HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR BLOG!

Today, this blog is two years old. I started it on (Sunday) 15 November 2009, the first day of the first Inter Faith Week in England, just so we'd have a record of that event. I took that as an excuse to reboot the Council of Faiths website, launch our fan page on Facebook and start our Twitterstream all on the same day. Here we are, two years on and they're still going strong.

EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WORM(S)

Not only have I accepted an invitation from John Florance (photo above) to appear on his BBC Radio Leicester show this coming Sunday at 0745 (to speak about Inter Faith Week), but I have also now accepted his invitation to come in and do Thought for the Day, live on air, at 0630 on the Monday!

LEICESTERSHIRE PARTNERSHIP NHS TRUST

At the Towers, Gypsy Lane, for a meeting with Abida Hussain, Equality & Human Rights Officer, Integrated Equality Service of Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust.

This morning, Abida and I heave a collective sigh of relief as we see final proofs for the Multi-Faith Staff Resource and give the go-ahead for printing. This has been a much more difficult and sensitive project than either of us reckoned with, when we started on it, about a year ago. Although it has given both of us sleepless nights, I hope that by this stage, it has helped give Leicester Council of Faiths as an organisation (and me as an individual) a name for dogged determination in pushing through a project such as this, despite unexpected obstacles.

We finalise a short programme of training and induction to be held for staff on the purpose and use of this resource. These will be lunchtime meetings (1230-1330) held at:

• Brandon Unit, Leicester General (Tuesday 22 November)
• Mansion House, Glenfield Hospital (Wednesday 23 November)
• Daisy Peake Building, Towers (Thursday 24 November)

The Trust will count these as contributions toward Inter Faith Week. I've submitted details to the online listing of Inter Faith Week events on the Inter Faith Network UK website. While they'll be listed publically, they'll be described as closed events, by invitation only.

We also go into more detail regarding the Interfaith Forum for staff that we'll be trailing at the same time as we do induction for the Multi-Faith Staff Resource. This group will be established in context with existing staff support bodies that Leicester Partnership NHS Trust is seeking to revive at the moment:

• Black and Minority Ethnic staff support group run in association with The Race Equality Centre (TREC)
• Carer staff support group, run in association with CLASP (The Carers Trust)
• Disabled staff support group, run in association with Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL)
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender staff support group, run in association with the LGBT Centre

We talk about how we can start our Interfaith Forum at the turn of the year, develop it over the next few months, then launch it officially in April 2012. This raises the prospect that we'll be doing some paid work for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust after our current contract ends in May next year.

Abida and I will be meeting with Sally Martin, head of the Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care Department, at the end of this week to move ahead with our plans. I need to work up some notes for the induction meetings before then.

VCS CEO LEADERSHIP NETWORK

An early start this morning with a breakfast meeting of the Voluntary and Community Sector Chief Executive Officers (VCS CEO) Leadership Network. We're meeting at Apex Works, Charles Street AT 0745.

I've mentioned before that we don't have a Chief Executive Officer at Leicester Council of Faiths. It would be daft if we did, with only 1.5 full time equivalent (FTE) staff (and the likely CEO being the 1). However, not all the organisations involved in this network (certainly not all of those here this morning) have someone with the actual title of CEO, so I'm not the only one in this position (also, I've got the agreement and support of our Chair to do this).

As well as ourselves, there are 13 VCS organisations represented here this morning (an increase on 10 at the last one):

• Apex
• Care and Repair
• Centre Project
• Community Advice and Law Service
• Emerald Centre
• Focus
• Giving World Online
• Leicestershire Aids Support Service (LASS) 
• LeicestHER Day Trust
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• Leicestershire Community Projects Trust
• Lighthouse Learning
• Stride

Four items dominate our agenda:

• ongoing consultation on Leicester City Council's budget (especially as it affects the VCS)
• shadowing arrangements involving our CEOs and elected members and relevant officers of Leicester City Council (not really suitable for the Council of Faiths to take part in this)
• report of a working group on creation of an online information super portal for Leicester (I'm on this group, but was in Glasgow the only time it met)
• non-competitive tendering (a working group was set up to develop this and make a preliminary report to our next meeting in January)

I take a few minutes at the end to speak about Inter Faith Week; All those present take away multiple copies of the flyer for their own staff, volunteers and service users or to display at their premises. I also mention the next meeting of Cathedral AM, at which the City Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, is the guest speaker. No one here has heard of Cathedral AM before or been to one of its meetings. I extend an invitation to everyone, as the next  meeting would suit members of this group.

We finish bang on 0930 - just in time for me to dash down to Humberstone Gate eand catch the bus to the Towers, where I have a meeting scheduled half an hour later with Abida Hussain.

