TWO CHURCHES TO CLOSE IN LEICESTER THIS MONTH OVER COSTS

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Two churches to close in Leicester this month over costs

Two churches will close this month because the diocese can no longer afford to keep them open.

St Peter's, off Thurcaston Road, Belgrave, Leicester, and the nearby St Gabriel's, in Kerrysdale Avenue, will hold their final services on Sunday, June 27.

A day later, both buildings will be officially shut.

The decision was taken after a long consultation about their future and an unsuccessful campaign to save the 11th century St Peter's.

From next month, St Alban's, in Weymouth Street, will be the only church serving Belgrave.

Father Tony Coslett, team rector for the parish, said: "This is not about failure. It is not about retreat. It is about re-grouping. When a church closes it is remarkably sad. I am gutted.

"St Alban's will now become a powerhouse of the parish.

"We look forward to serving the community from this church.

"The Church of England is still committed to this area. We will still have a lot going on."

He said the closures were not solely for financial reasons.

However, the parish has faced a drop in numbers at services, dwindling collections and escalating bills, meaning it could only afford to keep one church open.

The parish chose St Alban's because it said it had better facilities and was cheaper to run.

A public consultation prompted 135 letters of protest at the plans, most concerning the closure of St Peter's. Despite that, in February, the Church of England upheld the parish's proposals to decommission the buildings.

Church Commissioners said the parish only needed one building. Ian Bewley-Parker, 71, who worshipped at St Peter's for most of his life and used to be churchwarden, said the decision to close the churches was "stupid".

Janet Lucas, who lives near the church, said: "They have shot themselves in the foot.

"I do not think they are going to get the people in St Alban's."

She said she hoped the churches would have a public open day before their doors were bolted, for the benefit of the community as well as the congregations.

St Peter's is a grade II-listed building with a history dating back to 1082.

St Gabriel's was built in the mid-1960s.

It has not been decided what will happen to the buildings after they close.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Leicester said following the closures on June 28 the management of the churches would be handed from the parochial church council to the diocese's board of finance.

He said: "There will be a series of meetings and discussions between interested parties about the future of the buildings.

"These could include talks between people including the city council and English Heritage. It will be an ongoing process."

The final services on June 27 will get under way at St Peter's at 3pm and at St Gabriel's at 6.30pm.

community cohesion charter

A one-hour briefing session at Voluntary Action Leicester (12 noon, then repeated later today, starting 1800), for those bodies appointed Host Organisations for communities of interest in the city and for those individuals appointed representatives for those communities. Within this structure, Leicester Council of Faiths is the Host Organisation for issues of religion and belief. Our two representatives are unwell today, so I'm holding the fort. Other Host Organisations and their representatives are here for the other communities of interest: age (different organisations for young people and old people), disability, gender (i.e. women),  race, sexual orientation.

This briefing is in preparation for a meeting of Leicester Partnership on 23 June. Today we get sight of paperwork for that meeting and have the opportunity to comment on it if need be. One such document is the "Community Cohesion Charter for Leicester and Leicestershire", the text of which is set out in full below. This version will be signed by representatives of the city and county and of the Strategic Partnerships covering them both; a shorter version is to be signed by city and country organisations involved in those partnerships.

COMMUNITY COHESION CHARTER FOR LEICESTER & LEICESTERSHIRE

"We, the people who live and work in Leicester and Leicestershire are proud of our city and our county, our history and traditions, and value the diversity of our people and communities.

"We are committed to the development of Leicester and Leicestershire as a thriving and cohesive society of many faiths and cultures and we will work together for its continued success for ourselves, our children and for future generations. We all have an equal stake in our future.

"We believe in the importance of peaceful, harmonious and creative relations between our diverse communities. WE are committed to creating a positive and productive environment where difference is valued and celebrated and we ill take every opportunity to work to improve those relations and encourage greater understanding and contact between people and communities.

"We cherish and will uphold our long tradition of welcoming and respecting visitors and newcomers to Leicester and Leicestershire and those who seek refuge in our community.

