Islington Faiths Forum wins Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service!
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.”
“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 23rd 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.
Peace Cup, September 2017
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- The teams getting ready before the Tournament
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- The Tournament Runners-up from the Muslim Welfare House
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- Peace Cup Winners, 2017
Platform Youth Hub, Islington, September 2017
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- Platform Youth Hub, 2017
IFF Fundraiser
St Mark Church, Myddleton Sq, EC1R, very generously held a concert fundraiser for the IFF on Wednesday the 12th of July, thank you very much! We Stand Together!
The IFF & Dialogue Society Session with Masters Students-Essentials of interfaith and intercultural dialogue
Elizabeth Chappell & Sr Liz O’Donohoe, both IFF Committee members, held a seminar for students following the Masters Course of Dialogue Studies at Stoke University, outlining their respective faith traditions: Elizabeth on SGI Buddhism, and Sr Liz on the history of Christian denominations.
This is the second year Elizabeth and Sr Liz have held this session with various IFF Committee members contributing for a number of years previously.
The students are currently on Placement here in London, collecting data for their dissertations, and the Seminar was followed up with a visit to St Mellitus’ Church in Tollington Park, and one to the SGI Centre in Taplow is due to take place.
Holocaust Memorial Day 2017 – support from Islington Faiths Forum
Faith leaders, representatives of the community, officials and school children from four different Islington schools gathered to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, 2017 at Islington Town Hall.
Speakers, including Judith Fox of Islington Faiths Forum, spoke about the need to engage with people who were different from ourselves, whether in terms of religion or culture, and called for tolerance, respect and fair treatment of all members of society.
Seventy-two years after the first Jewish camps were liberated from the inhumane Nazi regime, speakers repeatedly called for peace, saying that conflicts and atrocities continued to abound in our world.
Gena Turghel, MBE, a survivor of Belsen and Auschwitz concentration camps, who lives in London, related her extraordinary tale of survival and escape from the Nazi regime, saying that her determination was to write her memoirs, I Light a Candle, ‘before I forget’, so that generations and generations to come ‘should never ever allow it to happen again.’ Councillor Comer-Schwartz, a quarter Jewish, shared the story of her grandfather who was a survivor of Dachau concentration camp. She concluded her experience, saying ‘don’t just let life go on, but help it to flourish.’
Muzna Al-Naib, a Syrian documentary film-maker and speaker on behalf of Syria Solidarity UK, spoke of the atrocities occurring in Syria at this moment, the tragedies for women and children especially, and the problem of millions of refugees and appealed to solidarity and humanity in common cause with Syrian people: ‘If you are not seeking to change your heart– you must have chosen your own political discourse over your humanity.’
In her closing remarks, Turghel said, ‘it is happening again; we are all human beings, we all want to be happy.’ She said that the reason Hitler had come to power is that he was ‘allowed to persecute people.’
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Elizabeth Chappell
Co-Chair
Islington Faiths Forum
@IFForum1
Playing for Peace! – The Peace Cup 2016
Cllr Kaya Comer-Schwartz presenting the Peace Cup to the winning team, MWH
With 10 football teams from many different community sites across Islington and made up of c. 100 young people aged between 14-17 years, the Peace Cup Football Tournament was held again this year (its 5th year!) on Sunday, 25th September 2016, at the Market Road football pitches.
The final was really close during the first half, the teams were level pegging, and then in the 2nd half the Muslim Welfare House (MWH) took off and beat Rosemary Kicks 5-1. The quality of football was really good. MySpace FC came third.
The winning team!
This annual tournament is a great opportunity for young people to come and play together, have fun, break down barriers, get to know each other and learn more about peace … all with the inspired support of Absolute Print Ltd, Targeted Youth Support (Islington Council), Islington Faiths Forum and the Access to Sports Project.
The Neighbourhood Police and the Police Cadets came and supported the event too, which was great.
One of the players, Ala-Eddine Bouakaz, said: “The Peace Cup was just amazing. The organisation was excellent and it gathered all the community centres into one. It was a great experience to play football competitively and at the same time safely. It felt like I belong there.”
Cllr Kaya Comer-Schwartz, Executive Member for Community Development and Junction Ward Councillor, noted:
“I was honoured to present medals and the Cup to the winners of this year’s Peace Cup and would like to thank all those whose hard work helped to make this community event happen. The tournament is a fantastic opportunity for young people in Islington from different communities to be unified in their love of Football.”
The Peace Cup is generously sponsored by local business ‘Absolute Print Ltd’ and supported by Islington Council Targeted Youth Support, the Access to Sports Project and Arsenal in the Community.
The winning team and organisers