QUEEN'S GARDEN PARTY AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE

To London this morning, to attend a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. Cllr Manjula Sood, Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths and former Lord Mayor of Leicester, secured invitations for Ajay Aggarwal (Coordinator at the Council of Faiths office) and I to attend this event today. I don't really know if you're invited to attend a Garden Party for a particular reason, but Manjula said it being in recognition of our work in promoting community cohesion - and her word is good enough for me.

The process started back in January. Manjula recommended our names to the Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire, whose office passes them on to the Palace, whence the Lord Chamberlain's Office issues the invitations. We can each take one guest with us. Ajay's wife is poorly today and can't come. Clare is with me. We've both agonised over what to wear. I buy a new suit (the day before, of course!) I haven't bought a new suit in at least seven years and am embarrassed to admit that I've gone up from a 34 inch waist to a 38 in that time.

Dress code for the day is:

Ladies: Day dress with hat or Uniform (No medals). Trouser suit may be worn

Gentlemen: Morning Coat, Lounge Suit or Uniform (No medals).

Chains of Office may be worn; National Dress may be worn.

Clare is wearing a Fascinator. If it were not for occasions such as this (and Ladies Day at Ascot), the Fascinator would surely have died out by now. There are plenty on show here, of varied designs and colours. Some of them look amazing, like little clouds of sprites orbiting the wearer's head; others look weirdly like the result of an explosive gunshot wound! Clare's is very subtle - it's cyan, matching the main colour in her outfit. She's worn it since leaving the house this morning. When she got into a taxi to go to the train station, the taxi driver asked her, "And where are we going to?" She replied, "Buckingham Palace" to which the driver responded, "No, where are we going to now?"

Gates open to admit guests at 1500. We spend an hour or so before that in Green Park. We have a brief pleasant chat with a fellow guest, who turns out to be Photo Editor for the magazine Derbyshire Life. I take the opportunity to leave her my card for REDP (of course). I get two 99s from a kiosk at the other end of the park and walk back to the bench Clare's on with arms ever more outstretched, to prevent the melting ice cream dripping onto my suit.

Here's the timetable for the afternoon, taken from the printed programme:

1500 Gates open

1530 Tea is served in the main tent until 1700

1540 Yeomen of the Guard hold ground

1600 The National anthem announces the arrival of Her Majesty The Queen and Members of the Royal Family. A small number of individual presentations will be pre-arranged with those who are to be presented in the Garden near the Terrace Steps. Gentlemen at arms will then form lanes for the Queen and Members of the Royal Family to move through the guests.

1615 Tea is served in the Diplomatic Tea Tent

1630 Tea is served in the Royal Tea Tent

1710 The Queen and Members of the Royal Family depart

1800 The National anthem

We enter the Palace grounds not through the gate at Hyde Park Corner, as the queue is probably shorter there, with a wait of about 20 minutes. We move down through the gardens following the sound of the band, eventually settling in a shady spot from which we can see the front entrance to the Palace. The Royal Car (I don't know if that's meant to have initial caps, but best to play safe) draws up and two people who appear to be the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh (recognisable at some distance by his distinctive gait) alight and go on up the steps into the Palace.

Several myths and misconceptions exist about these Garden Parties (many of which I believed myself before attending). It's certainly a mistake to describe it (as so many do) as "taking tea with the Queen". We don't see the Queen or any other member of the Royal Family close up. No one comes into contact with any of them unless you have a specific invitation to the Diplomatic Tea Tent or the Royal Tea Tent. A good number of people position their seats in front of the Royal Tea Tent (which stretches for quite a way and is open to view for almost its entire length) and get a good view of the dignitaries inside. That's not really our cup of tea (Ah thang yaw!) and we spend most of our time looking round the gardens. Clare's a bit of a birdwatcher, so takes an interest in what's swimming on the lake.

In the general information all guests receive in advance of the day, we're told that "cameras may not be brought as photography is not permitted in the Palace or Garden" (that's in bold caps) and that "mobile telephones must be switched off" (that's in bold caps and underlined). So there are no personal photos to illustrate the visit (although as we walk round the garden, we do see folk taking sneaky pics here and there). I did try and take a few in Green Park, before and after, but I haven't yet mastered the arms-length camera phone self portrait (as you can see, from the one below).

