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Islington Faiths Forum wins Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service!

Islington Faiths Forum (IFF) is delighted to announce that we have been awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. This is the highest award given to groups across the UK to recognise outstanding work done by volunteers in their communities. The awards were created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and winners are announced each year on 2 June – the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.

Elizabeth Chappell, Chair of the Islington Faiths Forum said:

“Inter faith work goes on behind the scenes, day in day out, and does not usually hit the headlines. From the heartfelt response to last year’s callous attack on Muslims in Finsbury Park, the importance of this work was shown as well as its substantial contribution to community cohesion in Islington. We very much welcome the Queen’s Award as it recognizes and supports our vital work in the borough.”

For many years now, Islington Faiths Forum (IFF) has been working diligently to support efforts in the community around cohesion, safety and faith literacy. Working with young people continues to be a priority, whether through peace assemblies, the Peace Cup football tournament, artwork competitions with school pupils (for the inter faith calendar) or the annual Youth Debate. A great deal of IFF work is carried out on a voluntary basis by people committed to improving understanding and cohesion in Islington and it is this voluntary input which has been recognised by the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

This work was particularly visible in the aftermath of the Finsbury Park attack in June last year, 2017. Two days before the attack, the IFF held a Great Get Together event at the site where the attack was later to take place. The Great Get Together event brought diverse sections of the community together in peace and mutual understanding and it was the strength of these local bonds that were reflected in the subsequent unified and powerful response to the attack.

The IFF is holding another Islington Great Get Together event this year at the same site, to show our strength as an ever-growing community, resolute and undeterred, on Saturday 23^rd June 2018 from 2-3.30pm. As before, everyone in Islington is welcome to join in.

The IFF would like to thank Islington Council for supporting the Great Get Together event again this year.