"We recognise the need to remain vigilant to any threats or challenges to good community relations and will guard against complacency. We have a moral responsibility to speak out, to show visible leadership, and to respond to challenges to the peace and harmony of Leicester and Leicestershire.

"We, therefore, make the following commitments:

"We reaffirm what we have in common and what unites us, a wish to live in peace and security together, to be free from poverty, to have a decent standard of living and a fair share of resources, to have equal chances in life and enjoy good health.

"We celebrate all that is good about Leicester and Leicestershire, our wonderful heritage, our many cultures and beliefs our unique neighbourhoods and the energy, character and diversity of our people.

"We recognise and support the equal rights of everyone in Leicester and Leicestershire.

"We reject any form of discrimination, prejudice, harassment or violence.

"We will work to build bridges of understanding, friendship, cooperation and mutual respect between all the people and communities who belong to Leicester and Leicestershire."

It should be said that this is not necessarily the final form of words. Nor has it been agreed that there should be two different versions for signature by different organisations. There may yet be some debate over just what this should say in the end.

CreativeCoffee Club (6)

It's the fortnightly meeting of CreativeCoffee Club at Phoenix Square Digital Film and Media Centre. No speaker, no particular topic this morning, but a little more formal and structured than our last meeting two weeks ago. We've moved out of the Screen Lounge cafe bar into one of the education suites upstairs. Or perhaps we have been moved out - there's a suggestion that last time there were so many of us that we took up too much space and encroached on a meeting of the University of the Third Age (U3A), who gather in the Scfreen Lounge cafe bar before going into a special showing of a film just for them. Last time they were waiting to see Stanley Kubrick's 2001, A Space Odyssey. Well, that shows that they've got stamina. They should put that on a double bill with Kubrick's Spartacus, with a break in between in case anyone needs to shave.

Some of the core members are here (Ben, Farhanah, Ian, Mel - who all cross over with Amplified Leicester) but there are another dozen or so, for whom  it's their first time here. We've got two minutes each to introduce ourselves and pitch our business, service, whatever it is we bring to the table. Jayne keep time with the stopwatch on her iPhone. When it's my turn, I take the opportunity to hand round bookmarks, postcards, flyers and my business card for the Council of Faiths. How come I'm the only one to do that today? I'd have thought stuff like that would be Networking 101.

After all the intros, we can move back downstairs to the cafe bar, as the U3A people have cleared the space. Not much time to get into conversation today, as I have to dash off to my next appointment at Voluntary Action Leicester, starting 12 noon.

I should mention that this morning I've taken the opportunity to collect some signatures on the Heart Link petition to support the continuation of children's surgery and cardiac services at Glenfield Hospital.

volunteering strategy working group (1)

A quick dash across the road from Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL) to Voluntary Action Leicester (VAL) for the first meeting of a small group working on bashing out a strategy for volunteering that will work in both city and county. This follows on from a paper presented by Jim McCallum of VAL at the most recent meeting of the Stronger Communities Partnership (see blog entry, 08 Apr). Since I gained some experience in this area when helping with Volunteering England's "Volunteering and Faith Communities" project last year, I put myself forward to be on this group. Although Jim had a copy of the report of that project to hand when he presented that paper in April, I wasn't convinced that the benefits of that project had been included in the proposed strategy, an omission that I wanted to help put right (particularly in relation to the rich experience and potential of Leicester's faith communities).

There are five of us round the table, for this one-hour meeting: two from VAL (including Jim who leads the discussion), Jai Parmar, Project Officer from the Equality and Diversity Partnership (EDP), Jade Walsh (Volunteer Coordinator at Vista), Suna Tilley (Side-by-Side Service Manager at the Alzheimer's Society), and David Smith from Connexions.

We take one topic and brainstorm it: How to inspire people in Leicester and Leicestershire to volunteer. WE come up with 20 or more idea worth noting. They'll be written up, shared with the group, then each of us can circulate them within our own "hinterland" (as Jim put it) and come back for another meeting, to brainstorm another of the strategy's five principles in our second meeting next month. We're hoping to finalise the strategy by October at the latest.