This is a pleasant experience (no matter what my expression might say in the photo above) and a lovely way to spend a sunny summer afternoon. We're glad we went and we're grateful to Manjula for putting our names forward to receive the invitations.

BIG LUNCH

At St Mary's Triangle, Clarendon Park, for The Big Lunch – a local contribution to a national string of activities  inspired by The Eden Project. This local event was organised by a group of three women from Holy Trinity Church, on Regent Road. They (plus one bloke blowing up balloons) are the only ones there when Harry and I arrive shortly before 1300, but numbers soon swell. At its peak there are at least 30 people gathered on a fairly small patch of public land hiding in plain sight halfway down (or up) on Victoria Park Road: little known, little used green space, quiet and well preserved and just the other side of the road from one of the city's largest and most popular parks.

The food and drink everyone brings is pooled, tables are nicely laid out with proper china tea sets. Gazebos are dotted around, fun and games abound with a giant snakes and ladders, Frisbees and footballs. Props to Leon Charikar for services above and beyond the call of duty for keeping my children (especially Gracie) busy and entertained. If they sleep well tonight, it's largely down to him! Harry got to make a wallet out of a juice carton. Gracie struggled with learning how to cast on (knitting is a very popular activity today).

As always, when meeting a bunch of people for the first time (and there were many of those), I get to talk about my work, to some sympathetic ears. It's a weekend of diversity – but with a difference. Here's another lively example of what Leicester is good at, if not presented in a way that plays up to the stereotype of a multicultural city. the national organisers give a whole load of reasons for doing this, which I quote here:

To stoke up community spirit – we call it Human Warming.

To make the third of us who live alone feel happier, closer and friendlier.


To show how local people can change a neighbourhood for good, forever.


To conquer our natural shyness, to open our curtains, doors and minds and look out for one another the way we used to.


To share stories, skills and tools, so we all end up richer in every sense.


To discover common ground across age, class, faith, race and the garden fence, and to remind ourselves that charity begins at home, or at most, a couple of doors away.

Some people are doing it to promote a cause of common interest or to raise funds for an appropriate charitable purpose. We're not doing that as a group here today, although some attendees take the opportunity to spread the word and solicit opinion about issues of concern locally.

On The Big Lunch's own blog it says, "Today The Big Lunch has inspired an estimated one million people to participate in a lunch with their neighbours across the UK – a fantastic turn out and a big thank you to everyone who took part and organised their very own Big Lunch."

To find out how The Big Lunch went today – and in anticipation of The Big Lunch 2011, when you, faithful reader, might be able to join in if you haven't done so already –  visit their own blog, which is crammed full of entertaining, inspiring and interesting content.

FIESTA LATINA!

At Southfields Library this afternoon, to join in "Fiesta Latina", a day of family fun celebrating Leicester's link with its twin town, Masaya, in Nicaragua.

No need for me to say here that Leicester prides itself on its diversity. But among our established, settled or newly arrived communities identified with different cultures, ethnicities, languages, nationalities, races, religions, here is a different expression of Leicester's diversity, though not so well known, recognised or celebrated.

Leicester and Masaya were officially twinned in 1987. Since then, the Leicester Masaya Link Group (LMLG) has worked to develop and maintain an exchange of contacts between the two cities by co-ordinating projects aimed at enriching life in both cities. LMLG is a registered charity, with two objectives:

• To work towards the relief of poverty in the Masaya Region by facilitating partnerships for sustainable development.
• To raise public awareness around global issues in both Leicester and Masaya.

LMLG aims to foster mutual understanding and friendship between the people of Leicester and Masaya, by celebrating the diversity of our respective cities. The link ensures that the global issues which affect our sister city in Nicaragua are as important here as they are in Masaya.

