Week of Prayer for
World Peace Newsletter
July 2004

The Committee met on Wednesday 9th June 2004 at the London Inter Faith Centre, London NW6, but, unfortunately, I was prevented from attending by circumstances beyond my control. A bomb alert at Swindon railway station kept my train waiting outside Swindon for two hours. Then it moved slowly back to Chippenham, where I had boarded it two hours before. While the railway authorities were working out what to do, I left the train, took my car from the car park, drove to Reading and caught a train from there, arriving at our meeting place too late for our meeting, and twenty minutes late for the WCRP meeting that followed ours. Maggie Brizzi kindly took Minutes for our meeting, and our thanks go to her for that.

Our Administrator, Trudie Charles, was also absent, owing to a sudden bout of ill health.

The meeting opened with a time of silence, during which a memorial was made for our Administrator's assistant, Peter Ellis, who died on 1st May. Peter, like Trudie Charles, whom he helped with the distribution of the leaflets, was a member of the charitable organisation Toe H. I attended the funeral service on 22nd May at the spiritual home of Toe H, the Church of All Hallows Barking-by-the-Tower, in London. Trudie took part in the service, reading a story from the Tales of the Sufi.

Our Chairman, Mr. Om Parkash Sharma and I visited the Southall Gurdwara on 22nd March in preparation for the gathering for prayer for peace to be held there on 241 October. We discussed the programme with President Himmat Singh Sohi and his Community Adviser, Mr. T. Singh Bagga. They asked if those who are reading from the Scriptures of the different faiths would please present their chosen texts in writing, so that they can be translated into Punjabi. They also asked all taking part to remove their shoes and wear a head covering. Suitable head coverings will be provided for persons arriving without them. There will be no procession of candles, no clasping of hands and no other special ceremonies or rituals. At the close of the gathering, all present will be invited to share the Sikh communion meal, Prashad, consisting of a warm sweet tasting pudding placed into the hands for eating. After the gathering, all are invited to share food from the community kitchen. It is an important part of Sikh practice to share food which has been prepared in the same bowl, indicating the equality of all taking part. The Gurdwara is in Havelock Road, Southall. This is a one-way street, running west to east. On reaching the Gurdwara, turn right into the underground car park. On leaving, turn right into Havelock Road. Turn right again at the end of the road and proceed on your way via Norwood Green.

On Wednesday 26th May, six members of our committee went to Westminster Abbey to meet Canon Robert Wright in the Chapter Office. Canon Wright will be the Canon-in-Residence during the month of October, which includes the inaugural service of our Week on 17th October. Members of our committee are invited to process into Choir, robed as appropriate if they are religious ministers, and the Abbey's own Peace Flame will be lit throughout the Week. The Abbey has also asked for us to supply five hundred of our prayer leaflets, to be placed on seats in the Abbey for visiting worshippers to take away. The preacher will be one of our Sponsors, the Revd. Marcus Braybrooke, President of the World Congress of Faiths, and notice will be given of the service at the Gurdwara on the following Sunday.

The committee, at its meeting, co-opted Dr. M.N. Nandakumara, who is already one of our Sponsors, to serve also as a member of the committee. Dr. Nandakumara is Director of the Indian Cultural Centre in Kensington (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan), where we held our inter faith gathering of prayer for peace in 1998. The other centres where we have held this observance between then and now are as follows: Kensington Unitarian Church (1999,) Saint George's Church, Southwark (2000), Wembley Progressive Synagogue (2001), Neasden Hindu Temple (2002), and the Hounslow Mosque (2003).

Two of our Sponsors, Dr. Zaki Badawi and our President Rabbi Albert Friedlander, are listed among the Patrons of a petition to the Foreign Secretary concerning the plight of persons detained in the legal black hole ofGuantanamo Bay. The petition calls on Her Majesty's Government to demand the immediate repatriation of all British citizens and British residents in Guantanamo. The petition, which carries over three thousand signatures, was presented on 16th June to Baroness Symons, Minister at the Foreign Office. Another of our Sponsors, Imam Dr. Abduljalil Sajid, has edited a collection of statements by nineteen Muslims entitled "Why Terror? Is there an alternative? Nineteen Muslims speak out". The number nineteen was chosen by way of response to the nineteen terrorists who on 11 September 2001 attacked the Twin Towers and other targets in the USA. The book can be obtained from Grosvenor Books, 24 Greencoat Place, London SW1 1RD for two pounds plus 50p postage (UK).

Enclosed a copy of 2004 Leaflet, if each of our sponsors would place an order for 100 prayer leaflets, that would save our project from all financial anxiety. The address for ordering leaflets is Trudie Charles 23 St. Andrews Road, Bristol BS6 5EG.

Donations towards the cost of this newsletter can be made to our Treasurer, Mr. Norman Taylor, 98 Merewood Road, Bexleyheath DA7 6PQ. Other correspondence can be sent to me, the Revd. Sidney Hinkes, Secretary WPWP, 1 The Bungalow, Bremilham Road, Malmesbury SN16 ODQ Tel. 01666 825249.