVEN MORE) INSPIRED!

At the community centre opposite Shree Jalaram Prarthana Mandal (photo above), Narborough Road, this evening, for a meeting with the Get Inspired 2010 team. Get Inspired 2010 will be a public celebration of Hindu life, promoting the diversity of Hindu culture, values and philosophy to people of all ages and from all faiths and beliefs, as well as showcasing Hinduism as a sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle for the 21st century and beyond. The organising team are hoping to attract 10,000 visitors to the event itself at Leicester Racecourse and Conference Centre (Saturday 14, Sunday 15 Aug) and are intent on reaching a global audience by creating a lively online presence.

A group of community-minded individuals drawn from virtually all Hindu groups in Leicester is behind Get Inspired 2010. They've come together in recent months locally to promote the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies - an academic institution of international standing. I attended the meeting in this same venue that started the countdown to Get Inspired 2010 (see blog entry, Tue 30 Mar). I was struck immediately by the potential of the event and have been trying to help in any way possible since then. That has consisted, mostly, of introducing some of the organisers to other people in the city whom I believe would be interested in promoting the event by a variety of means, e.g. Amplified Leicester (and relevant legacy projects), Citizens' Eye Community News Agency, CreativeCoffee Club, Global Education Leicester-Shire. I'm glad to say that everyone I've helped come into contact with this project - and with the people organising it - seem only too keen to help.

There are 16 people here this evening, for a meeting that lasts about two-and-a-half hours. We're in a smaller upstairs room this time, as the bigger ground floor space we had for the launch meeting is being used by a yoga class. Attendees speak about the event in general, as well as the particular areas they are assigned to look after:

• Temple Zone - featuring large models of six iconic Hindu temples in India
• Kids' Zone - fun and educational activities, built around the core values of Hinduism
• Grandstand area - focusing on the Bhumi ("Mother Earth") project
• Stage - featuring performances from a range of artists
• Food zone - on-site catering (which will be entirely vegetarian, with vegan options too)

A variety of charity stalls and commercial exhibitors are also being courted to take part in the event.

The main contribution that Leicester Council of Faiths can make is in assuring the success of the Conference Zone. On the Saturday, the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) are jointly sponsoring a public conference; then on the Sunday there will be an invitation-only event. I've been asked to obtain support from the Council of Faiths for both of these. I am also involved in promoting Get Inspired 2010 through social networking and getting information out to schools.

CreativeCoffee Club (5)

To Phoenix Square Digital Film and Media Centre this morning, for the fortnightly meeting of CreativeCoffee Club. Today's session is an "open networking" meeting: no speaker, no particular topic. So we have the opportunity to mix and mingle freely in the Screen Lounge cafe bar. There are between 20 and 30 of us today and I'd say that I've probably seen less than half of them before, although I attend virtually every one of these sessions. It's great to see these meetings bringing in so many new people.

Visit CreativeCoffee Club Leicester's Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/ccleic

Find out more about Phoenix Square Digital Film & Media Centre:
http://www.phoenix.org.uk/index.php?cms_id=21

IMPROVING STANDARDS OF CONSULTATION AND ENGAGEMENT: 2

To Leicester Town Hall at lunchtime for the second meeting of a Task and Finish Group on Improving Standards of Consultation and Engagement across Leicester Strategic Partnership. Among those attending on behalf of bodies involved with the Local Strategic Partnership, there are representatives of the City Council, Leicester City NHS, University Hospitals Leicester (UHL), Leicestershire and Rutland Probation Trust, Leicestershire Constabulary, Voluntary Action Leicester, I'm there on behalf of the Equality and Diversity Partnership (EDP) as well as flying the flag for Council of Faiths of course.

This piece of work is intended to improve the level (and kind) of consultation processes entered into by all the member organisations that comprise the Local Strategic Partnership - well, the public sector organisations at least, since those from the private sector have unanimously declined to take part. In terms of the Voluntary and Community Sector, we're making input as participants in the consultation and engagement processes as well as beneficiaries of the outcomes. Our boards (where we have them) are being invited to sign up to these documents too.

Something different from the first meeting: we started discussing the use of social media for this project, how to apply Facebook, Twitter, blogging ("Hel-lo-oh!") to making it a success. Leicester City Council has a twitter account, but we were told that the most recent tweet was a month ago. The City Council has 30 followers; Council of Faiths has 32! In this context, we discussed future involvement of Citizens' Eye Community News Agency and Leicester on the Map, possibly from the beginning of the public consultation stage.

Café Creatif

Around noon, I attend Café Creatif at the LCB (Leicester Creative Business) Depot, Rutland Street. Smaller and less formal than CreativeCoffee Club (and much more so than Amplified Leicester) which both meet at Phoenix Square, just round the corner in the city's Cultural Quarter.

I speak with Ben Ravilious about the "Leicester on the Map" project he's coordinating, specifically regarding mapping places of worship around the city. This has never been done before, in even a paper format, never mind electronically. I think it would be an exciting, interesting and useful project.

Find out more about LCB Depot:
http://www.lcbdepot.co.uk/

SHOULD YOUNG SIKHS WEAR THE KIRPAN IN LEICESTER SCHOOLS?

