October 2016: Mr. Karnail Pannu Receives His MBE
Karnail Pannu, chair of WAMCF and one of the five founding members, was invested by Princess Anne at a service in Windsor Castle on July 12th 2016. “It was such a wonderful day,” he told the Maidenhead Advertiser, “Princess Anne spoke to me about the forum and what it did and said it was brilliant about how it bridged the gap with the young. “I feel very proud”.
Karnail’s wife Mohinderpal, son Gurdeep and eldest daughter Rajdeep joined him at the castle before meeting with his other two children, 10 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren for a family meal.
November 2016: Diversity Dinner and Interfaith Event
At the Desborough Theatre, Town Hall Maidenhead SL6 1RF from 6.00-9.30pm.
Guest speaker: Revd Dr John Parry Vicar, St Giles church, Bucks
There are 100 places available. Ten for each faith plus 20 for guests and Councillors etc.
It will be very helpful if you let Karnail, Paul or Michael know how many will be attending from each faith.
For security reason please have their names available if needed.
Contacts to confirm attendance numbers
Karnail Pannu: 0795 533 6896
Michael Hogg: 07811 574431
Paul Samuels: 07923 494 744
Programme
Arrival and Display Set up:6.00 - 6.30pm
Drinks/canape's/starters and viewing in the lobby: 6.30 - 7.15pm
Speeches/Welcome: 7.20 - 7.40pm
Buffet Vegetarian Dinner:8.00 - 9.30pm
November 2016: Guru Nanak Dev Ji Birthday Anniversary (Gurpurab)
Guru Nanak Sat Sang Sabha Maidenhead, celebrating Guru Nanak Birth Anniversary for three days from Nov 18th to Nov 20th with Akhand Path. There will be service from 10AM to 1 PM on Sunday 20th Nov, 2016 with Tea, refreshments, and Langar (Lunch) at 1PM.
November 2016: Faith Walk and Interfaith Service
Walk starts from Rutland Road Sikh temple: 2.00pm (You can join us for lunch before the start).
On the way, stopping and reflecting briefly at:
All Saints Church
High Street Methodist Church
Friends House West Street
St Luke’s Church,
Maidenhead Mosque
and finally reaching ‘Grenfell Lodge’ Maidenhead Synagogue around 3.30pm.
Refreshments on arrival.
Interfaith Service will start at 4.00pm (Rabbi Jonathan Romain will take the service)
Refreshments and Networking afterwards
Lifts/Transport will be available.
You can join the walk from any point.
Readings/Hymns to be sent to: rabromain@aol.com
November 2016: British Community Honours Awards
16 Anniversary of was held on Friday 21st October 2016 at House of Lords.
Community Awards are presented to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the welfare and integration of British Minority communities, in the area of, Education, Politics, Business Corporate, Business Entrepreneurial, Law & Professional, Arts & Culture, Social and Humanities.
The Awards were presented at a special dinner held at Cholmondeley Room and Terrace, House of Lords, Westminster London at 6.30pm, in the presence of about 120 guests.
Karnail attended with my his Tripat Pannu.
The Trophy was awarded in recognition of MBE awarded earlier.
December 2016: UK Interfaith Network
Religions for Peace UK has been preparing to set up the UK chapter of Interfaith Youth Network and our European colleagues have been most graciously helping us along the way. On the 3rd December, the culmination of a long period of preparation work reached maturity and the summit at Taplow Court organised by the European Interfaith Youth Network, and the event heralded the inception of the UK Interfaith Youth Network.
The summit included representatives from many faiths coming from UK, Italy, France, Germany, Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Finland, Poland, and Israel. The wealth of knowledge and dedication of these young people will contribute greatly to the building up of the UK chapter and we are looking forward very much to the continuation of formation work in 2017.
The Buddhist participant Gabrielle Westhead, representative from Soka Gakkai International-UK (SGI-UK) – the lay Nichiren Buddhist organisation, writes:
The UK Interfaith Youth Network is still very much in its infancy, it is already a great cause for multireligious youth from organisations in the UK, including members of Soka Gakkai-UK, Coexister, Focolare, Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha, National Hindu Student Forum UK, Pandava Sena and the Student Christian Movement UK, to unite and contribute to coexistence and peace here in the UK. It will develop its vision into the new year and invites UKreligious and interreligious youth organisations to consider joining the network.
More information on the Religions for Peace Website: http://www.religionsforpeace.org.uk/
December 2016 Interfaith Week: A Week with Impact
The eighth annual Interfaith Week ran from Sunday 13th November to Sunday 20 November.
The Interfaith Network for the UK leads on the Week, and its Co-Chairs, Bishop Richard Atkinson and Jatinder Singh Birdi have said:
“The 500+ events that have taken part around the UK have sent a powerful signal about people of different faiths and beliefs working together for the good of our shared society and about the importance of positive interfaith relations. The Week has also highlighted the enormous contribution that those of all faith and belief communities make – in most cases through volunteering – to their local communities.”
The Week has seen an astonishing range of events and activities: multi faith remembrance events; faith trails and open door days; conferences and seminars on topics from tackling hate crime, to health and faith, and different faiths’ and beliefs’ understandings of particular issues; social action initiatives from help for refugees and the homeless to river cleaning and tree planting; football matches; music, dance, poetry and arts and craft workshops; school activities; quizzes; the launch of new initiatives; cookery sessions; exchange visits between places of worship of different faiths; a youth ‘Interfaith Summit’; blog series; exhibitions; photographic and art competitions; campus programmes; dialogues on a wide range of topics; celebrations; and more.
Faith communities have taken part across the UK. They have hosted those of other faiths, journeyed with each other to visit each other’s places of worship; discussed responses to the challenging issues of the moment; contributed to social action projects to help their local communities; and taken active roles in civic and other markings of the Week. Locally, an increasing number of churches, gurdwaras, mandirs, mosques, synagogues, temples and viharas have thrown open their doors. People of non-religious beliefs have also been actively involved in many events.
