NEW! Take a look at what Faiths4Change is about , by clicking the link below and watching real live projects from Operation Eden and Faiths4Change. After following the link, scroll down to see the four choices of footage.
Faiths4Change DVD footage
Environment at the heart
The Bhuddist Temple in Old Trafford recently held an environment campaign day to raise awareness of global warming and also to raise funds for the Chinese earthquake. Home made Chinese food was on sale to raise funds and the Environment Group invited Emerge Recycling, Action for Sustainable Living and Faiths4Change to do presentatons of their work and what individuals can do practically at home and work.
Ladies dressed in traditional costume and there was also an short play with young people acting out a traditional play about the value of the earth and relationships and how we are all inter-dependant.
The Friends of St. Luke Farnworth were delighted to hear in June that they had been successful in their bid for a grant from Heritage Lottery Breathing Places. The grant of £9,965.00 will part fund a project of £25,000.00 where funding has also been received from Mersey Forest and a Landfill Tax grant. The project will provide a wider access gate to the churchyard at St. Luke’s churchyard, relaying of some of the pathways, equipment for maintenance including a multipurpose mowing machine and brushcutters, benches, planting of hedgerows, wildflower areas, habitat boxes and control of vegetation with training and equipment being provided for specialist work. This project is part of a bigger project which seeks to restore the churchyard as being a place of peace along with an environmental and heritage site.
St John the Evangelist, Ayres Road, Old Trafford, Manchester worked in partnership with Groundwork Salford, Manchester, Trafford and Tameside to create a banner for Peace. 26 different languages were used in a collage for a banner spanning the length of the church’s tower. Karen Andrew, Faiths4Change’s Manchester Project Officer actually has her office in the vestry of St John’s Church, and works closely with the St John’s centre next door. For more details about Faiths4Change in Manchester, contact Karen by email on karen@faiths4change.org.uk
Helen Dawson Merseyside Project Officer for Faiths4Change, has been busy arranging a training day for faith groups and local residents of Walton, on the theme of Bees. Rev Trevor Latham, Rector at St Mary’s Church, Walton, and and Bee Keeper in his Rectory garden , teamed up with up with local bee keeper and complimentary therapist, Yvonne Matthews, to deliver a fun training day on Bee Keeping and the health benefits of the hive.
The day was held on Saturday 12th July in The Rectory Garden, and 20 people attended the training, representing groups from the URC Church in Wallasy, St Mary’s West Derby, St Aidans and St Marys in Walton. We were priviledged to have Barbara and Malcolm Roderick from the Northwest Beekeepers Association, who brought educational material and shared their extensive knowledge of keeping bees.
Are you a member of a faith community who would like to find out how you can save money and help protect the environment? If so then read on for details of how Faiths4Change could help you…..
Details are currently being finalised for our environmental audit training days which will be available free of charge to any faith communities. A professional trainer will be available to spend a day with members of your community to share knowledge of cost effective ways to reduce your environmental impact. We will even provide lunch!!
The event would take place in your place of worship or community hall and would include a practical session conducting a survey of the building and creating an action plan of improvements.
Many suggested improvements will be very simple with little or no cost and could lead to significant savings in a short period of time. These could include turning down thermostats, installing signs to raise awareness or fitting draft excluders and energy saving light bulbs. Where appropriate advice can also be given on more costly measures such as energy efficient heating systems.
Following the session support will be available from Faiths4Change staff to ensure changes are implemented and to secure funding if needed.
It is anticipated that the sessions will be ready to deliver from mid July 2008. Demand is expected to be high so if this sounds like the opportunity you have been looking for please contact Tom on the details below to register your interest as soon as possible.
