8th February 2014
Annual Shared Meal

On a pleasant Saturday evening AIG gathered for the annual shared meal at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys. After a brief introduction by Father John Rafferty, the Chairman of AIG, prayers were said by representatives of the various faith communities. Kosher and Halal starters and main courses had been prepared by the Jewish and Moslem ladies – perhaps some men had helped ? As always, this was wonderful homemade food that looked, smelt and tasted delicious. At the end of the evening a warm round of applause was given to all the people who had prepared the food, especially mentioned were the Moslem ladies who had worked hard together to feed so many people even though they were unable to attend the dinner because they were at a family wedding.

Father John introduced Chief Superintendent Jim Liggett, the Police Divisional Commander for Trafford. He said how wonderful it was that a community could come together to share in a meal in such a way. The previous weekend he had been in Paris for the rugby international and that evening supporters of each side gathered together in the bars to discuss the match and previous games without any animosity just as good neighbours can.

The Mayor of Trafford, Councillor Dylan Butt, congratulated Interfaith Group on their activities throughout the year. Appreciating that he had gone to some trouble to attend the dinner, the gathered group gave him a very warm round of applause.

The main speaker for the evening was The Reverend Bill Darlison, President of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches. He spoke of his experience of interfaith communities and the way that they build on trust and deepen understanding.

The young people had been occupied with coloured scraper boards on which they produced elaborate and interesting pictures.

After the speeches, desserts were served. These had been prepared by the Christian community and each dish was carefully labelled with its ingredients so that everyone’s dietary needs were cared for. At the end of the meal, the evening ended with groups of people from various groups in conversation with each other.

Carolyn Jones, Hon. Secretary of AIG writes :-

More than 70 friends of Altrincham Interfaith Group attended the Alf Keeling Memorial Lecture which this year was given by Christine Morgan, a charming lady who is Head of Radio, BBC Religion and Ethics, and she spoke on Religious Broadcasting in a Pluralistic Society.

Christine Morgan with Mrs Ann Keeling

She drew very much on her own 26 years’ experience at the BBC, explaining how it had changed during the time she had been there. In 1987, when she arrived, there was almost no diversity of voices in the BBC’s religious content and it started to change just about around that time with the Muslim response to Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses and the realisation that Muslim voices needed to be heard. Now she has the challenge of multifaith broadcasting, with the first Interfaith Service broadcast in 1991, and has the aim of providing ethnic minorities with equal rights. Although churchgoing and organised religion has declined, in her experience most people still believe in God and the BBC provides a range of programmes catering for all faiths and needs, reflecting the religious makeup of Britain without stereotyping. She pointed out that religion is a living force, shaping the world in many issues. 

There were many questions after her talk ranging from the timing of religious programmes to the proportion of time devoted to different religious groups.  Everyone enjoyed the evening, and it was a very appropriate tribute to the life and work of Alf Keeling who did so much to establish Altrincham Interfaith Group.

Carolyn Jones (Hon. Sec., Altrincham Interfaith Group) writes :-

As part of our programme of visits to different places of worship, about 40 of us from Altrincham Interfaith Group came to the Gita Bhavan Hindi temple in Whalley Range on Thursday October 10^th for what turned out to be a really splendid evening.  We arrived as prayers were taking place in the main hall and, having removed our shoes, sat quietly at the back watching the ritual singing accompanied by drums and bell ringing. 

We were then ushered into the dining area where we were treated to a delicious meal of curry and rice followed by a fruit and cream desert, an unexpected treat for most of us! Then upstairs where we were seated and Poonam Kakkar introduced us to Professor Nawal Prinja, a renowned scientist and expert on Hinduism who was Director and Co-Chair of the Interfaith Network for the UK, Religious Education Spokesman of the World Council of Hindus and a founding member of the Hindu Jewish Association of Manchester, who gave us a fascinating illustrated talk about the Philosophy and Spirituality of the Hindu Faith. He covered a wide area of topics including the nature of the soul and cosmology and held us spellbound.  After  questions, he was thanked by Father John Rafferty, the Chair of Altrincham Interfaith Group, and received very warm applause for what had been a fascinating talk, giving us insights into the Hindu religion that were, I think, new to us all.

On the evening of September 12^th, about 20 of us from Altrincham Interfaith Group met in the Terminal 1 Chaplaincy Office at Manchester Airport for what proved to be a fascinating tour around  Terminals 1 and 3 Prayer Rooms as well as three illustrated talks about the work of the Chaplains, Airport Community Relations and future plans for expanding the airport itself to form the so-called Airport City.

We started off in Terminal 1 Prayer Room, which contained prayer books for all the major faiths, an altar for Christian worship and a sign pointing to the direction of Mecca for Moslems. Reverend George Lane, who is the Coordinating Chaplain, gave us a short talk before leading us into the impressive Olympic House where David Roberts, Property Development Director at the Airport, talked to us about the massive development plans for a business park at the airport, with hotels and leisure facilities, known as Airport City North.   Airport City South will be a huge new logistics park; both sites are near the proposed station for the new High Speed Train linkingManchester to London.  We were taken for refreshments followed by a fascinating illustrated talk by Reverend Lane about the work of the Airport Chaplains – to help, support and guide people and provide pastoral and humanitarian aid.  He stressed that people were at the centre of their work – people both travelling through the airport and working there.  This was followed by an illustrated and lively presentation by Wendy Sinfield, Community Relations Manager, who talked about her liaison with local communities, businesses and schools, explaining how the Airport puts on special days both in schools but also at the airport, helping young people from deprived backgrounds into work. 

We were then shown the Prayer Room in Terminal 3 with its amazing mosaic of blue, white and brown tiles, showing a stylised Pegasus, the flying horse.  It certainly was a full and action packed evening; we all learned a lot – not only about the dedicated work of the Chaplains, who do such a fantastic job, but also about the Airport itself and its exciting future.

Sunday 30th June 2013
from 2pm (food served at 2:30pm)
Tatton Park
(beside the Mere).

Bring enough food for yourself or your family, plus a little more to share. Don’t worry about dietary rules – people can choose what they like. Simple labels on food, saying what they contain would be a great help.

Games and activities for children

Note that the car park entrance is £5.00 even for National Trust members(Blue Badge Holder £2.50).

If the weather is uncertain, please contact 0795-714-7709 (Poonam Kakkar) to confirm that the picnic is still on.