every little helps

A new TESCO Express opens today on the corner of Welford Place and Pocklington's Walk. It's being officially opened by Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL) as part of TESCO's demonstration of commitment to community engagement. The shop will have a community notice board; Dee Martin (CEO of LCIL) tells me that if I give her appropriate material from the Council of Faiths she can make sure it gets onto that notice board.

Today's trivia: If you were to mark the halfway point when walking between Pilgrim House (HQ of Leicester Council of Faiths) and the HQ of Leicesterhire Centre for Integrated Living in Upper Browne Street, it would be the site of this new TESCO Express.

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN COMMUNITY COHESION (6)

At St Philip's Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi-Faith Society, Stoughton Drive North, Evington, this afternoon, for a meeting of the full group developing ideas the Centre of Excellence in Community Cohesion. I've come with Iris Lightfoote, direct from our morning meeting of REDP. Round the table today are:

• Nick Carter (Chair, Leicester Multicultural Advisory Group; Chair, Prospect LeicesterShire)
• John Hall (Director, St Philip's Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi-Faith Society)
• Dilwar Hussain (Head of the Policy Research Centre, based at the Islamic Foundation)
• Iris Lightfoote (The Race Equality Centre)
• Sheila Lock (Chief Executive, Leicester City Council)
• Jasbir Mann (Head of Service, Learning Transformation and Development, Leicester City Council)
• Suleman Nagdi (Federation of Muslim Organisations)
• Chief Superintendent Rob Nixon (Leicester City BCU Commander)

The papers produced by our sub-group are accepted, with minor tweaking. Questions persist regarding issues of inclusion within the orbit of this project, but that was voiced and discussed today so it's not going to be set aside. Thanks to remarkably effective chairing by Rob, the meeting's over in 45 minutes. Respect!

We can't allow any perception of this project to make it look like the city is resting on its laurels. Demographics change, policies change - and it's our responsiveness to those changes that help keep Leicester in the forefront of community cohesion.

In connection with the need to conduct a mapping exercise, describing the current scene in terms of community cohesion, it might be beneficial to link up with the research project being conducted by Dr Chris King at the University of Leicester on South Asian places of worship in the city.
With withdrawal of "Host Organisation" funding for the Council of Faiths from 31 March, this is one of the activities we may not be able to continue after that date. I've made that known to the group, in no uncertain terms - but I also proposed a possible way round it.

amplified communities of faith or belief (1)

The booking form for the panel I'm convening for Amplified Leicester on Wed 23 March at Phoenix Square ("Amplified Communities of Faith or Belief") is now live on Eventbrite. Visit this link for more information about the event and to register (tickets are free):
http://ampleic230311.eventbrite.com/

IT'S THOSE TOUCHRAINBOW GUYS!

Popping into Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media Centre just before 1700, in the cafe-bar I find the three guys from TouchRainbow Productions: Jiten Anand, Pritesh Varia and Bipin Anand (l-r in the photo above). I'd worked with them on Leicester Speaks (AKA Local Democracy Week) last year and in the planning of Get Inspired 2010 (though this didn't come off) before that.

Pritesh greets my arrival as "a sign", telling me that they're working on a plan for a new project that they want me to be involved in. They show me where they've written my name on a big, involved spidery diagram, but they can't tell me what it is yet.

I talk with them about the upcoming documentary festival being held here in a fortnight. They haven't heard of this, but quickly show their enthusiasm for getting involved. I've been asked if there's a short documentary on the topic of faith(s) in Leicester, but haven't been able to come up with anything. The guys express surprise that no one's made such a film before. I hope that thought might grow into something in their creative heads.

I show them the flyer for my panel in March at Amplified Leicester and the three of them promise to come and support it. I wonder if I should ask them to video it (with Sue Thomas's consent, of course).

Just a few minutes after I sit down with them, my son Alastair appears in the cafe-bar. They've never met each other, but shortly after I introduce them, they're discussing possible joint music and video projects. What a great place for creativity Phoenix Square has become! And for the second evening in a row, it's really busy; we're asked that, since we're not eating, could we move somewhere else and free up the table for diners. That's a first!

NHS VOLUNTARY SECTOR CONSULTATION

To the University of Nottingham, the Innovation Park, Jubilee Campus. The space-age looking Sir Colin Campbell Building there (photo above) is the venue for a consultation between NHS East Midlands and representatives of the Voluntary and Community Sector in the region, on "Liberating the NHS". I'm there, representing the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP), along with Tonia Frew from Leicester LGBT Centre and Liz Harrison from Leicestershire Centre for Integrated living (LCIL).

