Book your place here. Join us on 7 March 6pm at City Hall, SE1 2AA, to hear the latest information and to share ideas on building a positive environment together in our neighbourhoods & boroughs.
How should we prepare for 29 March, regardless of the outcome of negotiations?
We
are aware that many of us – representing organisations and as
individuals – have questions and concerns about the impact of EU Exit,
regardless of whether this is a ‘no deal’ situation, or what ‘deal’ is
agreed upon. We are also aware that these questions and concerns may be
around tangible issues, or less tangible issues, and may be objective
and real, or mostly arise from perceptions.
You are invited to a briefing and discussion on EU Exit on Thursday 7th March from 6pm-8pm.
This will be an opportunity to share these questions and concerns with each other, and also to hear from key people from public agencies such as the Police, local and central government. We will also aim to guide participants to sources of clear information and to share ideas together for how to build a positive, welcoming and hopeful environment in our communities.
The following questions and concerns may be included:
* Possible spikes in hate crime * Concerns about possible shortages of food, fuel and medicines * Staffing issues in our own organisations and in public services * Residence and status issues for our members * Issues for students * Concerns that other more important issues have been side-lined as a result of the unhealthy focus on Brexit
There is no cost and all are invited to this meeting.
Please forward this invitation on to others who might find it useful.
Torn from home is the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2019.
Kindertransport girls passing through customs
There are activities across the capital to mark this important day. Some of the borough events are listed below. Find an activity near you on the HMD site.
Holocaust Memorial Day is the day for everyone to remember the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust, under Nazi Persecution, and in the genocides which followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.
Torn from home encourages us to reflect on how the enforced loss of a safe place to call ‘home’ is part of the trauma faced by anyone experiencing persecution and genocide. ‘Home’ usually means a place of safety, comfort and security. On HMD 2019 people across the UK will reflect on what happens when individuals, families and communities are driven out of, or wrenched from their homes, because of persecution or the threat of genocide, alongside the continuing difficulties survivors face as they try to find and build new homes when the genocide is over.
HMD 2019 will include marking the 25th anniversary of
the Genocide in Rwanda, which began in April 1994 and the 40th
anniversary of the end of the Genocide in Cambodia, which ended in 1979.
HMD activity organisers may particularly want to acknowledge this
milestone anniversary, and reflect on how this theme impacts on members
of the Rwandan and Cambodian communities.
Safet is a survivor of the Bosnian War. This photograph is taken in his living room.
Safet was 16 when Muslim men and boys began being taken away to concentration camps. He remembers his father and brother being ordered out of the house, and his mother stopped him from going with them. He came to England with his mother, and later his father and brother joined them.
Safet is holding a school photograph, taken in 1982 when he was six years old, before the war started.
‘It was a really mixed group in terms of religion. We were kids and we didn’t think of religion at all. I have chosen this [photograph] because it shows how things were before, and it just reminds me. It would be nice to be able to go back to how it used to be. It can be done, I’m 100% certain. We have no problems between ourselves, it’s the politicians making these problems, and that’s the most frustrating thing.
‘It’s important to keep the memory alive, because some people are just not aware of what was happening in Bosnia, it’s a surprise to me. People were dying in concentration camps, torture took place, in Europe, in the 90s. Everyone thought that once World War II was over that wouldn’t happen again, but it did.
Click on the dates for borough HMD 2019 events. If you know of others, please add a comment to this post with details. A map of activities is on the HMD site.
The date has been set for #VMM Day 2019 – Sunday 3 March! Thirty-four mosques in London opened their doors to the public in 2018 – find them here. Many more are expected to sign up in 2019.
To register your mosque and get a pack full of ideas, information & inspiration, visit the #VMM Day website.
If you want to visit a mosque on Sunday 3 March, sign up for the latest news.
Here is the FA’s 2018 Ramadan & Football Factsheet, which has lots of useful information for those organising and participating in sports during the holy month of Ramadan.
LBFN will be represented today at St Paul’s Cathedral at the installation of the Rt Rev and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally as Bishop of London, along with London’s religious leaders from the churches and world faiths.
We wish Bishop Sarah well in her new post and look forward to working with her and her team.
South London Inter Faith Group, Kingston Inter Faith Forum and All Saints Church, Kingston, invite people of all faiths and none to a social gathering of storytelling and celebrations at All Saints Church, Market Place, Kingston upon Thames, KT1 1JP, this coming Sunday afternoon from 2.30pm to 4.00pm.
Everyone is welcome to listen to the stories and enjoy the tea! Further information from SLIFG.
There are quizes, visits, discussions on hot topics, meals and gatherings across the capital all week, some hosted by borough councils. If you haven’t added your event to the IFW website, there’s still time.
Above: two members of the Christian-Muslim women’s group in Wandsworth.
Faith representatives in Barnet have united in welcoming a proposal to convert the Hippodrome in Golders Green to an Islamic centre.
An open letter from thirty local leaders commented on the planning application by Markaz El Tathgheef El Eslami.
“We are a group of clergy and faith representatives in Barnet that meet in each other’s centres to foster good inter-religious relations and promote community cohesion. Our interfaith forum is convened under the auspices of Interfaith Matters, a local registered charity, and meetings have been held regularly for almost three years.
All members of the interfaith forum look forward to welcoming the clerics of Markaz El Tathgheef El Eslami, the new Islamic Centre at Golders Green Hippodrome, to our interfaith meetings.
At our last meeting, hosted by the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Golders Green, members expressed every confidence that Barnet Council would address and resolve all legitimate concerns relating to additional traffic, less parking and the Centre’s use.
However, as clergy and faith representatives we unanimously deplored and condemned the hostile and, at times, racist response to the new Islamic Centre’s opening. It is our firm conviction that those that attend the Centre are as entitled to suitable and sufficient facilities as are enjoyed by all other faiths in Barnet, including Golders Green.
Indeed, we are sure the new Islamic community will contribute, with us, to the neighbourhood’s character, harmony and safety. We are also grateful to the Centre’s clerics who have already offered to host our next interfaith forum meeting and we look forward to this in the New Year.”