Tom Fyson Faiths4Change – Preston Project Officer Tel: 01772 901014 E-mail: tom@faiths4change.org.uk
Faiths4Change project Officers Karen Andrew and Helen Dawson, took a trip to Central Hall in Westminster for the launch by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP, of the document, “Face to Face and Side by Side: a framework for partnership in our multi faith society”. Helen was introduced to Hazel Blears by John Devine, Churches Officer for the North West Development Agency and on the steering group of Faiths4Change. Helen says, “I was pleased to be able to talk to Hazel Blears about the work of Faiths4Change and she was particularly interested in how gardening and land projects were a good way for communities to work along side each other. It was quite sureal laughing with a member of Parliament about what makes for a good pumpkin!”
This document sets out how faith communities, Government and wider society can work together, at all levels, to encourage and enable greater local activity which brings people with different religions and beliefs together. The framework draws on research and on the responses to a three-month public consultation and contains examples of effective practice, practical suggestions for communities and local authorities and links to further sources of support and guidance.
The Faiths4Change project was launched in the Daneshouse Community Centre on 10 April. The day was aimed to raise awareness on how sustaining the environment is interlinked with maintaining ones health and well being. Members of the local community were given ideas and information on how to grow their own food and the benefits of organic and fair trade food. Volunteers worked hard to make the event successful by arranging a variety of fun filled workshops….
Harnessing the support and commitment of faith communities and agencies from all sectors, F4C provides free Project Officer support, training & small scale grant funding to faith communities to enable people of faith & goodwill to create partnership projects that transform local environments and communities in mainly urban areas in England’s North West.
Launched in July 2007, following Operation EDEN, a successful Merseyside based multi-faith pilot project, we have Project Officers based in faith community owned buildings in Liverpool, Manchester, Preston & Burnley. We’ve had a very busy first year!
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This project involves managing woodland sustainably and diverting timber from landfill. The project received funding from Faiths4Change to purchase a mobile Planking Machine and associated equipment. 50% of volunteers receiving training will be unemployed. This project will also provide capacity building training opportunities for the ‘New Horizon Group’ with mental health and addiction problems. The training programme takes place every saturday at Offshoots Permaculture Project. Towneley Hall art gallery and museum in Burnley. For further details or to enrole yourself on the training programme please contact Samia 0n 01282 441255 or Phil Dewhurst 01282 450270.
Constructing The Future are looking for the best examples of sustainability from across the Pennine Lancashire area, in a new competition launched this month. The project aims to uncover the unsung green heroes of the region who are doing their bit to promote sustainable practices across wide range of activities Sustainable Stars Website Please contact Catherine Toon, Project Administrator, Constructing the Future Elevate East Lancashire for an application form 01254 304572 or email: catherine.toon@elevate-eastlancs.co.uk
The event was a celebration of the development of the shelter and seating area that was developed by the community around Stoneyholme and Daneshouse community centre in Burnley. The 5 girls that were involved raised the funding through an organisation called CABE – Faiths4Change supported the youth group with officiall opening ceremoney of their art work in Daneshouse on 26th June. The Mayor of Burnley was present on the day with her helper the mayoress.
“ It is He who produces gardens both cultivated and wild and palm trees and crops of diverse kinds and olives and pomegranates both similar and dissimilar. Eat of their fruit and pay of their dues on the day of their harvest and do not be wasteful. He does not love the profligates”. (Quran 6-142)
Please contact me for further information or for an informal discussion about your ideas or networking opportunities.
E-mail: samia@faiths4change.org.uk Telephone: 01282 441522 Mobile: 07894 423246 Burnley Borough Council
Mobile Farm is a very well coordinated programme for communities in Burnley where not only do they learn gardening and growing skills but also take part in planning and publicising the event.
The project aims to make the area look more colourful and cleaner. *Residents *would like….....
St Luke’s Church in Crosby have gone from strength to strength in developing their church yard and community garden. They applied to Faiths4change for funding to create a bog garden to increase the biodiversity of species visiting the church yard, which alongside their butterfly garden, will be a haven for insects, amphibians and small mammals. Take a look at their website to see the story of the inspiring work they have done.