As well as facilitating practical projects that promote sustainable development on the ground in Masaya, the LMLG contributes to the provision of development education and global awareness raising across all sectors of the community, by organising exchange visits, cultural activities, projects in schools, speaker meetings and other public events in Leicester

Today, in the little theatre at Southfields Library there are colourful and informative displays showing life in Msaya and some of the food, drink and other products that come from Nicaragua and its neighbour countries. We get the chance to do some craft activities. Harry and Grace particularly enjoy the mask-making.

I join in my first salsa lesson this afternoon. I tweeted at the time that I was the best guy in the group, because I was the only guy in the group. I've since realised that there was one other man there, who had adopted my own approach (stand at the back so no one can see you) and taken it one step further - in other words, he stood behind me even. Well, at least I can confidently state that I was in the top two guys there. And, as we all know, faithful reader, "People love to say 'salsa'!"

An initial tweet, announcing the event, was retweeted by @WCWDT - the twitterfeed of What Can We Do Today, an independently published free magazine distributed to primary school children and their families across the borough of Charnwood.

BAN ON RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS IS NOT THE WAY FORWARD

The Bishop of Leicester's First Person column appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Ban on religious symbols is not the way forward

The Bishop of Leicester sees France's move to ban the niqab as a disturbing development

Earlier this year a nurse was banned from wearing a crucifix by her employers. In his Easter sermon the Archbishop of Canterbury subsequently spoke out about "wooden-headed bureaucratic silliness" that stopped Christians wearing religious symbols at work.

He went on to say that there is currently a strange mixture of contempt and fear towards Christianity.

Last Tuesday the French took the banning of religious symbols one step further. Their parliament passed a law which will affect fewer than 2,000 people out of a population of 64 million. The people whom the law targets are the small number of Muslim women who wear a full-face veil or niqab.

The French parliament voted 335 to one in favour of a bill that would make it an offence punishable by a fine to appear in public in the full veil. Any man convicted of insisting that his wife or daughter wear it can be imprisoned for up to a year. During the debate the niqab was described as a "walking coffin" by one MP, and "a threat to French values" by another.

In secular societies religious symbols are increasingly seen as dangerous and problematic. Last month I listened to a distressed woman speak about being attacked by a youth in Leicester while she was wearing a niqab. The youth tore down her veil and shouted abuse at her. This was not the first experience of abuse she has suffered but it was the most serious.

The woman went on to speak of how the incident had knocked her confidence, but she knew that she must stand up and go ahead with the complaint to the police. The offender was found through CCTV evidence.

Subsequently, other Muslim women have come forward to her to say they have suffered the same kind of abuse, including the woman's own daughter.

The Lord Mayor of Leicester recently expressed the view that "religion has no role to play in the conduct of Council business". In secular societies there is always a tendency to get anxious about expressions of religion. The niqab can be unsettling for many people but why do the state and employers feel the need to ban it?

Many of the great cities of the world are made up of people from different cultures and faiths. In plural societies people live plural lives. One of the main strengths of Leicester is that its diverse citizens and communities respect each other's cultural and religious differences and value them rather than be threatened by them.

If we follow the example of the French and try to impose a single culture it leads us to question what would be banned next? Banning religious symbols is not the way forward.

EREN STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETING

To London this morning, for a meeting of the English Regions Equality Network (EREN). I'm travelling with Dee Martin (Chief Exec of Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living and first/past Chair of the Regional Equality and Partnership). Dee is currently Co-Chair of EREN.

The meeting is being held at Age UK on Pentonville Road. I'm last to enter the meeting room and make a slightly more memorable entrance than I'd like by forcefully and noisily pulling on a door clearly marked "push".

There are 14 of us here in all. from pan-equalities groups working in different regions: London, East Midlands, West Midlands, North East, North West, South West. Each of us has our own particular area of interest within equalities work. We also have representation from the Equality and Diversity Forum.

The session is facilitated by Ange Jones, from the National Equalities Partnership. She begins by setting us an interesting icebreaker activity, in which we speak with the person sitting next to us, and say what we're like when we're at our best. After ten minutes we have a list of qualities, including the following: action-based; balanced; challenging; charming; creative; debonair; enthusiastic; facilitative; focused; giving constructive criticism; having a vision of the future; honest; hopeful; inclusive; laughing a lot; listening to others; non-judgmental; pragmatic; respectful; seeing links others don't; sensitive. These are the qualities we're asked to draw on throughout the day in our interactions here. (We do, of course, spend the same amount of time talking to the person next to us about we're like when we're at our worst, come up with a list of those qualities and are asked to steer clear of that way of doing things in this meeting.)