The event is hosted by Maqsood Ahmed, Head of Inclusion for NHS East Midlands. this is the third time I've been at a meeting addressed by Maqsood, who was guest speaker at Leicester Council of Faiths AGM in October.

Around 40 people are in attendance, representing a variety of organisations, such as:

• African Institute for Social Development
• Alzheimer's Society
• AWAAZ, Asian Mental Health Resource Unit
• Bassetlaw District Council
• BME Community Development Project
• Centre for Social Justice
• Citihealth Nottingham
• Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Derbyshire Friend
• Derbyshire Mental Health Services NHS Trust
• East Midlands Cancer Network
• Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Centre
• Leicester LINks
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• Lincolnshire LINks
• Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
• NHS East Midlands
• NHS Leicester City
• NHS Lincolnshire PCT
• NHS Nottingham City
• NHS Nottinghamshire County
• Nottingham University Group
• Nottinghamshire County Council
• Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
• Nottinghamshire Royal Society for the Blind
• University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust

Opportunities and challenges in the ongoing restructuring of the NS which are of particular relevance to organisations like ours were front and centre of our discussions here today, such as:

• embedding inclusion and equality into new structures: Department of Health; NHS Board; GP consortia; Health Watch England; local Health Watch.
• role of voluntary sector; supporting groups with protected characteristics.
• effectively engaging diverse patients, carers, excluded groups and those with protected characteristics.
• measurement and accountability of equality outcomes.

REDP is the only organisation from the Voluntary and Community Sector exhibiting today. Normally we have to fight for space at events like these. At EMAS's "Community in Unity" event at Nottingham Council House at the start of November last year, we had to make do with half a table top.

At the end of the session, I'm given five minutes to introduce REDP, say why we're here and encourage further involvement in our project. This appears to be received positively, with a number of strong contacts and definite leads.

Here's Liz and Tonia on the train back to Leicester after the conference. Yes, it did seem like it had been a long day.

Of Gods and Men

This is one of a growing number of films that have piqued my interest for their grown-up, reflective and thought-provoking attitude toward religion and spirituality, alongside two great movies I saw last year: Jessica Hausner's Lourdes and the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man. The film won the Grand Prix at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Here's the plot synopsis as published on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb):

"Brotherhood. Religions. Faith. Martyrdom. Love. French monks are living, working and praying in a catholic monastery in Algeria in the '90s (civil war). It starts of showing how the Islamic locals and the christian priests coexist in harmony. The situation with the Algerian Muslim-terrorists becomes worse. They will have to decide whether to stay or go back to France. They are forced to question themselves and their mission very profoundly. Their sense of fraternity with the locals and amongst themselves is challenged. They are very much appreciated by the local Islamic population, especially the medic-priest, but very much in danger. This becomes clear after some Croatian volunteers of the monastery are brutally killed by the guerrilla-fighters. Threatened and unwanted by both guerrilla-forces and the government their presence becomes less and less obvious. At some point after intense confrontations with each other, the terrorists and the locals, they all decide to stay. In the end they are all, safe two who have hidden themselves well, abducted by the terrorists to swap them for their own prisoners in France. As we see them struggling in a snowblizzard in the Atlas mountains, we will not explicitly see what their final fate is ..."

You can read a thoughtful review of the film here:
http://www.speroforum.com/a/33436/Of-Men-and-Gods-a-meditative-film-on-faith-in-the-face-of-violence

Or get the classic Kermode and Mayo 5Live approach on video here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00cnj7w

I'd proposed a short festival of films for National Inter Faith Week 2010 at Phoenix Square but left it too late (and had too much to do for that week in other ways) to make it happen then. It's on my agenda for when it returns later this year though. Such festivals are a regular feature at Phoenix Square, where they've recently had programmes of films on such diverse themes as cycling, LGBT issues, and the spoken word. We're also thinking of approaching them to do something similar for the return of Leicester Speaks (AKA Local Democracy Week). I'm looking forward not just to seeing this movie, but also giving it extensive coverage here on the blog.

There's a mounting sense of anticipation and excitement as we walk toward Phoenix Square; the place is probably busier than I've ever seen it. There are certainly more priests here than I've ever seen turn out for a movie before (including Father John Lally, long standing member of Leicester Council of Faiths). We make our way through the small throng to the box office. I am already relishing this communal experience, looking forward to the collective spellbinding dance of colour and form before our eyes in the darkness of Screen 1. Which of us will request entrance to what is bound to be a united spritiaul experience in this forlorn and forsaken day and age of individuated isolated atomism?

"Two for Of Gods and Men please" I ask. "Sorry sir; sold out."

World Interfaith Harmony Week is coming!