EDP monthly meeting

We get hardly a quarter of an hour after the REDP meeting finishes at 1230 then we're into the regular monthly meeting of the Equality and Diversity Partnership. For this expanded meeting we're joined by Saeed Malek, representing Age Concern, as well as colleagues from the public sector Leicester City Council (Irene Kyszk, Head of Equalities), Leicestershire Constabulary (Lynne Woodward, Head of Diversity), Leicester City NHS (Abida Hussein, Diversity Officer). Our main topic of conversation is the expansion (in role and, possibly, in the membership) of EDP in its work with Leicester City Council and the Local Strategic Partnership. Jai Parmar and I have to leave early to make our way over to Voluntary Action Leicester to join in the first session of a working party to help formulate a volunteering strategy for the city and county.

REDP monthly meeting

At Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living, Upper Brown Street this morning, for the regular monthly meeting of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP). More people round the table than usual this morning. We welcome to their first meeting Liz Harrison, newly employed Equality Officer with LCIL/REDP, and Tonya Frew, recently appointed Community Development Officer at the LGBT Centre. With these new guys on board, there's a sense that the team is complete. Capitalising on this feeling, we reinstate the weekly working meetings for REDP, which will now be on Tuesday mornings.

Much of our discussion focuses on the upcoming event on the Equality Act 2010, at Walkers Stadium later this week (Thu 10). Last month, we were considering the penalties of cancelling or postponing this. Now the list is full, with over 20 people on reserve. We discuss whether we need to amend the programme in the light of Laura and I having attended the Equality and Diversity Forum event in Birmingham yesterday. Some minor adjustments are felt to be in order.

One major development that takes place today is a change in our Chair. As the project is about to enter its second year, Dee hands over to Iris from The Race Equality Centre (TREC). I'm all in favour of this. The plan is that the four Core Partners will take turns at chairing REDP. I am the baby of the group. Having been involved in this sort of work for the past three years. I defer to Dee and Iris and am conscious of still being under their tutelage in many ways. Sometime in the initial three-year life of REDP, when the time is right, I'll do it. But in this early phase, and in the increasingly difficult economic, political and social climate, it's right for someone of Iris's experience and expertise to take the helm. I'm not "kick ass" enough - not yet anyways.

The Coalition Government is in the process of virtually abolishing the regional tier of government throughout the country. Many of the bodies which have been the big players on that scene are disappearing, almost overnight. As long as our funding stays secure (and we're confident about that), then REDP may turn out to be last man standing in the East Midlands. Tthat would give us an extraordinary prominence and a much more influential role than we could have predicted.

get (still more) inspired

This evening I'm at Shree Jalaram Prarthana Mandal community centre, Narborough Road, for a meeting of the group planning "Get Inspired 2010", to be held at Leicester Raceourse, Sat 14 and Sun 15 August.

Find out more about Get Inspired 2010:
http://ochs.org.uk/sites/all/files/Get%20Inspired%20Presentation_V6.pdf

EQUALITY & DIVERSITY FORUM: HOW TO USE THE EQUALITY ACT 2010

In Birmingham today, for an event sponsored by the Equality and Diversity Forum (EDF), entitled "How to Use the Equality Act 2010". The Equality and Diversity Forum is a network of national organisations committed to equal opportunities, social justice, good community relations and respect for human rights. Its objectives are:

• To promote equality and in particular the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, gender, gender identity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or any combination thereof;
• To promote Human Rights;
• To promote for the public benefit the efficiency and effectiveness of Voluntary Sector Providers working in the areas of age, disability, gender, gender identity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and Human Rights or any combination thereof;
• The advancement of conflict resolution or reconciliation between competing strands of equality and diversity.

This event sports some high level speakers:

• Jonathan Rees, Director General of the Government Equalities Office: "Key Features of the 2010 Equality Act"
• Amanda Ariss, CEO of the Equality and Diversity Forum, "How NGOs might use the Equality Act in Their Work"
• Peter Reading, Acting Director of Legal Policy at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, "EHRC's Role in Implementing the Act"

 
After lunch, I take part in two workshops. the first of these is "Equality Impact Assessments" (presented by Janine Garel, Citizens Advice), the second, "The Public Sector Equality Duty" (presented by Ali Harris, Citizens Advice and Ewan Kennedy, ROTA).