Paul Dunn (Co-Chair of EREN and CEO of Equality South West) gave an introduction to the short but fruitful history of EREN and positioned it within the current social, political and economic landscape - what some might describe as "flux", while others might call it "slash and burn". He set the task of the day as our need to discuss how we might sustain the network, how we might move on. The Government Equalities Office (GEO) has funded EREN for the next 12 months, though it is unclear precisely what it wants EREN to do in that time. GEO's own agenda for the regions is not clear. All we can say at present is that funding EREN for a year appears to be their regional agenda (if that sounds a bit circular or confusing, then I have conveyed it accurately). There's a sense of urgency about the meeting. Is it useful to look at what EREN has done in the past, how it has done it? Or should we think of the present as Year Zero, since things around us have changed so much, so quickly?

We start our work proper with the question, "What do we need EREN to be now - and for the future?" After brainstorming some key words for a few minutes, we divide into three groups and spend a quarter of an hour juggling some of those words to come up with a sentence that says what EREN is all about. Our gang of four experiments with diagrams and flow charts before coming up with "The vehicle between policy and practice within and across the regions". Another group has "Promoting equality voices nationally". The third group doesn't come up with one of their own. After lunch we try to blend those two sentences into one - but we don't quite manage it.

In our small groups again, we undertake a SWOT analysis of EREN. For the uninitiated, SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. Our group is asked to consider opportunities and threats. We come up with a whole lot more of the former than the latter. I can't believe that we're being naive about this or hiding our heads in the sand, but among the challenges that lie ahead, some of us can see a real chance to help set the agenda and push for real progress in the equalities field. Some people and organisations might be able to do no more than lay down and die; others might be deliberately killed off. But some are going to survive - not just that, but thrive. We need to learn to speak a new language, work with the new conditions, rather than against them, to go with the flow rather than try and turn back the tide.

REDP core reference group

The Core Reference Group of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP) meets for the first time today. This is the main membership that will set the direction of the whole partnership. Its esgablishment marks our entry into the second phase of the project, at the start of our second year of public activity.

We're meeting at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL) from 12100 to 1500. We had originally thought of holding our first meeting in neutral territory, outwith the main cities of the region (Derby, Leicester, Nottingham). Our first choice was Grantham. But we decided to hold it here in the end, so that the rest of the membership of the Core Reference Group would have the chance to see the facilities at our disposal and to meet the team supporting the project.

The Core Partners, with the regular and practical assistance of the Delivery Group, has put a lot of thought and effort into preparing Terms of Reference, Code of Conduct and Criteria for Membership. These have all been sent out to potential members of the Core Reference Group in advance; we've encouraged these organisations to consider all these and only to commit to membership if they can meet the standards contained in these documents. If that smacks of being a bit harsh or controlling, it's born out of the need to be realistic. We're aiming for a fine balance between principle and pragmatism here. We want people who support the pan-equality nature of the project, but who also have the practical wherewithal to do their bit in advancing it. Each of the protected characteristics (and other areas of interest) have their own criteria for membership. Here are the general criteria which each one of the represented organisations needs to meet:

Organisations represented on the Core Reference Group need to demonstrate the following:

That they include, within their regular activities, campaigning for change and making appropriate challenge.

That they have experience of, or are willing and able to, work collaboratively across the East Midlands.

That they are open, honest and respectful in their dealings with other organisations, while holding their own ideas open to change so that all participants may benefit from shared learning and good practice.

That they can make active input not only to their own particular equality area, but also support the common work across equality strands. This is necessary so that the partnership is inclusive of all equality areas and does not operate according to an assumed hierarchy of protected characteristics.