St Luke’s Crosby website
St Luke’s Saturday work party digging the bog garden
Congratulations to Somwhere Else, Liverpool City Centre Methodist Church, who have been awarded a Faiths4Change development grant of £500. They are supporting the second phase os a project called “Walk Unknown” , which engages people, many of whom are homeless, in an art project using reclaimed brinks from Crosby beach to create a symbolic sculpture, of our life cycle. The DVD of the project will be shown in Liverpool in St Luke’s Church on Saturday October 11th.
Congratulations to St Aidan’s Church In Walton who have been awarded a Faiths4Change development grant of £2000, to create a peace garden in their church grounds. The young people in the church will help to maintain the garden and make it welcoming to local people. The garden will be planted with white flowers and also sensory plants to aid relaxation and prayer.
Faiths4Change has been working with Mersey Forest on their Green Streets Project. This has involved talking to local communities about the benefits of street trees in Knowsley, Sefton, Wirral and St Helens. Householders could sign up to have an ornmental trees outside their house.
Any queries, concerns or ideas, please contact me on 0151 705 2108 or 07894 423248 email me at helend@faiths4change.org.uk. I look forward to working with you!
PEACE comes to Ayres Road. St John the Evangelist, Ayres Road, Old Trafford, Manchester worked in partnership with Groundwork Salford, Manchester, Trafford and Tameside to create a banner for Peace. 26 different languages were used in a collage for a banner spanning the length of the churchs tower.
Welcome to Faiths4Change Manchester, part of an exciting new Northwest programme. It aims to help faith communities to learn new skills and develop environmental projects in partnership with other residents.
Faiths4Change is new to Manchester, but is well located in an area known for community activity. Based in Old Trafford, famous for football and cricket through Manchester United Football Club and Lancashire County Cricket Club, it also boasts a diverse range of faiths, cultures and communities. The district has a population of over 210,000 which covers Old Trafford, Sale, Flixton, Urmston and Altrincham and includes Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faiths.
One of the area’s strengths is its vibrant voluntary, community and faith sector and the vision of local people to work together to improve the local area. As care for the environment is often a common goal within faith and local communities, Faiths4Change in Manchester will be working hard to make links with existing organisations, initiatives and partnerships within Old Trafford, and to create new relationships and projects. These could range from small-scale projects to encourage people to recycle or reduce litter in a specific area to larger, long-term projects such as improving the physical environmental and developing skills amongst local people. As Faiths4Change is a new project in Manchester, we are really keen to make connections and to work together to improve the local environment.
Giant Loo lands in Sale! You could be forgiven if you though you were hallucinating when you came out of the Kings Ransom Pub. A giant loo was placed alongside the long boat which was setting sail to Northwich. The 7 day sail was a joint project with Mersey Basin Campaign, United Utilities and British Waterways to highlight our regions canals. This particular canal is the Bridgewater Canal.
If you are a member of a faith group and are interested in helping to transform your local environment physically, economically and spiritually and are based in the Manchester area, please contact me. I am here to help you with training, funding support, sustainability and networking.
Pride in our Neighbourhood
Pride is a joint initiative of Groundwork Manchester, Salford, Trafford and Tameside together with Old Trafford Neighbourhood Management. They are working together to make Old Trafford a Cleaner Greener and Safer place to live. This initiative is advising, encouraging and supporting residents and groups to make Old Trafford a better place to live and work and play in.
Manchester Fo Kuang Shan Bhuddhist Temple The Bhuddist Temple in Old Trafford recently held an environment campaign day to raise awareness of global warming and also to raise funds for the Chinese earthquake. Home made Chinese food was on sale to raise funds and the Environment Group invited Emerge Recycling, Action for Sustainable Living and Faiths4Change to do presentatons of their work and what individuals can do practically at home and work. Ladies dressed in traditional costume and there was also an short play with young people acting out a traditional play about the value of the earth and relationships and how we are all inter-dependant.