Meeting at the Tigers, early evening, to discuss the Sikh text in the series currently under development, "Engaging with Leicester's Faith Communities". Representatives of all Leicester's gurdwaras have been invited, Head Teachers (or Deputy Heads) of the six primary schools and four secondary schools with the biggest numbers of Sikh pupils in the city and a small number of others identified as stakeholders.

More specifically, the major topic for discussion is the wearing of the kirpan (one type of which is illustrated in the photo above) in Leicester schools and colleges. The steering group (of which I am a member) have gathered advice and information from other local authorities (e.g. Bedford, Birmingham, Redbridge) who have gone through a similar process. We want our text to contain intelligent and definitive guidelines that can be followed in the city. There's an hour-and-a-half of mature, trusting and friendly consultation among around 25 of us and I believe everyone went away happy. One good result was that more people wanted to have a read of the whole text before it is approved for publication. More work for those of us involved in writing and editing it, but it definitely brings a better sense of engagement all round - and that, in itself, is one of the intended results of creating this series of texts.

I'm not going to try and present the content of our discussion here. That would not do justice to the topic or to the quality of contributions that were made round the table. I count myself privileged to be involved in this kind of work with such people.

FLY THE FLAG

There's a flag over the door to Pilgrim House, 10 Bishop Street, Town Hall Square: the base for Leicester Council of Faiths. New English Design, who share the building, have just put up this big silver flag with a white "10" rising up from the bottom of it. The row of six windows above the flag belong to the Welcome Centre. I've got the use of all of that virtually all of the time, although my work station is behind the two windows farthest right. By the end of this month I'll have relocated downstairs, to the right of the door, in the office space where the windows are currently covered over with cardboard.

Amplified Leicester: DIY community

To Phoenix Square digital Film and Media Centre for the fortnightly meeting of Amplified Leicester. This morning's presentation is entitled "DIY community", with Katherine Hui (photo above).

In Katherine's own words: "You've got an online community of a few hundred members and regular face to face meetings. Great. Now what? There's an increasing trend in local area communities connecting online and coming together to address local issues. This will look at ways communities can do things for themselves, work together to address local needs and use the collective as leverage to achieve action both on and offline."

Katherine Hui has spent the past two years working for the Social Innovation Camp, getting people to use web and mobile based technology to mobilise social change. She is now working for Do the Green Thing, a web-based public service that inspires people to lead greener lives. Katherine also is very involved in grassroots football and coaches young people for Gunners in Islington.

Oh, and since Amplified Leicester is all about the use of social media - facebook latest: 105 fans!

Read Katherine Hui's blog:
http://www.katee.org/

Find out more about Amplified Leicester:
http://ampleic.ning.com/

Find out more about Phoenix Square Digital Film and Media Centre:
http://phoenix.org.uk/

CATHEDRAL A.M.

An early start at Leicester Cathedral Visitor Centre for Cathedral AM, starting 0730. This bi-monthly networking event brings together people with a special interest in the city centre - living there, working there or otherwise concerned with it. Following a light breakfast, we listen to this morning's guest speaker: Anna Ellis, Manager of the Dawn Centre.

The Dawn Centre is a project for homeless people providing temporary accommodation, support, advice and assistance on health, housing, life skills and education all in one place.

I'm pleased to hear Anna's talk, for two reasons in particular. Firstly, the topic of homeless people has come up at just about each and every one of these meetings I've been to. Because of that, I've prompted Julie-Ann Heath and Barry Naylor (who run Cathedral AM) to get someone from the Dawn Centre to come along and speak. Secondly, I used to spend part of my working week there, teaching adult literacy skills, when I was employed by the City Council on its ReMit and Reach adult education programmes.

room (for) 101

After posting earlier about trying to get our hundredth "fan" on facebook, I'm glad to say that we've ended the day with 101.

come to The Dark Side (we have cookies)

An invitation to attend the monthly Leicester Pagan Moot this evening at The Dark Side, in Cank Street. The Dark Side is a new cafe in the city centre, which describes itself as Leicester’s first alternative cafe and information centre. It prides itself on having a welcoming, warm and relaxed atmosphere, with friendly, if "rather strange looking" (in their own words) staff. Music is a big part of the alternative identity at The Dark Side, varying from rock to emo, goth to metal. I can personally recommend the coffee and walnut cake. That's Lucie Belikova, who runs the place, outside the cafe in the photo above, cutting the red ribbon for the cafe's official opening.

At Leicester Pagan Moot, all pagan paths are welcomed and treated with fairness and equality. it's an occasion when people can meet and exchange ideas with others who look deep inside for the answers to those awkward questions everyone is dying to ask. The theme for this evening is "Candle Magic". We hear, ask and talk about colour, size, fragrance, their use and significance for different spiritual purposes. The evening ends with a "pathworking" exercise, with Angela Langrick leading a guided meditation using a candle flame.

The Leicester Pagan Alliance is not itself a member of our Council of Faiths. However, our contract as Host Organisation with Leicester Partnership requires us to develop positive working relations with the different communities of religion, faith or belief in the city - not just those who make up our membership. Working with the Pagans doesn't feel like an obligation, I'm glad to say. I've become good friends with a few of them and I won't forget how supportive they were of me in the earliest days I was in this post.

Visit the facebook page for The Dark Side:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leicester-United-Kingdom/The-Dark-Side-Cafe/320417872612

Visit the facebook page for Leicester Pagan Moot:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Leicester-United-Kingdom/Leicester-Pagan-Moot/298422108418