HOW OUR GOOD DEEDS BECOME A UNIFYING FORCE

Here's Riaz Ravat's First Person column from today's Leicester Mercury:

How our good deeds become a unifying force 

Riaz Ravat looks ahead to Mitzvah Day, a charity event which brings different faiths together 

In a few days' time, the Jewish community of Leicestershire will once again team up with St Philip's Centre and other faiths to mark Mitzvah Day, or as some call it, "good deed" day. The event coincides with the start of national Inter-Faith Week which this year marks its third anniversary. 

Last year's Mitzvah Day took all of us organisers by surprise. Barely a day after the national Children in Need appeal, the people of Leicestershire continued their unstinting generosity by donating toiletries to our cause. Our campaign was to help people who have escaped domestic violence and who were forced to live in safe houses as a result. Mitzvah Day is an expression of how a small community, the Jewish community, makes a big difference to those on the frontline of societal ills. 

Enshrined in the teachings of so many faiths, social action has become more pressing, particularly in light of the tough economic climate we are all living in. While dialogue creates the opening for good community relations, action helps to solidify it. We in Leicester have pioneered a new way of expressing commitment to each of our respective faiths while sharing a platform of co-operation with others. 

In September, Sewa Day or "service" day, which is rooted in Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and Sikh faiths, provided an opportunity for these faiths to work alongside Christians, Jews and Muslims to deliver a teatime treat for elderly folk from the West Indian Senior Citizens Project. Likewise Mitzvah Day with its Jewish origins will open the doors for other faiths to come on board to show that Leicester's contribution in both method and model, is original and distinctive. Already Christian, Hindu, Sikh and Muslim groups have pledged donations. 

Our Mitzvah Day effort does not collect money but bathroom items. We do not need £1 off you when a pair of toothbrushes costing 10p at the checkout will do for our collection. As with last year, however, the reality is very different with people donating over and above our expectations. Generosity is an attribute which is often missing in any discourse which attempts to define the meaning of "Britishness". Rather than some who are obsessed by the criteria of ethnicity, we should instead focus on ethics. By doing this we can have a proper assessment about the input made to advance life for all in the UK. 

The Jewish community offers a blueprint for other minorities as to how a small community, can make a sizeable contribution to wider society. The good deeds of the Jewish community in this city stretching back several centuries, reminds us that communities, however small, have been through many storms yet by remaining resilient and resolute, their efforts have generated rewards which everyone in society benefits from. 

Mitzvah Day is next Sunday. 

Riaz Ravat is based at St Philip's Centre, Leicester

CHRISTIANS AWARE COURSE ON THE PSALMS: 8

At Christchurch, Clarendon Park, this evening for the eighth session in the Christians Aware course on the Psalms (offered as part of their Faith Awareness programme).

This evening, Beate Dehnen facilitates a session where we are eoncourged to respond to the Psalms through painting, drawing and calligraphy.

That's my painting, above. I was inspired (if that's not too grand a word) by something Rabbi Jonathon Magonet said in our second week: that if the Five Books of Moses are the self-revelation of God to man, then the Psalms are man's self-revelation to God. Shall I explain more? Probably best not to (although the colours in the alternative rainbow and the little stick figures are part of a deliberate code) 

WEST END HIT

A couple of hours of tromping round the West End this afternoon, hand-delivering bunches of flyers for Inter Faith Week to various appropriate sites:

• Shree Jalaram Prarthana Mandal, Narborough Road
• Shree Jalaram Community Centre, Westcotes Drive
• Church of the Martyrs, Westcotes Drive
• Church of the Martyrs Community Hall, Westcotes Drive
• Leicester Westleigh Christadelphians, Westleigh Road
• Church of God of Prophecy, Fosse Road South
• Holy Apostles Parish Church, Fosse Road South
• Robert Hall Memorial Baptist Church, Narborough Road (photo above)

On Fosse Road South, I see my first domestic Christmas tree in the window of someone's house. Its the 14th of November.

THIS WEEK'S VISITORS (969)

Regular update on the number of pageviews received from different parts of the world in the week just ending.

1. United Kingdom 487
2. United States 187
3. Germany 83
4. Russia 61
5. Ukraine 46
6. India 33
7. France 31
8. Latvia 21
9. Canada 11
10. Brazil 9

This week's total: 969 (last week's: 1,400). These are aggregates of figures from the top ten countries only. Blogger's stats software doesn't show me numbers of pageviews below the tenth-ranking country.

The world map at the top of this post is the graphic that I see on the stats page. The darker the green, the more pageviews from that country. I can see different versions of that map for "now" (whenever that is), "today", "this week", "this month" and "all time" (which seems to mean the last 12 months). They're updated each time I look at them.