Dates for your diary if you are out and about in the Withington and Fallowfield area:*
Faiths4Change is currently supporting The Salvation Army in Preston to investigate the potential sources of renewable energy for their building on Harrington Street.
To help with ideas for this project we recently secured the support of CDX (Community Development Exchange) to visit Gamblesby Village Hall near Penrith to learn from their experiences of installing renewable technology.
If you would like to find out more about Faiths4change, or have a project idea to discuss, please contact Tom at tom@faiths4change.org.uk or on 01772 901014 or 07894 423249. Links
St Augustines Avenham Centre
Saturday 4th October 2008
Saturday 20th September 2008
Sat 13 Sept: 10am – 5pm.
The rationale behind the Faiths4Change project is to use the faith communities' infrastructure; such as their volunteers and buildings in the heart of deprived communities to deliver the environmental agenda to hard to reach groups. Operation EDEN produced a substantial dividend in skills and training which brought individuals currently economically inactive closer to the job market.
Although initially funded for three years to work across Merseyside within the geographical boundaries of the Anglican Diocese of Liverpool, it was always hoped that if the EDEN model was a success that it could be replicated across England’s Northwest.
The NWDA’s support for the Faiths4Change programme is part of an ongoing commitment to support the faith communities in the Northwest.
Faith communities wish to be taken seriously as stakeholders both by government and by other potential partners so with this in mind Government at every level is increasingly exploring ways of using the experience and resources of faith communities on the ground to deliver services.
The communities themselves frequently underestimate their own collective impact on the quality of life of the region, despite having a long tradition of working in the community.
In 2005 the NWDA compiled an ‘Economic Impact Assessment’ report on the economic impact on the faith communities in our region. The report measured the two assets that the communities have in abundance in every part of the region: its buildings and its volunteers. The report found a figure of between £90.7 million and £94.9 million was being contributed through these assets to the rural and urban societies.
An earlier report in 2003 called ‘Faith in England’s Northwest - The contribution made by faith communities to civil society in the region’ showed how intertwined these communities were into the fabric of the Northwest, fostering the talents of over 45,000 volunteers working through faith communities on non-worship related projects. This work is not confined to Christian denominations as the survey covered the work of religions including Baha’i, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism and Sikhism. What was made clear was that faith communities are a vital resource. Their diversity and the make up of their volunteer work base, ensures that there is an important foundation on which productive partnerships can be built.
The report also highlighted the range of projects and initiatives that faith communities are involved in. From their involvement in the survey, the Agency learnt about the importance of health, fitness, art, music and education to their work in the community. They were also heavily involved in providing support on housing, homelessness, anti-racism, crime prevention, drug and alcohol abuse, employment, social enterprise and personal finance initiatives. The list it seemed is endless.
Both reports emphasised the multi-dimensional role that faith communities played in their communities and their ability to contribute towards community cohesion is one that the NWDA and the public sector in general wish to encourage. It highlighted their closeness to often ‘hard to reach’ groups while also showing that there are opportunities for to work alongside others at neighbourhood and local authority level in the continuing effort to strengthen the communities of the Northwest.
Following the reports release, a website Faith Northwest was launched to help the public discover who the faith communities are, and provide a focal point for the sharing of information so the public could understand the role of faith in our region.
Further underlining their importance, the Bishop of Manchester announced the launch of a Northwest Forum of Faiths in 2005 with an aims of promoting the engagement of faith communities in public policy and civil society while promoting a vision of healthy spiritual values and integrated communities within the regional economic agenda. The Forum, which is supported by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), comprises 24 individuals from each of the nine major world faith communities from every part of the region. It aims to ensure that, alongside other stakeholders, faith communities have a regional voice. The forum was established as part of the Agency's commitment to taking forward the faith agenda in the region. The Forum will enable government and other statutory bodies to consult with faith communities on regional issues, ensuring that they are able to effectively respond to regional initiatives.
