Barnet Multi Faith Forum celebrated Silver Sunday with over 300 guests and community organisations and various dignitaries.

The celebration got underway with an address from Mayor of Barnet, followed by the Director of Social Services followed by Bollywood Dancing, Tai Chi and exercise to music followed by light refreshments.  

Silver Sunday is an annual day of fun and free activities for older people across the UK. Led by The Sir Simon Milton Foundation, it celebrates the value and knowledge they contribute to our communities while combating loneliness and isolation. Everyone can get involved, whether that’s organising an event, spreading the word, or simply attending an activity.  

Silver Sunday is celebrated together with the International Day of Older Persons.

This year Barnet’s Silver Week saw more than 44 local organisations and partners host over 80 activities and events throughout the borough which included:

•  26 sport and leisure activities including opportunities to dance together
• 10 opportunities for pampering, beauty therapies and the opportunity to look after yourself and have some time to relax
• 16 information talks covering a range of topics including, health and wellbeing, employment, benefits, and fraud
• 11 Afternoon teas/coffee mornings – a chance to socialise and meet new people
• 4 opportunities to see the Exhibition of Art by local residents of supported housing / residential care at venues across the Borough

As part of Silver Week, Greater London Leisure were offering taster sessions in different types of exercises and we are pleased to say that one Faith Group accepted the offer and are now going to have regular weekly sessions at their place of worship.

The BMFF stall attracted a lot of attention from the participants; some were very keen to volunteer whereas others were interested in taking part in any activities hosted or supported by BMFF.

Councillors were also very keen to support BMFF work and we have some of them in our photographs – Councillor Sara Conway, Councillor Sachin Rajput and Councillor Anne Clarke. As part of joint working, we made contact with the Firemen (who had a stall near BMFF); they are very happy to promote safety in Faith Groups.

Asmina
October 2018

8-15 October was National Hate Crime Awareness Week and on Monday 10 October, Barnet Council used this platform to launch its own Hate Crime Reporting Centres at an event at Stonegrove Community Centre.  The council are working with partner Barnet Mencap, who organised the event. Staff from Barnet Homes and Your Choice Barnet made sure our organisations were also represented on the day.

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The Barnet Multi Faith Forum, the Strategic Voice of the Faith Sector in Barnet is alarmed shocked and greatly disturbed by the recent reporting of anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hate rhetoric emanating from within the main political parties.

The Faith communities of Barnet will stand united together to oppose all forms of racial or religious bigotry and maintain our determination to enhance social cohesion and integration. The Forum will continue to promote informed educational dialogue by demonstrating our shared values and mutual respect for all those of different faiths and beliefs. 

As we mark the centenary of the end of World War 1, the Government is seeking to make faith and belief representation at the National Remembrance Service more reflective of modern Britain, both for this year and going forward.  

We are running an open application process, inviting organisations representing different faith/denomination and belief groups across Great Britain, who are not currently represented, to be part of the annual commemoration service.

At present, 15 faith and belief denominations are represented at the Remembrance Service. These are Anglican, Catholic, Church of Scotland, Methodist, United Reform Church, Unitarian, Free Christian Churches, the Salvation Army, Baptist, Greek Orthodox Church, Jewish (United Hebrew Congregations), Jewish (Reform), Islam, Hindu and Sikh. These representatives do not lay a wreath during the service but are there to pay their respects on behalf of their faith and belief communities.

For more information, please email: cenotaph@faithsforum.com