STAFF BRIEFING AT OAKHAM HOUSE

At  Oakham House, Herongate Road, this afternoon, promoting the NHS Staff Multi-Faith Resource that Leicester Council of Faiths has helped produce for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT).

I'm here with Abida Hussain, Equalities and Human Rights Officer in LPT's Integrated Equality Service, as we continue the process of briefing members of LPT staff most likely to use this resource.

Oakham House is for young people aged 11 to 18 years with psychiatric, emotional or behavioural problems or an eating disorder that cannot be treated through outpatient appointments. Oakham House is open seven days a week but many of the young people being treated there go home to their families or carers at weekends.

Abida visited two wards St Luke’s Hospital, Market Harborough, yesterday to offer one of these brief induction sessions on her own there.

CREATIVECOFFEE CLUB

At Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media Centre this morning for the first CreativeCoffee Club of 2012. More than two dozen people are here today: twice as many as came to the last meeting in 2011.

Patrick Welsh (who was appointed Marketing Manager at Phoenix Square late last year) has taken charge in a vigorous (though not obtrusive) manner. By that, I mean he's offering free cake from the cafe bar. That wasn't put about beforehand, so it doesn't explain why we've got more here today. However, a few people tell me that they read my blog entry for the last meeting (Wed 14 December 2011) and that encouraged them to come (or, in more than one case) to come back.

Listed below are some of today's attendees. These are live links; click on them to go straight through to the relevant website or Twitter account.

• Bipin Anand touchRainbow Productions @touchRainbow
• Ian Davies Leicester People's Photographic Gallery @IanDai
• Farid El-Jazouli Valve Sound @valve_sound
• Anjala Farmah Strategic Secret @StrategicAngel
• Emma Fay Emma Fay Make-up & Concept Artist @EmmaFayMua
• Julia Hamer LCB Depot
• Matt Hart Hart & Harvey Photography 
• Cheryl Leadbetter Povric @PovricByCherylL
• Ross McMinn & Christine Cox Workspace 1 @Workspace1
• Nick Osborne Nick Osborne Photography @OsbornePhotos
• Michael Perridge Graphic Accelerator 
• Mark Seemann Synety @synety
• Farhana Shaikh The Asian Writer @farhanashaikh
• Edd Smith Purple Claw @purple_claw 
• Jed Spittle Manic Music Productions @manicmusic 
• Michael Tedstone Manike Music @manikemusic 
• Garry White garrywhite.co.uk @garrywhite_
• Dean Williams The Art Wizard @theartwizard 
• Rosemary Winsor The House of Winsor @houseofwinsor

REDP CORE PARTNERS MEETING

This morning we have the regular monthly meeting of REDP's Core Partners: 

• Leicester Council of Faiths
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• Leicester LGBT Centre
• The Race Equality Centre

We meet, as usual, at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living, which is the accountable body for this project. Our meetings are normally held in the office of LCIL's CEO. That's now Steve Cooper, since Dee Martin retired at the end of November last year (see blog entry for 30 November 2011). When I go into the office, much to my surprise, there's Dee! After a moment of confusion on my part, she tells me that she's been coming in every so often, just to tie up some loose ends.

I haven't seen Dee since her retirement do, but I have to say, she's looking well for it. She looks years younger, in fact. Retirement is clearly good for her. Ah, “retirement” … that will be a thing of the past by time I'm ready for it, of course.

RELIGIOUS HALL APPROVED

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Religious hall approved

A religious group has been given permission to build a 750-capacity meeting hall next to a former 19th century school.

Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) want to hold seminars and lectures on spiritual teachings in the building next to the disused Charles Keene College annex, in Abbey Park Street, Belgrave, Leicester.

The group has been renting meeting space at Lancaster School, in Knighton Lane East, for 30 years but said it wanted a base of its own.

RSSB is a worldwide movement, which describes itself as "a philosophical organisation based on the spiritual teachings of all religions and dedicated to a process of inner development under the guidance of a spiritual teacher".

A spokesman said: "The site in Abbey Park Street is seen as an ideal location because it is able to accommodate a meeting hall of sufficient size and, not least, because of its excellent accessibility by public transport."

RSSB will provide 76 parking spaces and said many of the visitors lived locally and would walk there.

The building is not listed but is on Leicester City Council's register of buildings of local interest. Some of the buildings would be demolished to make way for the meeting hall.

Planning officers approved the scheme.

FESTIVE DECORATIONS BEING TAKEN DOWN

This article is published in today's Leicester Mercury:

Festive decorations being taken down

The Christmas decorations in Leicester are being taken down and put away for another year.

