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Embracing diversity in the local community |
Who we work with :
Bhaktivedanta Manor, Borehamwood and Elstree United Synagogue, Borehamwood Islamic Society, Borehamwood Muslim Centre (Aycliffe Road), Bushey United Synagogue, Community Action Hertsmere, Elstree & Borehamwood Team Parish, Hertsmere Borough Council, Radlett and Bushey Reform Synagogue.
Hertsmere Forum of Faith was pleased to have been able to stage this year’s ‘Walk of Faith’ in Bushey, and during the afternoon of Sunday 7th July we visited the United Synagogue in Bushey Heath, St James Anglican Parish Church in the High Street and the Jain Shrimad Rajchandra Mission in Falconer Road.
The Synagogue is purpose-built to accommodate worship, community events and the teaching of children. We were shown round by youth leader Rina Solomon and learned about their patterns of worship and the reading of scripture.
After 40 minutes we walked the mile or so into the town centre. We were small in number this year but our dress revealed our faith diversity and heads turned – to see Christians, Jews, Muslims and Hindus together.
The Revd Guy Edwards welcomed us into the 13th century church and spoke about its varied architectural features, turbulent history particularly in the 16th century, its restoration in the 19th century and its present peaceful life and witness.
We then went the short distance to the recently refurbished Falconer Hall where the Jain community has recently established their London Spiritual Centre. It was an ‘open day’ and a large number of their community welcomed us. Ashwin Mehta spoke about their inspirational guru Shrimad Rajchandra and their present leader and founder of their worldwide mission Pujya Gurudershri. We learned much about the demanding Jain way of life and philosophy of peace and contentment, their commitment not to cause harm to any lifeform.
We made new contacts and experienced the diversity and vibrancy of our British society in the modern world, sharing the same concerns for peace, mutual understanding and freedom of religion.
Revd. Richard Leslie
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Sunday 19th July 2015 : 3.00pm – 5.00pm in the Civic Offices Borehamwood,
Hertsmere Borough Council Chambers, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, Herts. WD6 1WA
Our Festivals – feasting & fasting
An interfaith celebration of unity in diversity
Presentations followed by tea and a chance to meet
3.00pm: Welcomes.
3.10pm: Presentations: Liberal Judaism, Christian, Orthodox Judaism, Muslim, Hare Krishna, Pentecostal.
4.15pm: Refreshments
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Sunday 17th November 2013 : Mitzvah Day in the Jewish Community
Sunday 17th November – Saturday 23th November 2012 : National Interfaith Week
Wednesday 20th November: Hertsmere ‘Celebration of Faith’at Allum Hall
Faith schools in Hertsmere come together to celebrate their different faiths and share their culture with one another through presentations, song, dance and drama. At the Manor House, Allum Hall, 2 Allum Lane, Elstree, Hertfordshire. WD6 3PJ from 5.00 – 7.30 pm. All welcome
Key to the Faiths represented by the Hertsmere Forum of Faiths
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Buddhist |
Hindu | Jain |
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| Baha’i | Sikh |
Islam
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| Jewish | Christian | Zoroastrian |
The Forum meets 4 or 5 times each year, often with an invited speaker to promote discussion about issues that impinge upon the life of the faith communities within the wider local community.
Speakers have included a spokesman from the Department of Communities and Local Government explaining the ‘Prevent’ agenda, the Chief Prosecutor for Hertfordshire talking about the recently enacted hate crime laws and the Chair of the East of England Faiths Council (EEFC) talking about how the faith communities can relate positively to the local media.
Future Events for your Diary:
Registered address: The Community Shop, Leeming Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, WD6 4EB
Telephone: 01442 769 834
Chair: Revd. Richard Leslie
e-mail : rcaleslie@idreamtime.com
Administrator: hertsmereforumoffaiths@gmail.com
Registered company number: 07808709
Please find link below on the hertsmere.gov.uk website :
Festival of feasting and fasting July 2015
Please find link below to see more photos from our event on Sunday 19th July 2015.
Photos taken by Cllr Clive Butchins
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The Forum has collaborated with the borough mayor in raising the profile of the Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony in January each year.
With a grant from Hertsmere Borough Council, we have run events in the borough to mark national Inter Faith Week in November 2009, 2010 and 2011.
The most recent have featured a ‘Celebration of Faith’ involving local faith schools, and interfaith panel discussions in the borough Council Chamber.
Hertsmere Forum of Faiths first met in 2006 when leaders of local faith communities, Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Muslim started holding regular meetings.
As clergy and leading lay people, we were responding to the invitation to be ‘a representative of the faith communities’, and to take a seat on the Local Strategic Partnership ‘Hertsmere Together’ – an umbrella body chaired by the Leader of the Borough Council which brings together senior figures in local government, the statutory bodies and the Third Sector.
The Chair of the Forum has been able to contribute in a number of ways to this body. As a result of his efforts, he has now been designated a ‘Community Cohesion Champion’.