Those individuals who sit on the Core Reference Group for the member organisations should be practitioners, working on the ground on a day-to-day basis (e.g. Chief Executive Officers, Chief Operating Officers, managers) rather than those bearing honorific titles (e.g. chairs, Presidents, directors, trustees). The intention is that the Core Reference Group should be practical in its focus and be able to respond immediately to challenges and opportunities.

As a group, we have two interesting and practical kinds of shared learning today. We're asked to adopt a traffic light system of cards to help smooth our discussion: red for "I want to speak"; orange for "clarification needed"; green for "I agree". We're also challenged often for use of abbreviations, acronyms and jargon and asked to refine our discussion to the simplest and clearest possible choice of words.

Today we have representatives round the table from almost all the recognised "protected characteristics": age, disability (not gender), race, faith or belief, sexual orientation. We also have representatives for areas not always represented in their own right in terms of equality and diversity: adults with learning difficulties, mental illness, refugees and asylum seekers. Not all the seats on the Core Reference Group are filled yet - and we're in no rush to do so just for the sake of it. Vacant spaces will be held open until appropriate organisations are found to fill them. The groups who are represented around the table today were mostly nominated by people who attended REDP's Involvement Events held in various venues around the region during January, February and March. Now we're partly looking to those who have taken their places on the Core Reference Group to nominate others who may meet the challenge to join them.

CATHEDRAL AM

It's Cathedral AM this morning at Leicester Cathedral Visitor Centre. This bi-monthly networking breakfast brings together people working in, living in, or otherwise concerned with Leicester city centre. For the first time in a long while, I actually get there in time to have breakfast! There's a smaller turnout than usual today (maybe only half what we're used to) which host Canon Barry Naylor blames on "the July effect". I guess that means a lot of people are on holiday just now.

Our speaker this morning is John Florance (photo above, with Barry Naylor) from BBC Radio Leicester. He gives us a whistlestop tour of the past, present and possible future of local radio in general and BBC Radio Leicester in particular. Leicester was the first city in the UK to have its own radio station (from Nov 1967) and it pioneered certain aspects of radio broadcasting that we now take for granted, such as the on-air phone-in. John is very funny (if a bit risque for this time of the morning) and he provides an enlightening and entertaining 20 minute talk. At the end of the session I get the chance to tell him that BBC Radio Leicester's web page on Inter Faith Week was featured in a presentation to delegates at the Inter Faith Network UK national conference in London just last week. This web page was, in part, based on the content of an interview John conducted live with Noel Singh, Ibrahim Moghra and myself on the first day of that week in November last year.

Speaking of Inter Faith Week, this morning I meet Mark Murphy, who has recently been appointed General Manager at Highcross. After introducing myself, I speak with him about the possibility of Highcross once again mounting the Council of Faiths exhibition when Inter Faith Week rolls around again later this year. It's a friendly first meeting and he asks me to drop him a line soon, so that Julie Ann and I can explore this with him and his staff.

REDP delivery group

Regular Tuesday morning meeting of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP) delivery group at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL). Six of us here today, including myself. Main focus of our attention is the latest draft of the Community Engagement Strategy for East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS). We've already seen one version of this, made comments and sent them to EMAS. We'll be doing more of the same with this latest version.

Leicester Leaders

At the Walkers Stadium this morning for a Leicester Leaders Partnership Meeting, a pretty large event in the Great Hall involving Head Teachers of city and county schools, Senior Leaders, School Governors, educational advisers, specialists in community cohesion etc. I signed up for this at the SACRE AGM a couple of weeks ago, although all of us who enrolled at that meeting are missing from the list of attendees for today.I guess our forms got last somewhere between there and here.

The keynote speaker is Ted Cantle, the man who virtually invented community cohesion in terms of how it has been known, discussed, argued over, owned and disowned in the past ten years or so. He gives an overview of the past, present and future(s) of community cohesion, especially as it affects schools and the communities in which they are located. It's a pleasure to listen to him and to see his professional and easy (by which I don't mean slick") presentation. In a break later in the morning, I get the chance to speak with him for a few minutes one-to-one. Ted used to live in Leicester (his children were schooled here) and he has warm and positive associations with the Council of Faiths. He offers a few tips about strengthening our position in the city, which I find helpful and reassuring.