GLOBAL EDUCATION LEICESTER-SHIRE TERMLY MEETING

At Southfields Library (AKA Pork Pie Library) for the autumn term meeting of Global Education Leicester-Shire (GELS).

There are 24 people in attendance today, representing a number of schools, charitable and educational organisations, as well as practitioners and consultants from city, county and further afield. Schools represented include:

• Crown Hills Community College, Leicester
• The Meadow Community Primary School, Wigston
• Newbold C.E, Primary School, Newbold Coleorton
• Outwards Edge Primary School, Loughborough
• Snareston Primary School, Snareston
• St Cuthberts C.E. Primary School, Great Glen
• St John Fisher, Wigston
• St Joseph's Catholic Prmiary School, Market Harborough
• Westfield Infants School, Hinckley

Global citizenship activity

We’re given an ice-breaker activity: “What does being a Global Citizen mean to you?”. This is taken from a UNICEF resource called “Just Living”, a secondary school resource pack to help young people develop a rights-based approach to economic well-being. Many of the activities can be adapted for use with KS2, post-16 students and adults.

Part 1: In groups, come up with one word beginning with each letter of the alphabet to describe the qualities and beliefs that a global citizen would have, including attitudes, skills, values, actions, feelings and knowledge.  Here’s a summary of the words that the groups came up with (see if you can identify my contributions, faithful reader):

A	All of us, awareness, aspirational, all-embracing, acceptance, appreciation, ambitious
B	Broad minded, better citizen, understanding…, bi-lingual, bothered, brave
C	Cultural, communication, co-operative, caring, courageous
D	Diversity, democratic, diverse, daring, determined
E	Equality, equal, empathetic, evaluative, education
F	Freedom, fairness, fair, fair (trade)
G	Growth, global, good citizen, giving, go-getting, globally aware
H	Happy, healthy, hospitable, helpful, hopeful, horizons
I	Interdependent, intelligence, inspirational, international, interested, inquisitive, inclusive
J	Joining up, justice
K	Knowledge, knowledgeable, kind
L	Links, learning, linking, love, languages
M	Multi-cultural, motivated
N	Not alone, neighbour, negotiator, nice, not prejudiced
O	Overseas, ownership, opportunities, open-mindedness, open
P	Partnerships, pragmatic, people, prospects
Q	Questioning, quality, quick to respond, quest for knowledge and understanding
R	Responsibility, relationships, responsible, resourceful, resilient
S	Sharing, safety, sustainable, smiley, searching
T	Team work, trust, tolerant, travelled
U	Understanding, unifying, universal, ungreedy
V	Versatile, variety, values, vision, vivacious, vibrant
W	Well-being, worldly, willing to help, willingness to learn, develop and change
X	Exciting, xenophobia-challenging,
Y	Youthful approach, youth aware, young at heart, yearning
Z	Zeal, zoologically considerate,

Part 2: Choose the 3 words that seem most important to the members of your group and write a definition of a global citizen using those 3 words.  Here are the definitions that each group wrote:

• “All of us are global citizens.  We are not alone, but share responsibility.”
• “A global citizen is someone who builds trust and learns to understand their neighbours.”
• “A global citizen is someone who is open-minded enough to promote equality and sustainability.”
• “A global citizen is a person who is empathetic, hopeful and who challenges xenophobia.”
• “A global citizen is someone who is tolerant of diversity and difference, is aware of the reasons for this and understands that they can make a difference.”

Opportunities for schools

The formal part of the programme closed with the presentation of a number of opportunities for schools. Here are those opportunities and the groups and individuals who presented them (including mine):

The Mighty Creatives (Sarah Bailey)

This year, The Mighty Creatives has places to work with 11 clusters of schools on child-centred, creative school improvement. We want to help schools support improvement in learning and each cluster will be different according to your individual needs. So far, clusters focus on Literacy, Parental Engagement and Curriculum Development. We’d love to come and speak to school about how this offer can benefit their group of schools.

Christian Aid East Midlands (Judi Perry, Catherine Garsed)

All our Christian Aid resources, ranging from our paper resources, such as classroom activities and games, all the way up to our human resources such as coming in to run sessions or workshops, are completely free. If you would like to get in contact with us please either ring our office on 01509 265013 or email us; we would love to hear from you! Resources include simulation games and an interactive whiteboard resource. Primary topics include Fairtrade, Global Citizenship, Water and Sanitation. Secondary topics include peace and poverty. A resource is being developed around the 2012 Olympics and Global Citizenship. Catherine has a particular interest in Modern Foreign Languages.

