All are welcome at this peace walk and vigil tomorrow, joining and leaving as convenient.
A silent gathering will take place opposite the Palace of Westminster at 10am, followed by a multifaith vigil at the West London Mission, Hinde Street, at 2pm. Then at 3.30pm a peace walk will make its way to the Sri Lankan High Commission at Hyde Park Gardens. Details on the flyer above.
Register here to join us on Thursday 21 March 6pm-8pm at New Scotland Yard, Victoria Embankment, SW1A 2JL, for briefings from DS Shabham Chaudhri and DC Richard Fidge of the Metropolitan Police and to share ideas on building a positive environment together in our neighbourhoods & boroughs.
Bring photo ID for entry to New Scotland Yard. Allow 10 mins to clear security. Registration by 11am on 20 March is essential.
Please pass on this invitation to others who might find it useful.
Inter Faith Week 2017 has started!
Find all the events taking place in your borough on the Inter Faith Week website map.
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.
Today: follow #HOBV9 to keep in touch with Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network‘s annual Black Mental Health event, Healing Our Broken Village, at New Testament Assembly Church in Tooting, SW17.
If you’re able to join the conference, which includes the CEO of South West London & St George’s Mental Health Trust and Royal Holloway’s Dr Frank Keating, all the details are here.
Saturday 28 October: Kingston Study Day – Understanding Islam with Dr Chris Hewer, an 
exploration from predominantly Christian and Muslim perspectives, at the Milaap Centre, Acre Rd, Kingston, KT2 6EE. For beginners and the knowledgeable alike – all welcome.
Download details here and contact Diana if you would like to participate.
Thursday 2 November: opening of a new venue for Greenwich Peninsula’s Multi Faith Prayer Space at the Aperture Building on Greenwich Peninsula, 42 Chandlers Avenue, SE10 0GE. The Prayer Space provides a venue for faith groups to meet for prayer and worship and is available for booking by faith groups for their own prayer or worship activities. The Prayer Space is also open every day for people to drop in for prayer and reflection.
The Community Room provides a facility for activities or events which build up the local community and is available for booking by individuals or groups for such activities or events. Find the details here.
Saturday 4 November – Sunday 5 November: With God on Our Side… Religion and War, with talks, panels and debates including Holy Wars, Is Religion Inherently Violent (with Karen Armstrong) and War and Peace in the Middle East, at the Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX.
Monday 6 November: St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square – Reforming Attitudes to Islam, with Prof Mona Siddiqui and Joshua Ralston of Edinburgh University.
Monday 6 November: second in LBFN’s safety, security and resilience four-part course for places of worship, hosted by New Scotland Yard and supported by the Corporation of London. Contact LBFN for further details.
Sunday 12 November: Harrow Interfaith‘s Remembrance Service at Harrow Civic Centre War Memorial at 10.30am.
Monday 13 November: Quiz night – A Question of Unity with Faiths Together in Lambeth at the Karibu Education Centre, 7 Gresham Road, SW9 7PH. Details here. 
Tuesday 14 November: Youth debate with Islington Faiths Forum, “How can we have harmony in a multifaith community environment?” at Platform, Hornsey Road Baths, 2 Tiltman Place, N7 7EE.
Saturday 18 November: Hounslow Friends of Faith presents, “The Bundle – an asylum seeker’s story” at Brentford and Isleworth Quaker Meeting House, Quakers Lane, London Road, Isleworth, TW7 5AZ. Details and booking (performance is free but must be booked in advance) here.
12 – 19 November is Inter Faith Week 2017: plenty of events taking place in London this year – find them on the map and add your own.
Chief Superintendent Dave Stringer is a longstanding friend of LBFN’s and is currently Head of Community Engagement for the Metropolitan Police. He has sent this message so that it can be passed on to congregations, colleagues and networks this weekend.
“Over the next few days, communities of different faiths will congregate across London to celebrate their holy days. We know many will reflect on the terrible events of last Saturday evening in their readings and prayers but also that some will feel worried and vulnerable about their safety as they gather in their places of worship.
“To help support these communities, we have increased the number of officers on the streets to reassure local people that they are able to go about their daily lives in peace and without fear of harassment or intimidation.
“Dedicated Ward Officers are making contact with their local places of worship to encourage them to report hate crimes and to reassure those who congregate there that the police will take these crimes seriously.
“The Metropolitan Police has made more than 25 arrests for hate crime offences since Saturday.
“We have long since recognised the impact of hate crime on communities and the hidden nature of this crime, which remains largely under-reported. The MPS stands together with policing partners, colleagues and groups to investigate all hate crime allegations, support victims and their families, and bring perpetrators to justice.
“We would appeal to anyone who witnesses or suffers any hate of any type to immediately report it so that action can quickly be taken and catch those responsible.”
Hate crime can be reported through 999 in an emergency, by dialling 101 in a non-emergency, directly at a police station, through the MOPAC Hate Crime app or through community reporting methods such as Tell MAMA, Galop, or the CST.
Total Policing is the Met’s commitment to be on the streets and in your communities to catch offenders, prevent crime and support victims. We are here for London, working with you to make our capital safer.
