St Philip’s Centre is pleased to report that Revd Diane Johnson, St Philip’s Centre Fundraising Committee member, Resource Person and former Priest-in-Charge of St Philip’s Church, is to receive an award from the Christian Muslim Forum “in recognition of her dedication and commitment to the field of interfaith”.   She is one of only 12 women from across the country to be recognised in this way and will receive the award at an event entitled The Edge: Faith, Fear, and Friendship on Tuesday 5^th February 2013 in London.

We hope you will join us in congratulating Diane on this well-deserved award.

St Philip’s Centre is delighted to announce that Riaz Ravat, Deputy Director of St Philip’s Centre was included in HM the Queen’s 2013 New Year Honours List. The list which was published on 29^th December 2012, awarded Riaz a BEM (British Empire Medal) in recognition of his services to interfaith understanding in Leicester.

The honour of the BEM was re-introduced in 2012 to coincide with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Revd Canon Dr John Hall, Director of St Philip’s Centre said, “Riaz is a superb ambassador for the St Philip’s Centre and has been part of its development since the earliest days. He is a tireless worker for improved inter faith understanding, not only in Leicester but also nationally. Everyone at the Centre and the wider faith communities offer their sincerest congratulations to Riaz for this well-deserved award”.

Riaz’s honour caps a wonderful twelve months for St Philip’s Centre as they played an important role in the Queen’s visit to Leicester on the first stop of the Diamond Jubilee tour. In July, the Centre was awarded a Lord Lieutenant’s Diamond Jubilee Award for its “exceptional and positive” work to develop community spirit and for enriching the lives of the wider community.

St Philip’s Centre also offer their congratulations to

• Ruth Pickersgill -former student and MA graduate of the Centre who receives an MBE for services to education
• May Jones a resident from the Saffron Lane area who receives an MBE. May helped organise a project to bring people of different faiths together in her area, which later featured in a national Near Neighbours Case Study in 2012

The St Philip’s Centre 2013 Calendar is now available to buy for just £3 each. A4 opening to A3 in size, the calendar is ready to hang on your office or kitchen wall. Makes an ideal gift. Call 0116 273 3459 to order yours. Postage not included.

On Wednesday 28^th November, Shaftesbury Junior School on Latimer Street glowed beautifully in the light of luminaires as a part of the Westcotes Community Lights Festival.

The community event which was organised through the Near Neighbours Programme celebrated the importance of friendship, community spirit and being a good neighbour. Central to the event was the contribution of the school pupils, who having decorated the 250 luminaires, came with their families to create a unique lights display and take part in an evening of community and sharing.

With the faith festivals of Diwali, Bandi Chorr, Advent and Hanukkah all within the space of a few weeks and all including the symbolism of light, the event brought together local people from a diverse range of ethnic and religious backgrounds through the universal idea of “treat others as you would want to be treated yourself”, a concept that is shared by people of all faiths and none.

‘It’s great to have an opportunity to celebrate our common life here in the West End and to get to know our neighbours more’ said Rev Richard Worsfold, of the Church of the Martyrs

Karl Stewart, Headteacher of Shaftesbury Junior School said “The school’s motto of ‘Coming together to learn, share and care’ was brought to life in a spectacular way through the Community Lights Festival, involving more people than just our immediate school community.  The children thoroughly enjoyed the event and are looking forward to the next one!”

On 27th November 2012 The Council of Christians and Jews held a study day for Christians and  Jews in Leicester facilitated by St Philip’s Centre.

The event was organised as part of Inter Faith Week to promote greater understanding between Christians and Jews (CCJ) and to explore common aspects of each faith. The day was led by Fiona Hulbert, Programme Manager at CCJ and Rabbi Mark Solomon.

On Friday 23rd November, as part of Leicester’s inter faith week,  St Philip’s Centre held an open day. Visitors were able to talk to staff, watch a presentation and enjoy the Centre’s hospitality

Our latest Autumn edition of Faiths Engage is available to view here:

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2012

St Philip’s Centre has secured the touring ‘Multi Faith Spaces’ exhibition for Leicester later this month.

Created this year and based around a three year research project, led by Dr Chris Hewson and his team at Manchester University, 32 photographic panels featuring work from many different countries. The display will be held at St Philip’s Church Hall from 10am to 4pm Tuesday 23rd to Thursday 25th and from 10am to noon Friday 26^th October 2012. Entrance free, although donations are welcomed.

This is a really stimulating and interesting exhibition to visit for people of all faiths and beliefs, not least because it is in the setting of the hospital, prison, university, airport, shopping centre or other public space or institutional setting that arguably some of the most creative thinking about how people of different faiths get along is done. Just think how one might set about creating one space where all faiths feel comfortable – what do you put into that space, what stays and what is removed, who organises and manages the use of the space, and what is permissible to go on in it?