The venue for this event, Maple House on Corporation Street is very good. Central, close to Birmingham New Street rail station, with friendly staff and good food. But what I like most about it are the names of the meeting rooms. They're called "Accelerate!", "Forward!", "Hasten!", "Proceed!" and "Propel!". They sound like team names from The Apprentice. All they're missing is an exclamation mark at the end of each one - so I've added them here for good measure!

riverside festival: Sunday

Saturday was bright, clear and sunny - indeed, it was the hottest day of the year so far. Early on Sunday, though, it's raining so heavily that it sets off car alarms in our street! I don't envy anyone who's setting up for the day at the Riverside Festival.

We finally get back into the swing of things late morning. Highlight of the day is a Pub Quiz (I'm sure they mean "Pop Quiz", since it's not actually in a pub) hosted by Presence. Harry, Grace and I win! Our prize is a small garden gnome, which Harry names "Steve" (photo above)

While the kids occupy themselves with various bits of colouring and so on, I talk to people on the Presence stall and find out more about them. They describe themselves as offering a fresh approach to church in Leicester mainly for postmodern young adults, people in apartments and students living along the waterfront and the edge of the city centre. They've been mandated by Bishop Tim to be a church in every sense, except having a church!

Find out more about Presence:
http://www.presence-church.com/presence-church.com/Welcome.html

Facebook users can visit Presence's Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Leicester-United-Kingdom/Presence-Leicester/148297528902?ref=ts&ajaxpipe=1&__a=15

riverside festival: Saturday

A two-day family festival of music and fun on the banks of the River Soar. The annual Riverside Festival has grown into one of the city’s biggest free events, bringing live music, family activities and workshops and all the fun of the waterways to the heart of the city. The festival takes place on the mile straight of the river, Western Boulevard and in Bede Park. It is run by Leicester City Council and sponsored by local social landlord Riverside and ECHG.

I really like this event, not least because it's all just round the corner from where I've lived for the past four years, in a part of the ciity I pass through every day. I love the transformation, and for this fairly ordinary part of the city - my part of the city - to be the focus of attention for a couple of days.

Along the riverside, on Western Boulevard and in Bede Park, there are performers and entertainers of various kinds entertain, falconry displays, art workshops and a street market, as well as BMX displays, a mini cinema, puppet shows, a mobile petting zoo, circus skills workshops and arts and crafts on show. Some of Leicester's top bands perform on a temporary stage. For the first time, From Dusk2Dawn magazine hosts a fringe festival bringing three nights of live music to venues along Braunstone Gate.

Brightly decorated narrowboats take pride of place along the river (we can vote for our favourite). Decorated boats parade along the river, accompanied by live traditional jazz, and there are also activities involving boats ranging from coracles and canoes to a floating tea shop. One popular activity on the water is the lantern parade. There's a stall on which we can decorate a paper lantern, which will be put into the water, with a tea light, just as it gets dark around 2100. People colour their lanterns and write dedications on them. There must be about a hundred of them in the water later. Trouble is, though, it's not exactly a fast-flowing stretch of water so there's very little movement in the lantern parade. Some folk go out in a couple of rowing boats to try and generate some movement in the water, using their oars. The lanterns certainly move at this prompting, but the trouble is, they're paper lanterns, with tea lights inside them - tea lights, with their little naked flames. Well, after moving for only a few yards, the lanterns bunch up, some of the tea lights fall over inside the lanterns and suddenly there's a conflagration on the river. Now the oars that have been responsible for this catastrophe are pressed into service to save the situation, being used to chuck water on the flames. This, as I'm sure you can imagine faithful reader, rather spoils the occasion. The final use of the oars this evening - as far as the lanterns are concerned - is to scoop up the limp and lifeless paper and drop it all into the bottom of the boats to be brought back to the bank for dismal disposal.