City council workers have started removing hundreds of bulbs strung across the city's busiest shopping streets. Work is expected to be complete early this week.

The council has, however, kept a Christmas tree in Town Hall Square illuminated for members of Eastern Orthodox churches who celebrated Christmas at the weekend.

A council spokesman said: "The Christmas tree in Town Hall Square will remain illuminated until January 10 for Eastern rites."

He said Horsefair Street would be closed for a period today so decorations could be removed.

I took the photo at the top of Gallowtree Gate, early evening, Tuesday 11 January.

SHIA MUSLIMS IN RELIGIOUS PROCESSION TO MARK TRAGEDY

This article is published in today's Leicester Mercury:

Shia Muslims in religious procession to mark tragedy

Hundreds of Shia Muslims took part in a religious procession yesterday to mark Muharram, the month of mourning.

Men, women and children wore black as a symbolic display of grief over the slaying of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Imam Husayn, whose death is thought to be one of the most tragic events in Islamic history.

The procession set off from the Masjid-Al-Husayn Shia Muslim mosque near Uppingham Road, North Evington, with devotees carrying a banner which read "Husayn, The Defender of Human Rights".

Members of the Islamic group beat their chests to symbolise grief at the martyrdom of Imam Husayn. People also distributed leaflets and recited eulogies.

One of the organisers, Onali Ismail, said this year marked the 22nd anniversary of the event taking place in the city.

He said: "The Shias of the world have mourned and lamented the death of Imam Husayn year after year since the event of Karbala, over 1,300 years ago.

"They lament in their love for their imam but also to keep alive his message of always supporting the truth and never bowing down to falsehood."

OUR CHERISHED RIGHTS HAVE BEEN THE RESULT OF A LONG STRUGGLE

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Our cherished rights have been the result of a long struggle

Michael Myers (Mailbox, December 29) seems to be mainly concerned over my assertion (First Person, December 11) that "we are a country that belongs to all who live here and where all share equally in deciding its future".

Of course we already have a culture, a good one, and this is important; but it is also important to note that we have fought for it, forged it, and improved it over the centuries, and that a driving perception has been that we all count equally and share equally in taking it further.

So I make my assertion, agreeing with St Thomas Aquinas ("It is through culture that man lives a truly human life."), V S Naipaul ("if a man picks himself up and comes to another country he must meet it halfway"), and especially with Colonel Rainsborough at the Putney Debates, 1647: "...for really I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he; and therefore truly, Sir, I think it's clear, that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government; and I do think that the poorest man in England is not bound in a strict sense to that government that he hath not had a voice to put himself under..."

And please note that the Putney Debates started in St Mary's Church simply because it was convenient. These were secular debates before the General Council of the Army. The demands were political demands from the soldiers addressed to the establishment and the landowners.

We should be teaching our children about the struggle that has gone on to get the rights that we value.

A good overview is the excellent website from the British Library, 2008 exhibition, "Taking Liberties".

Allan Hayes, Leicester

CITIZENS' EYE 2012 PROGRAMME LAUNCH

At The Crumblin' Cookie this evening, for a party launching Citizens' Eye's 2012 programme. Preparatons continue apace for their coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics later this year, that will see Leicester the biggest media hub outside London.

THIS WEEK'S VISITORS (1,208)

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

1. United Kingdom 641
2. United States 164
3. Russia 156
4. Gemany 61
5. India 47
6. France 40
7. Ukraine 30
8. Canada 25
9. South Korea 16
10. Myanmar 8

This week's total: 1,208 (last week: 1,096). 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" (i.e. in the last two hours), "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.

LEARNING ABOUT BENE ISRAEL

This evening I attend an informal talk by Leon Charikar, President of the Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation, on the Jewish communities of Mumbai: the Bene Israel.

According to folklore there has been a Jewish Community in the rural Mararashtra for over 2000 years.

• Where did they come from?
• By what means did they arrive in the west of India?
• How did they survive and maintain their identity?
• Did they keep kosher, did they observe the festivals?
• How did they dress and what work did they do?
• How did they live and work alongside other religions and cultures around them?
• What is their relationship to other Jews who came to other parts of India at different times?
• What part did they play in the history and development of India?
• How has their community fared in the modern world?

Leon's presentation considers these questions, sifts legend and myth from history and fact, and describes his own family connections to the Bene Israel. Before this evening, I knew little more than that this community existed; I learned a little bit when researching my presentation, "How Diverse is Leicester?" for An Indian Summer at Phoenix Square in June last year (see my blog entry for that occasion). I find the whole thing fascinating. The photo above is of the interior of a synagogue in Mumbai.