To make the most of this exhibition why not come along to a discussion group in the exhibition area called ‘Space for God?’ which will be held from 5-7pm on Wednesday 24th October? Maybe you think every faith should have its own space, but is that practical? Or one empty space into which each faith takes things for use in its time allocated time slot is the best solution – but isn’t such a space devoid of spirituality? These and many other questions will be aired—it will be fascinating.

Love Honour & Obey

St Philip’s Centre has been awarded a Foreign and Commonwealth Office grant for a new project addressing forced marriage.The ‘Love, Honour & Obey’ project beginning later this month, will support women, families and communities to receive support, information and advice they need to combat the issue of forced marriage.

The work follows on from an earlier pilot titled ‘STR!VE’, which was run by two local community workers in 2010-11. This project focused on forced marriages, domestic abuse and honour based violence. ‘Love Honour & Obey’ will explore the issues around forced marriages with women from Leicester using role play scenarios.

The project will aim to equip young women to become champions by raising awareness and challenging the issue of forced marriage to facilitate changes in their own communities.

The issue of forced marriage is topical with Leicestershire Police reporting investigations of 52 city-based incidents involving suspected forced marriage or honour based abuse over a 12 month period alone. Forced marriage often becomes confused with introduced marriages and both are often associated with particular religions. This project aims to dispel several stereotypes and myths.

Project worker Rumena Choudhury said, “Faith and the issue of forced marriages are often linked and faith is used as a justification for a forced marriage. This project will offer evidence that no religion justifies forced marriages. Faith leaders will be brought in at appropriate points in support of this message. The project will emphasise that forced marriage is an abuse of an individual’s human rights and will help participants understand these rights”.

Deputy Director of St Philip’s Centre, Riaz Ravat added, “Forced marriages are a stain on our society and we must all work to support current and indeed potential, future victims of this practice. Love, Honour & Obey hopes to educate and provide support to many vulnerable people and communities”.

The Centre was chosen for its excellent track record of promoting positive community relations through dialogue, religion and belief training, leadership programmes for young people and community engagement projects where they work with a range of communities including those of religion and others.

Strengthening and Safeguarding Communities

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Will Baldet Leicester's Prevent Coordinator

September 6th 2012

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Leicester’s St Philip’s Centre announces the appointment to a new post which aims to strengthen city communities and stop people from being drawn towards radical beliefs. Will Baldet comes to Leicester with years of valuable past experience. Until now he has been working in the East Midlands as the interface between community groups, partner organisations and the police to help meet the threat from extremism and radicalising influences, an issue he knows is all too real. Tried and tested in some challenging situations, he has been at the forefront of helping safeguard communities and has come up with good ideas and practical solutions to build resilience and strengthen community life.

This appointment, funded by the Home Office, is to co-ordinate the preventative strand of the Government’s counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST in Leicester. The aim of Prevent is to help communities develop the resilience to counter the national threat in all its forms. The post, based at Leicester’s St Philip’s Centre, reflects Leicester’s determination to empower the community itself with the support of partner agencies to address these difficult challenges.

Will, formerly Northamptonshire Police’s Prevent Engagement Officer, commences his new job on October 1^st 2012. He says: “I am excited to be working in Leicester to support communities in resisting those divisive influences that seek to undermine them. For me, Prevent is about empowering people and institutions to stand against those who cause harm to promote their own agenda. I feel privileged to be part of the St Philip’s Centre and help build on the remarkable work of Leicester’s communities.”

On commencement of his new role, he will work closely with local people, the city council, the police and the Home Office to equip communities with the knowledge and support they need to stop people, especially young people, from being radicalised.

Revd Canon Dr John Hall, the Director of the St Philip’s Centre says, ‘The Home Office and the city council agreed to the St Philip’s Centre hosting the post because of its excellent track record of work on community cohesion and with different faith communities. It is really important this works well for everyone in Leicester and we are determined that it will.’

Cllr. Manjula Sood, assistant city mayor for community involvement and chair of the Leicester Council of Faiths said: “I welcome the appointment of Mr Baldet to the post of Prevent Coordinator. The St Philip’s Centre has a national reputation for its excellent work in bringing together different faiths and different communities. The Centre has already provided training for more than 600 public workers in Leicestershire on building good inter-faith relations. We are very confident that the new Prevent Co-ordinator will have excellent support from the Centre to build on the good work already going on in Leicester.”

The St Philip’s Centre is based at Stoughton Drive North. It provides training for public, private, voluntary and faith sector groups and organisations to learn about different faiths and their role in society. It also helps people of all faiths to learn from one and other.