At the request of Jill Carr, Secretary of SACRE, I take part in the workshop presenting our new series of booklets, "Engaging with Faith Communities in Leicester", a round table discussion (literally) with representatives of half a dozen or so schools about the process of the series's development and the potential uses of the material it contains.

This is  rather high-powered occasion, with many influential figures from the world of education in Leicester, Leicestershire and beyond. From my understanding of our contract arrangements with Leicester city Council, we should be involved in such events by right. I'm only here because information about today was included in the pack that was given out at the SACE AGM. The Council of Faiths didn't receive any other notice of this occasion. I mention this (courteously of course) to Jasbir Mann, who leads this morning's meeting and she agrees the Council of Faiths should be automatically invited to any such event in future.

INTER FAITH NETWORK UK: ANNUAL NATIONAL MEETING 2010

This is my third time attending this annual event since I began working for Leicester Council of Faiths. The first was in this same venue, Glaziers Hall (2008), the second at Grace Road, home of Leicestershire County Cricket Club (2009). On those two earlier occasions, I acted as note-taker at one of the workshops. This time I'm free to take part in the day in my own right.

The theme of the National Meeting this year is "Shaping Our Shared Society: The Key Role of Local Inter Faith Organisations". Growing numbers of inter faith organisations are working at local level to develop good inter faith relations and to encourage cooperation on social issues. This meeting offers a chance to hear about how they are developing their work and about the challenges they are facing and the opportunities they see ahead. The topic is relevant to all types of body in membership of the Inter Faith Network: to local bodies themselves; to national faith communities which support and encourage their work; and to national and regional inter faith bodies which are, increasingly, looking to find ways to work in partnership with local projects and to support their work.

We're welcomed by Rt Rev Dr Alastair Redfern and Dr Girdari Bhan, Co-Chairs of the Inter Faith Network

Plenary sessions this morning:

Building good inter faith relations locally: a task for our times
Dr Harriet Crabtree, Director, Inter Faith Network, considers the changing landscape for local inter faith work and some of the key issues helping shape this; and reflects on the vital importance of local inter faith initiatives.

Developing good relations in the multi faith city
Kashmir Singh Rajput, Chair of Bradford District Faiths Forum, gives an insight into how this busy metropolitan faith forum has been working to identify issues of importance to the different faith communities in the city and its neighbourhoods and to build a range of partnerships to enable dialogue and social cooperation, both across communities generally and also bilaterally and trilaterally between particular communities.

A perspective from Government on the importance of local inter faith work as part of developing good community relations
Andrew Stunell OBE, MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Communities and Local Government with responsibilities including community cohesion (including future of Prevent); building regulations; race equality and the Big Society.

Dialogue on the spot
A moment to talk with your neighbours about the themes of the day

Developing local inter faith work in less diverse areas
Dr Maureen Sier, on secondment from the Scottish Inter Faith Council to the Scottish Executive/Government draws on her experience of working with local inter faith groups in Scotland to discuss how inter faith work is being developed in less diverse areas. How – if at all – does this differ from work in a multi faith city?

National faith communities – supporting and encouraging local inter faith work
Moulana M Shahid Raza OBE, Chair of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB) talks about its new initiative to encourage imams to play a role in local inter faith bodies and to encourage their congregations to do likewise.

Inter Faith Week
Stella Opoku-Owusu, Local and Regional Inter Faith Officer and Elin Henrysson, Project Assistant, Inter Faith Network give a short presentation of images of the 2009 Week and ideas for 2010. Fakhara Rehman, Community Faiths Coordinator, Kirklees Faiths Forum: our Inter Faith Week story - a packed Week of events for every age!

Sustaining the vision: resources and structures
Anna Allen, Head of Programmes, Community Development Foundation (CDF), talks about how recent funding programmes have been helping support local inter faith initiatives and reflects on some of the challenges for these of developing sustainable patterns of funding and structures which can help underpin their work well.

Seven workshops are run this afternoon on the following themes:

1. Developing a relevant and lively programme
Hear from two local groups about how they have been developing their programme and exchange ideas with members of groups in other areas.