International Linking (Helen Trilling)

Helen is International Links Officer for Leicestershire County Council, working with county and city schools to help them develop partnerships all over the world. Most of the programmes/awards are now being run by the British Council. There is still some funding (mostly EU) available to support international school linking, but many of the programmes are coming to an end so Helen’s advice was to apply whilst the funding still exists. Helen’s presentation covered:

• The Comenius Programme
• Comenius multilateral school partnerships
• Partner finding and resources
• The International Schools Award

During the meeting, Helen was able to match up a Snareston Primary School with a school in Nepal with a view to developing a school link. Congratulations!

Global Learning for Community Cohesion (Linda Barker)

Linda has been working on the Global Learning for Community Cohesion Project, which was funded by the Department for International Development for 3 years. The project aim is to find the common ground between two agendas – global learning and community cohesion. It has been run through a partnership between the host organisation (Global Education Derby), the Schools Linking Network and Lifeworlds Learning. The outcome of the project is a web resource with activities for use in primary classrooms and CPD, suitable for staff meetings and dedicated sessions.

National Interfaith Week (George Ballentyne)

Third national Inter Faith Week will be celebrated in England, Wales and Northern Ireland from Sunday 20 to Saturday 26 November. Inter Faith Week is organised nationally by the Inter Faith Network UK. It has three main aims:

• Strengthening good inter faith relations at all levels;
• Increasing awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK, in particular celebrating and building on the contribution which their members make to their neighbourhood and to wider society;
• Increasing understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs.

Leicester Council of Faiths is sponsoring a number of activities and events during this week, including an inter faith exhibition in Highcross shopping centre incorporating the new Faiths Trail created by the University of Leicester and De Montfort University and a photographic exhibition at the People’s Photographic Gallery (previously the Central Lending Library in Leicester). Details of these events are listed on a PDF flyer, which will be sent out with these minutes.

Food For Thought Project (Claire Plumb)

The Food for Thought programme, now in its eighth year, will be running from 30 January to 3 February and 17 to 21 September 2012. This programme is offered by the Leicester Masaya Link Group and the University of Leicester Botanic Gardens. Aimed at Years 5, 6 and 7, Food for Thought offers an interactive approach to global citizenship and brings Leicester's town-twinning link, with Masaya in Nicaragua (Central America), to life in a day of activities at the University of Leicester Botanic Gardens. Here, pupils encounter a wide range of plants that grow in Nicaragua's tropical environment and discover how these are used in food, medicine and crafts.

Endeavour Learning Centre (Nilesh Chohan)

Nilesh is Curriculum Enrichment Advisor for Leicester City Learning Services. He is based at the Endeavour Learning Centre, which is part of the National Space Centre. Workshops and programmes for pupils in KS 2/3 include Rocket Engineering, Asteroid Impact on Earth and Astronaut Training. CPD for teachers on raising standards in mathematics by enriching the learning environment is also available.

Global School Partnerships: Bangladesh Conference (Clare Carr)

A reminder that the British Council is holding a training day and conference for schools looking to develop a global school partnership with a school in Bangladesh on Tuesday 29 November in Leicester at the Campanile Hotel, Leicester LE1 3JE. The conference is not only free to attend but schools can also apply for a £250 starter grant to help you attend. Further information can be found at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/get-involved/in-your-school/global-school-partnerships/get-started/apply-for-a-starter-grant/

Please follow the link below for further information and course bookings:

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/get-involved/in-your-school/global-school-partnerships/start-to-build-your-partnership/country-partner-finding-conferences/

Rajkot Twinning Association (Bharat Patel)

Leicester is twinned with Rajkot in India. The Twinning Association is making links with 25 schools in Rajkot. If any school is interested in making a link, please contact Bharat. The group will be running kite-making workshops in preparation for the traditional kite flying festival on 14 January.

SEAL and the Global Dimension (Roz Folwell)

This is an area of interest for Roz and she is keen to make links with primary and secondary schools to explore this.

SLIDE CHARLIE BROWN, SLIDE!

I pop into Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media Centre this morning, to pick up another bunch of brochures (the November one, with our Faiths Film Festival in it). I want to put these into packs for people attending the Global Education Leicester-Shire (GELS) termly meeting at Southfields Library this afternoon.

By chance, I bump into Andy Jones, Phoenix Square's Programme Manager, with whom I worked on the Faiths Film Festival. When he asks me how it's all going, I chance my arm and ask if we could get a slide (or "slate") made up for projection immediately before each of the five films, saying something like "This film is being shown to mark Inter Faith Week (20-26 November 1911) and for the 25th anniversary of Leicester Council of Faiths".

I tell Andy that I know I'm going out on a limb on this one, that they've done plenty already - but he appears to really like the idea and almost finishes my sentence for me! I should trust my instincts more often (and our pop-up banner is still on show at the box office).