From Neighbourhood Renewal to Big Society, from mental illness to hate crime, from 9/11 to integration, PCTs to CCGs, Stop & Search to SNPs, interfaith walks & WhatsApp groups – such a lot has changed!
Join us tomorrow evening 5.30pm-7.30pm as we chart the massive contribution that local gurdwaras, synagogues, mosques, temples and churches have made to the wider community and the key contribution of local multifaith networks and forums working in partnership with councils, the NHS, local police & fire services.
Add your significant dates to our timeline (it will be posted online soon), hear from faith forums & public sector officers across the capital and be part of an engaging debate on the current context.
With us will be practitioners from Kensington & Chelsea, Harrow, Wandsworth, Hounslow, Islington, Tower Hamlets, Richmond, Lambeth, Havering, Westminster, Southwark, Barking & Dagenham, Redbridge, Enfield, Croydon, Barnet & the City, with borough London Resilience managers and local police officers.
If you plan to join us & haven’t yet confirmed your place, email asap. We are meeting at Voluntary Action Islington, 200a Pentonville Road (near the junction with Killick St, next to Cycle Surgery), N1 9JP (King’s Cross tube).
As well as news from key faith forums across the capital, we’ll hear from:
and hear an update on LBFN’s social labs:
There will be plenty of time to share news and ideas and a simple vegetarian meal will be served.
Look forward to seeing you there!
Message from Commander Chishty, Metropolitan Police
Dear Friends,
7th Day Anniversary of Westminster Bridge Attack ‘A Bridge for all Communities’
There has been an overwhelming desire by people from all different faiths and backgrounds wanting to pay their respect to those who lost their lives, suffered injury and to show that #WeStandTogether against all forms of extremism and hate.
The attack took place on one of our most well-known bridges, Westminster Bridge and many people feel it is fitting to come together on a ‘bridge’ across our cities and towns symbolising that we have a ‘Bridge for all Communities’.
The proposal is simply for an assembly of people who want to come together at the same time that the attack took place last week and be able to
As a show of unity we felt it would be lovely if people were able to carry a single flower during the event which can be laid down as a sign that we will never forget those who lost their lives.
These 7 day anniversary events will be taking place across the country, including London, Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester, Leicester, Leeds and Sheffield.
The event in London will take place on Westminster Bridge and people will be asked to meet outside the Park Plaza Hotel on the South Side of Westminster Bridge at 1415hrs on Wednesday 29 March 2017.
With my best wishes
Mak Chishty
Commander Engagement
Safety and Security for Places of Worship in London: supporting each other across religious traditions.
Pilot course starting this year: one evening per week over 6 weeks at New Scotland Yard.
The training is for small to medium sized places of worship, with an encouraging message to build confidence and to kick-start some action.
We will learn across faith boundaries, developing diverse networks of support. Our emphasis is on bottom-up ways of working, building on the good work already taking place.
Connecting with our public agency colleagues, we will link churches with temples, synagogues with gurdwaras and Islamic centres: we will not only upskill ourselves, but will understand each other’s different safety concerns and become better able to support each other.
DRAFT PROGRAMME
The pilot course will be open to suggestions and changes along the way and the learning will be captured. We hope the course will be both robust and popular, and rolled out to other areas of the country.
To register your place of worship on the waiting list for training, or if your organisation is interested in contributing to this initiative, please get in touch.
We are grateful to Ecclesiastical Insurance for their continuing support.
London’s faith communities are open and welcoming!
In step with the Mayor’s #LondonIsOpen message, a short film has been shot on location across the capital and includes Sikh, Quaker, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist & Baha’i places opening their doors.
Against a backdrop of international tensions and increased hate crime, London’s faith groups, from humble to grand, are not closed and fearful – we remain open and welcoming!
Inter Faith Week events across London are screening the new film as part of their activities – you are welcome to do the same by using this link. Can you identify the different places?
Thanks to everyone who responded to our email during the summer and welcomed in the cameras – we were overwhelmed with offers. A big thank you to Rosalind Parker and Jack Jeffreys for the filming. For any who would like to get involved in the next stage, our #LondonIsOpen initiative continues – join us at 3pm on Tuesday 6 December at Collaboration House, 77 Charlotte Street, W1T 4PW, to plan for 2017. Let us know if you’d like to join us.
LBFN’s peace & reconciliation strand includes convening the London Peace Network, which marks the UN International Day of Peace each year.
Join film-makers, artists, religious leaders and LBFN friends from across the capital on Wednesday 21 September at 8am-9am at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Trafalgar Square for the premiere of a short film celebrating London’s places of worship – we are open and welcoming, not closed and fearful. Download the flyer.
The film is inspired by the Mayor of London’s #LondonIsOpen series and will be shown at Southwark Cathedral later in the year in the presence of the Mayor. Churches, Islamic centres, temples, synagogues, meeting houses and gurdwaras will be open to guests during their times of worship or meeting on 23, 24 and 25 September – contact LBFN for details.
To secure your place, please register on the Eventbrite page.
London Boroughs Faiths Network 