Facilitator: Patricia Stoat, Chief Executive Officer, Faith Forum for the East Midlands

Presenters: Ryad Khodabocus, Community Relations Development Worker Luton Borough Council/Luton Council of Faiths and Peter Adams, Luton Council of Faiths; Dr David Capey, Suffolk Inter-Faith Resource

2. Outreach and membership
Developing a strong membership base and involving the faith communities in your area. A chance to discuss methods of outreach and patterns of membership, including some of the issues to consider when developing a constitution.

Facilitator: Amy Willshire, "Faith Ambassador", Waltham Forest Faith Communities Forum, London

Presenters: Brian Pearce OBE, Adviser, Faith and Public Life, Inter Faith Network; Resham Singh Sandhu MBE DL, Member, Leicester Council Faiths, Vice-Chair, Leicestershire Faith Forum and Trustee Faiths Forum for the East Midlands

3. Resources and training for religious literacy and inter faith understanding
A number of local inter faith bodies now run training for public authorities and others and produce materials to help people learn about the faiths in their areas or to understand what inter faith work is about. A chance to hear from two groups and to share your own experiences of this kind of work.

Facilitator: Rev Andrew Brown, Public Education Programmes Manager for the Woolf Institute, Cambridge

Presenters: Jatinder Singh Birdi, Warwick District Faiths Forum; Jonathan Marshall and Vallabhdas Meswania, Plymouth Centre for Faiths and Cultural Diversity

4. Involving young people in local inter faith programmes
Last year’s Inter Faith Network National Meeting had a special focus on young people and inter faith relations and an Inter Faith Network/National Association of SACREs looked at this in the course of a seminar on joint working by local inter faith bodies and SACREs. This workshop is a chance to talk about how local inter faith bodies are working to involve young people in their activities.

Facilitator: Ramona Kauth, Birmingham Council of Faiths

Presenters: Pastor Charles Kwaku-Odoi, Faith Network 4 Manchester; Dr Phil Henry, Director, Multi Faith Centre at Derby University which is developing a Derby Youth Inter Faith Forum (in consultation with the Faith Forum for Derby)

5. Multi media approaches to making the work known
Websites, radio interviews, DVDs, leaflets, newspaper articles. What are some of the ways that local inter faith bodies are using to gain more profile for themselves?

Facilitator: Jyoti Mehta, Institute of Jainology, Young Jains and Inter Faith Network Executive Committee member

Presenters: Paresh Solanki, Assistant Director (Communications and Development), Inter Faith Network; Selina Brown, Executive Communications Officer, West Midlands Faiths Forum

6. National faith communities and support for local inter faith work
Looking at how national faith communities are helping local members building good inter faith relations locally – and also learning from local inter faith groups.

Facilitator: Mgr Andrew Faley, Assistant General Secretary, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and Inter Faith Network Executive Committee member

Presenter: Philip Rosenberg, Interfaith Officer, Board of Deputies of British Jews

With brief responding reflections from Dr Joy Barrow, Inter Faith Relations Officer, Methodist Church in Britain and Ramesh Pattni, Co-Chair, Hindu-Christian Forum and Chair of the Interfaith Committee, Hindu Forum of Britain

7. Inter Faith Week: Looking back to 2009 and forward to this year’s Week
Discussion about the 2009 Week and plans for the 2010 Week. Come and share your news and ideas.

Facilitator/ Presenter: David Vane, Buddhist member and Secretary, Southampton Council of Faiths

Presenter: Rev Alan Bayes, Chair, Inter Faith Council for Wales

The final session of the National Meeting is:

Perspectives on the development of local inter faith work for the future
Short reflection pieces from: Deanna Van der Velde, Newcastle Council of Faiths, Chair, North East branch of Council of Christians and Jews and Chair, Newcastle SACRE, and member, Task Group, North East Regional Faith Network Ganesh Lall, member of South London Inter Faith Group and Caribbean Hindu Society; Mehru Fitter, member of Coventry Multi Faith Forum, Executive member, West Midlands Faiths Forum and member of Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe.