Singing in the city

Walking down Gallowtree Gate, after the meeting of Leicester Council of Faiths Board of Directors, I'm attracted by the sound of singing. In the distance, I see a crowd gathered in front of the giant Christmas tree in front of the Clock Tower. As I approach I realise - it's a choir! Singing in the city centre! After ten on a weekday night! Lovely.

They're the Emmanu'-El Apostolic Gospel Academy, based at De Montfort University.

I video two songs to post on our YouTube channel. I need permission of course, so I ask a couple of men who are with the group, but not singing (one of them videos me, giving my reaction to hearing the choir singing here). They give me the name and number of Sister Ellah and advise me to phone her tomorrow to ask consent for using the videos.

Thankfully, Sister Ellah says yes. Leicester Council of Faiths doesn't have a great record of association, engagement or involvement with African heritage, black-led community churhces in the city, so I'm glad to be able to do this.

You can find the videos of the choir performing on the Council of Faiths YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/counciloffaiths?feature=mhum#p/u/13/bSzyDfUiJFI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epuW0JNPZvI

Find out more about the Emmanu'-El Apostolic Gospel Academy:
http://www.el-eaga.com/

BOARD OF DIRECTORS: REPORT OF ACTIVITIES

At the Welcome Centre this evening, for a meeting of the Council of Faiths Board of Directors. Seven out of the eight member faith communities are represented round the table. I'm able to present a report of my activities since the last of these meetings (14 Sep), as listed below. New readers start here:

EDL/UAF demonstration & counter-demonstration

Attended VCS briefing by Leicester City Council & Leics Constabulary (Thu 23 Sep); organised LCoF contribution to Peace Vigil in Cathedral (Fri 08 Oct); wrote and circulated LCoF statement, in Chair’s name (Fri 08 Oct); acted as “single point of contact” for police and City Council on day of demo (Sat 09 Oct); organised LCoF contribution (stall & personnel) to “Celebrate One Leicester” event, Humberstone Gate (Sun 10 Oct); debriefing for members of Equality and Diversity partnership (Thu 04 Nov).

BBC Radio Leicester

Thu 07 Oct (Ben Jackson Show, recorded input, re pledge in Leicester Cathedral); Mon 11 Oct (Ben Jackson Show, live in studio, re Leicester Speaks); Fri 15 Oct (Ben Jackson Show, recorded input, re “Picnic in the Park”); Wed 01 Dec (Jonathan Lampon Show, live in studio with Dr Allan Hayes of Leicester Secular Society, re national “Not Ashamed” campaign).

Leicester Speaks - AKA Local Democracy Week

Appointed by steering group as Joint Chair (with John Coster of Citizens’ Eye Community News Agency) of this week-long event (Mon 11-Sat 16 Oct), supported by Adult Skills and Learning Service, Leicester City Council. Organised four dialogue meetings for LCoF across the week, involving each of our member faith communities (Jain/Sikh; Baha’i/Christian; Buddhist/Muslim; Hindu/Jewish) as well as planning and hosting other events across the week (particularly public launch in Humberstone Gate). Planning group met Fri 17 Sep; Fri 24 Sep;  Fri 01 Oct; Mon 04 Oct; Wed 06 Oct; Fri 08 Oct; Fri 15 Oct.

Centre for Excellence in Community Cohesion

Member of full group and working party for Leicester City Council Chief Exec’s project (met Mon 25 Oct; Tue 30 Nov).

Equality Impact Assessment on effects of Comprehensive Spending Review

Member of group working on this for Leicester City Council (met Thu 04 Nov; Mon 08 Nov; Tue 07 Dec).

Engaging with Faith Communities in Leicester

Continuing involvement with series of booklets, offering guidance for school staff. Started off with team of six doing this, now down to just two of us (met Mon 15 Nov; Mon 06 Dec; Fri 10 Dec).

Inter Faith Week

Organised and co-ordinated whole week of exhibition showcasing all eight member faith communities in Highcross, Sun 21 – Sat 27 Nov). We’re assured that there may have been as many as 500,000 footfalls over the course of the week. More than 50 people from various faith communities (some from none in particular) volunteered to help on the display, giving out material and engaging with members of the public. Highlights included front-page coverage in The Wave (young people’s supplement, 70,000 copies distributed free with Leicester Mercury, Wed 24 Nov) visit to display by Sir Peter Soulsby MP (Thu 25 Nov) and visit by City Councillor Wayne Naylor (Fri 26 Nov). And we’ve already been given tentative consent to do it again in 2011!

NHS Leicester City / Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust

Preparing ground for launch of “Faith Communities Health Champions” project, in context of Service Level Agreement (met with representatives of NHS Leicester City or Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, Wed 14 Oct; Thu 21 Oct; Fri 10 Dec).

Other notable activities, events, projects in this period:

Attended Chief Constable’s Inter-Cultural Reception, Police HQ, Enderby (Tue 28 Sep).

Contributed to Leicester Uni Chaplaincy exhibit at International Student Fair (Wed 29 Sep).

Hosted visit to Leicester by Blackpool Inter Faith Forum for Youth (Sat 02, Sun 03 Oct).

Participated in “Together” inter faith family day at Beauchamp College (Sun 03 Oct).

Organised five speakers for Philosophy Panel at St Paul’s RC School (Tue 05 Oct).

Assisted “Sacred Spaces” training, Leicester Cathedral Church House (Wed 06, Thu 07 Oct).

Participated in Action for Children Family Intervention Project Diversity Day, Oak Centre, Braunstone (Fri 22 Oct).

“One Leicester: Faith for the Future” RE conference for gifted & talented children, Holy Trinity Church, Regent Rd (Fri 29 Oct).

Continued involvement in consultation re Certificate in Religious Studies with Leicester Uni Institute of Lifelong Learning (met Thu 04 Nov; Fri 12 Nov).

Launch of Council of Faiths YouTube video channel (Fri 12 Nov).

Contributed to staff inter faith training event, Connexions, Halford House, Charles St (Thu 25 Nov).

Contributed to staff training event, Leicester City Council Adult Skills and Learning Service, Adult Education College, Wellington St (Wed 08 Dec).

Kept up involvement in local networking through involvement with Amplified Leicester, Café Creatif, Community News Café, CreativeCoffee Club, Philosophy in the Pub, To Be Creative and similar opportunities.

REDP delivery group

At Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL) this morning, for the regular weekly meeting of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership's delivery group. This is the group that carries on the work of REDP between monthly meetings of the Core Partners (LCIL; Leicester Council of Faiths; Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Centre; The Race Equality Centre) and quarterly meetings of the Core Reference Group (which has 25 seats, for infrastructure support groups working in the field of equalities across the East Midlands).

Among other tasks, today we're in the final stages of approving the revamped version of our Good Practice Equality and Diversity Healthcheck. I'm giving it one last look over before it gets the seal of approval. I also (at last) set up an email account into which I can forward the equality and diversity-related tweets. Each member of the delivery group has the password, so we can all access it and make us of the information, material and resources. We should be looking at the new Localism Bill that was published yesterday, but that's just too much to fit into our two hours today.

Engaging with faith communities in Leicester (7)

A meeting at Soar Valley College this afternoon (starting 1630 - on a Friday?!?) to work on the text of the Christian booklet in the series, "Engaging with Faith Communities in Leicester".

The meeting is led by Jill Carr, Secretary of SACRE (Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education) and RE Adviser with Leicester City Council. this is my second meeting with Jill this week on this project. We got together to work on the Muslim text on Monday afternoon at Forest Lodge Education Centre.

Apart from Jill and me, there are seven others, all members of SACRE, representing a variety of Christian denominations. Considering we're trying to put together something on which we can all broadly agree, the meeting is pretty productive. I feel that my role today has more to do with ensuring consistency with the other titles we've been working on in this series - and to help make sure (along with Jill) that the text serves the practical purposes which the series is intended to serve.

TO THE TOWERS

To the Towers, Gypsy Lane, this afternoon, for a meeting with Abida Hussain, Equality and Human Rights Officer with Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust.

The possibility of a working relationship between Leicester Council of Faiths and the local health service was mooted at the first ever meeting of the Council of Faiths I attended after taking up this post. Back in July 2007, at that meeting where I was introduced to the members, Philip Parkinson (then Chair of the Primary Care Trust) and Tim Rideout (Chief Executive) were there to speak about recent changes in local health provision and the establishment of a Department of Equalities and Human Rights. From that time on, we’ve slowly spiralled around doing work for the Primary Care Trust (as it then was), then NHS Leicester City, and now Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. We do have a Service Level Agreement with them, but internal reorganisation and turnover of staff mean that we still haven’t really go this relationship in good order. The recent proposal of us supporting the "Faith Communities Health Champions" initiative has focused the need to straighten out our working arrangements.

At this late stage of the game, we're looking to show some quick wins, so Abida and I agree on a few pieces of work that could be done and dusted before Christmas.

I can't allow my account of this meeting to go by without saying a little bit about the Towers itself. It was founded in 1869 as the Leicester Borough Asylum, then served as the Towers Hospital (as it was rneamed in 1947) until its closure as a treatment facility in 2005. Without really knowing anything about it (or even where it was) I was aware of it from my earliest times living around here as a place with a grim reputation. Occasionally it would feature in unpleasant and unfortunate news stories in the local media. Having taught for a few years inside the mental health service, many of the clients I’ve worked with would freeze at the mention of it – whether or not they’d ever been inside it themselves.

When I came to my fist meeting here, a few years ago, the person who received me then remarked, as we walked through the long, echoing tiled corridors, that you just knew that this place was originally established as an asylum, not a hospital. Hard to put into words exactly why that was so, but it most certainly was.


For an unsual vew of the Towers, visit the Urban Exploration Forum.

To Be Creative at LCB Depot

Though I'm able to spare only a few minutes, I pop into the latest "To Be Creative" networking session at the LCB Depot in Rutland Street, late this afternoon. Kate Cowan (Business Incubation Officer) is, as always, an exemplary hostess and I'm pleased to meet Cheryl Gill (recently appointed Enterprise Support Officer at LCB Depot and Phoenix Square) for the first time.


These "To Be Creative" sessions are a good complement to CreativeCoffee Club at Phoenix Square, demonstrating the mutually supportive way these two sites and agencies work together. You'd think it would just be the same faces at both, but it hardly ever seems to work that way. There tend to be lower numbers attending the LCB events so I hope they get a boost in support here before long.

thank you Suzie!

This afternoon, I go to the Management Suite on the third floor at Highcross with a bouquet of flowers and a card for Suzie Wood, Commercialisation Coordinator there, who was our contact and liaison for the Council of Faiths exhibition in National Inter Faith Week.

I intend to drop these items off at reception for Suzie, without wishing to hand them over to her personally. I don't want to cause a fuss or make it feel like we're trying to ingratiate ourselves with her. But when I get there, she's actually standing chatting to the woman behind the desk. So I give them to her, express our thanks and say (as it does in the card) that we're grateful to her for helping to make the week pass so painlessly and easily for us and that we're keeping our fingers crossed for coming back next year. "So it's not so much a gift as a bribe!" she says. "Isn't everything, in the end?" I reply. Suzie says, in a perfectly happy and matter-of-fact way, that she's sure Highcross can fit us in next year and that we should let her know the dates for National Inter Faith Week 2011 as soon as we can.

That's 50 weeks to go - and counting!

my management group

At the Welcome Centre this morning for a meeting with my Personnel Management Group. Although our Chair, Manjula Sood, has to offer her apologies for this meeting, still we have the benefit of a diversity of backgrounds, traditions in the members here today: Bahá'í, Christian, Jewish, Sikh. Major topics on our agenda today include: National Inter Faith Week; working relationships with Leicester City Council, Leicester Partnership and NHS Leicester City; our venture further into social media; involvement in writing the booklet series, "Engaging with Faith Communities in Leicester"; engagement in the developing Centre of Excellence in Community Cohesion. That's a lot to fit into two hours - exhaustingly so!

Leicester Partnership

At Forest Lodge Education Centre for the second time in three days - this time for a full meeting of Leicester Partnership.

The meeting is preceded by a buffet lunch in honour of Philip Parkinson, who is retiring today as Chair.

One of our duties as Host Organisation for the communities of interest of faith or belief has been to obtain the services of two representatives of that community at large, who can attend full meetings of the Partnership and act as channels of communication in both directions. For one reason or another (ill health, family support, work commitments) the two representatives who have held these positions for almost the past couple of years haven't been able to perform these tasks to the full. Today, Tony and Minou are attending, as named substitutes with full voting rights. I'm at my first meeting of the Partnership, as a substitute myself, for Dee Martin, representing the Equality and Diversity Partnership. I am entitled to attend these meetings normally, but as VCS / Host Organisation contact, with voting rights and only able to speak if asked for clarification.

The character and function of Leicester Partnership is changing. Today we are voting on acceptance of a new constitution and for the election of a new Vice Chair. The new Chair will automatically be Leader of Leicester City Council. The constitution is passed en bloc, with notes for the attention of the Partnership Executive. The new Vice Chair is Iris Lightfoote, Chief Executive of The Race Equality Centre and Chair of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP). This is a good thing for equalities in general in the city - and for the Equality and Diversity Partnership (EDP) in particular. Members of that partnership live from hand-to-mouth in an atmosphere where we never seem to be wholly welcome. We didn't even know if we'd be funded for our activities after today. The Chair assures the meeting that EDP is funded till 31 March. His further comments that the Leicester Partnership Executive will have to consider how it embeds equalities into all aspects of the Partnership's work sounds to me like a door being wedged open.

CreativeCoffee Club

After participating in the taining event for LASALS staff at the Adult Education College, I get to CreativeCoffee Club (at Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media Centre) a bit late this morning, with only half an hour to go. It's always worthwhile no matter what time you turn up and it's good to refresh my networking chops.

I persuade a few of those attending to step in front of my Flip video camera, to speak for a minute or so about CreativeCoffee Club: Jane (who co-ordinates it), Farhanah (a veteran of sorts - though not when compared to me, of course) and Tara, Charlie and Magda (speaking as newcomers). I do a few more shots, but background noise makes them unsuitable for uploading to our YouTube channel.

Magda, whom I've only met once before, said the nicest thing to me. She's from Poland and she'd been trying to tell her friends and relatives back home what Christmas is like in Leicester. Rather than describe it, she has been directing them to the two videos I shot just the other night of the Christmas decorations in Town Hall Square and posted on YouTube :^)