Have you ever heard of this, faithful reader? Well I hadn't, until this afternoon. At our meeting earlier today to work on the proposal for a Centre of Excellence in Community Cohesion, John Hall (Director of the St Philip's Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi-Faith Society) tells me that the first week in February is going to be "World Interfaith Harmony Week". This is news to me. I'm not aware of it as having shown up on the Council of Faiths radar at all. I can't recall seeing it mentioned on Twitter either and I follow a good number of inter faith sources there. Clearly, I've not been paying attention.

Having googled it, I learn that it began as a personal initiative by King Abdullah of Jordan, but it is intended to be a permanent addition to the calendar. The campaign's own website shows evidence of a lot of top level international support for this, but I can't find a lot of evidence of that at the grass roots in this country. A full and busy Facebook page shows a lot of activity in other parts of the world though.

This week-long event will come less than three months after National Inter Faith Week - and although we made a full contribution to that with our exhibition in Highcross, I'd be lying if I said that the week found great support from the media, service providers, local authorities etc. On the one hand, you could say the more occasions there are like this (attempting to build bridges between those of different beliefs and traditions) the better, on the other hand, you can only spread the butter so thin.

Naturally, I'll be happy to turn out and support anything that anyone else might be putting on for it (and undoubtedly I'll find reason to give it a mention or two here on the blog). Of course Leicester Council of Faiths would love to put our weight behind such a venture but given our meagre resources and limited capacity I can't see that happening. But if anyone were to look upon us with the eye of generosity, that would probably change.

Should you wish to find out more about World Interfaith Harmony Week, faithful reader (especially if you're one of the faithful readers of this blog from overseas) then click here:
http://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/

And here's their Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/world.interfaith.harmony.week

Centre of Excellence in Community Cohesion (5)

At Leicester City Council, New Walk Centre (B Block) for the latest meeting of our sub-group working on proposals for the Centre of Excellence in Community Cohesion, with Jasbir Mann (Head of Service, Learning Transformation and Development, Leicester City Council), Nick Carter (Chair, Leicester Multicultural Advisory Group), John Hall (Director, St Philip's Centre) and Resham Singh Sandhu (Chair, Sikh Cultural and Welfare Society).

We continue our work on the paper being developed by Jasbir, trying the tricky job of making it face in two directions: inward, in terms of acknowledging, identifying and mapping community cohesion already being undertaken; outward, in terms of offering Leicester as a model of good practice in community cohesion. We have a meeting of the full group scheduled for Tuesday next and hope to pull these two aspects together before then.

CreativeCoffee Club

To Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media Centre for the first CreativeCoffee Club of 2011 - well, the last quarter of an hour anyway. Today, I've got younger son Harry in tow - and when we're just about to get off the 31A at Northampton Square, my older son Alastair phones and says he's in Belvoir Street. So a couple of minutes later we meet up and the three of us troop into Phoenix Square together at 1145. But it's always worthwhile showing your face at CreativeCoffee Club, even if it's just for a short time; you never know who's going to be there, or what's going to be in the air. This is borne out for my two sons as much as it is for me today. Harry talks with John Coster and Tina Barton about having an article about his recent audition for "Britain's Got Talent" published in The Wave, while Alastair and John talk about joining up on a new internet radio venture based at Phoenix Square.

This morning, I get first sight of the flyers for the next three sessions of Amplified Leicester. I'm convening a panel for the March session, on "Amplified Communities of Faith or Belief". Nice little blurb about the meeting, even if I say so myself (well, I would say that, wouldn't I - since I wrote it myself). I take away a bunch of the flyers, to drop off here, there and everywhere. Here's the blurb, for your information, faithful reader:

7pm Wednesday 23 March 2011
Amplified Communities of Faith or Belief

Convened by George Ballentyne, Leicester Council of Faiths, with guests Sughra Ahmed, Islamic Society of Britain, Richard Hopper, Leicester Secular Society, Matthew Hughes, Samworth Enterprise Academy. Groups working in the "protected characteristic" of faith of belief are big users of social media. but for what purposes? Each of these panelists will show how their organisations use social media to different ends - some surprising and unexpected.

EQUALITY BRITAIN 2011

Thanks to our involvement in the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP), Leicester Council of Faiths has a prominent entry in Equality Britain 2011. This is a national resource which enables people from all sections of society to find organisations committed to the establishment, maintenance and promotion of equality and diversity.


With a following of thousands, Equality Britain is fast becoming a useful resource for employers, job seekers, students and those looking for more information on equality issues. With dedicated sections for employment, housing, education, sport, and adoption and fostering amongst other themes and topics, this is a valuable resource for all sections of the community.


We have two entries actually: one as part of REDP and another in our own right (shown in the photo above). Here's proof, if it were needed, of the benifits obtained from working in partnership.