About 30 people braved the wind and rain to attend the Alf Keeling
Memorial Lecture this year, which was given by Reverend Daud Gill of
St Alban’s C of E Church Broadheath and an Altrincham Interfaith Group
committee member, who spoke on “Faith, Hope and Love as the heart of
interfaith friendship.”  He split his lecture into two parts, the first
addressing the role that faith, hope and love play in all our lives and
showing with the help of scriptures that they are universal principles that
sustain human friendship.
In the second part he described his personal experiences of seeing
these in action, when the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017 impacted
on relations between his Levenshulme church and an adjoining Mosque.
His congregation sent flowers and a card to the Mosque which began a
lasting friendship between the two communities. He also visited Pakistan
in 2019 with a group of Christians and formed a bond with Muslims in
one of the largest Mosques in the city which resulted in the formation of
forums with Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Sikhs working together for
peace. Now he is working with Michelle, a member of the Jewish
community, whose charity “Hello Buddy” organises interfaith events for
children at his church, which are proving very popular.
After his address, Reverend Daud invited his audience to talk between
themselves about faith, hope and love in their own lives – what excites
and what challenges them and what practical steps they could take to
live out those virtues. This resulted in a lively discussion which continued
over tea and biscuits.
We thank Reverend Daud for his thoughtful and uplifting presentation,
Holy Angels Church for the use of their lovely Parish Hall and all those
who helped to make this a most enjoyable and stimulating event.

Our thanks to Paul Fertig of the photography.