Our activities are wide-ranging and include participation in corporate events such as Coventry Peace Month, Positive Images Festival, Heritage Open Days and many more. We also arrange exhibitions which create greater awareness of diversity. Every year we organise a highly successful Peace Walk, which entails visits to different places of worship.
Heritage Open Days
The Coventry Multi-Faith Centre has been open during the Heritage Open Days along with several other buildings in the historic centre of Coventry. This is an opportunity to discover something about other faiths and get to meet people involved in dialogue between the religious groups present in Coventry.
We have photos from the Heritage Open Day 2005
Exhibition
Children's activities
Musicians performing.
Children's Storytime.
Peace Walk
The BBC has photos from the 2004 walk
For several years we have been organising this popular event, consisiting of a visit to several places of worship in Coventry, typically including a church, a mosque, a Hindu temple, and a Sikh temple.
On 14th October 2006 we held our annual Peace Walk, which attracted more than a hundred walkers. A small grant obtained from Coventry Peace Month Committee enabled us to get high quality Peace prayer booklets produced. A participant in the walk remarked, "I really enjoyed the walk. I have been attending the peace walk for must be getting on for 10 years. I thought that this year's was the best yet for all sorts of reasons, both practical and spiritual." In his augural speech at Coventry Cathedral, the Lord Mayor of Coventry, Councillor Dave Batten, was very complimentary about our Peace Walk. We felt privileged to receive an embroidered Peace Message from the Sunshine Group, based at Coventry Refugee Centre. The walk, the launch event of Peace Month, fell during the month of Ramadan. This year we have made a conscious decision to hold it after Ramadan.
More than one hundred walkers congregated at Coventry Multi-Faith Centre. Welcoming the Lord Mayor, Councillor Ram Lakha, and other walkers for peace, Mehru Fitter, the Co-Chair of Coventry Multi-Faith Forum, outlined the aims of the Forum and reminded everyone of the plight of victims of the earthquake in Pakistan and India. The generosity of participants in the walk raised £153 towards the earthquake appeal. The Walk comprised visits to the Chapel of Unity, the Muslim Resource Centre, the Shree Krishna Temple and Gurdwara Nanak Parkash. Lady Godiva in her customary finery and a Buddhist monk in his religious attire added colour to the walkers' journey.
Start of the Peace Walk after the prayers at the Priory Gardens.
Walkers posed for picture at the steps of the Coventry Cathedral.
.
Walking: Peace Walkers on the way to the Mosque
We visited the Eagle Street Mosque. Walkers are just coming out of the mosque.
At Cornerstone Methodist Church (Stoney Stanton Road)
At GNP Gurdwara
At Shree Krishna Hindu Temple
Peace Walk 2007:
Our annual Peace Walk was held on Saturday 20th October 2007. Early arrivals had a look at our Peace and Black History Month Exhibition, after which they assembled in Priory Gardens, where our Lord Mayor, Council Dave Batten, welcomed participants. Pru Porretta, wearing her attractive Lady Godiva attire, distributed friendship bracelets, which were made by young people at an artist-led workshop. This was followed by recitation of prayers from different faiths, and visits to the Chapel of Unity, Jamia Mosque, Shree Krishna Hindu Temple and the Guru Nanak Parkash Gurdwara. Participants were warmly welcomed at each place of worship and were able to ask questions. The event finished with a communal meal, very kindly provided by GNP Gurdwara. Participants, who came from different parts of the city and also from outside, numbered 120 - the highest figure so far. Coventry Multi-Faith Forum extends its thanks to Trustees Supriyo Mukherjee for organising the event, Salim Khan, Ram Krishan and Balbir Singh Dhami for liaising with the places of worship and the management of all the places of worship visited for the warm welcome accorded to participants. Our thanks are also due to Lynette Coulston for encouraging participants to provide feedback. The feedback received has helped us to identify our strengths as well as weaknesses. This year we were pleased to notice participation by people attending Grapevine Centre.
Coventry Multi-Faith Forum would like to thank Coventry City Council for the grant of £192.40, which enabled us to: include a new prayer in our Peace Prayers Booklet; arrange a workshop for the making of friendship bracelets and to reimburse expenses at each place of worship.
At Priory Garden
At the Chapel of Unity (Coventry Cathedral)
People posing for picture
Inside Eagle Street Mosque
At Shree Krishna Temple
At GNP Gurdwara
Sharing a Communal Meal at GNP Gurdwara
Chinese New Year
Coventry Multi-Faith Forum celebrated the Chinese New year of the Dog on 4th February 2006 with a
colourful exhibition about China, the Chinese New Year, Chinese arts, crafts and costumes. Young visitors made their own New year cards and listened to |Oriental stories related by Pru Porretta and Kusumika Chatterjee of Imagination Reading Cafe.
Exhibition
Visitors looking at exhibition
Children's activities
Positive Images Festival
We have taken part of the Postivie Images Festival in June 2005, with the objective of introducing the people of Coventry to various aspects of faith and culture.
