All Sponsors are asked to make a note in your new 2005 diaries of the date of the Annual General Meeting - Wednesday 16th March 2005 at 11 a.m. at the London Inter Faith Centre, 125 Salusbury Road, London NW6. For new Sponsors, and any others who have not been there before, the nearest Underground station is Queens Park, on the Bakerloo Line. Turn left out of the station. The centre is ten minutes walk on the other side of the road.

This is also an appropriate time for all to be reminded of the clause in our Constitution which says "Resolutions for consideration at the ACM must be submitted six weeks before the meeting, and included with the notice of the meeting, which will be sent four
weeks before the meeting".

The Christmas Message of Her Majesty the Queen has received much well-deserved praise for its choice of subject - the willing acceptance of cultural and religious diversity in our nation. The pictures of the visit by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to the
Southall Sikh Gurdwara brought back memories of our inter faith gathering of prayer for peace held there on 24th October 2004. I recognised one of the Sikhs shown in conversation with the Queen and the Duke as Dr P.S. Garcha, the Secretary of the Gurdwara, who showed us so much care and consideration on the occasion of our visit. The Gurdwara President, Mr. Himmat Singh Sohi, the Community Adviser Mr. T. Singh Bagga and the whole Gurdwara Committee deserve our hearty thanks for the way they organised the event. To arrange separate translators to render each of the faith readings into Punjabi must have taken a lot of time and effort. It was also a helpful idea to invite the local Member of Parliament, as well as the Bishop of Willesden to grace
the occasion.

Another face recognised on the Queen's Christmas television broadcast was that of one of our Sponsors, Imam Abduljalil Sajid, in conversation with Her Majesty the Queen. This meeting with Her Majesty took place in the drawing room at Buckingham Palace on 7th December 2004. The conversation ranged over Imam Sajid's charitable and humanitarian work in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe. The Queen showed
particular interest in Imam Sajid's inter faith and community work at all levels from local to international. As well as being one of our Sponsors, Imam Sajid is Secretary of the Mosques and Community Affairs Committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, and also a Vice-Chairman of Religions for Peace UK.

Another member of our Sponsoring body, Dr. Indarjit Singh, was included in the shortlist of candidates in the BBC Radio Four poll for nomination to the House of Lords as the "Listeners' Peer". The result of the poll has just been announced (January 3rd)  and Dr. Indarjit Singh has been declared runner-up to the popular musician and campaigner Bob Geldof. There can be no doubt that the impressive number of votes cast for Indarjit Singh reflects the high regard in which he is held for the balance and wisdom of his contributions to the thought of the day.

In 2004 we organised two inter faith gatherings of prayer for peace. The one at the Southall Gurdwara has been noted above. The other one was held on Sunday 17th October at Westminster Abbey. Evening Prayer was sung superbly by the Abbey's choir, and the sermon was preached by one of our Sponsors, the Revd. Marcus Braybrooke, President of the World Congress of Faiths. We have to thank the Dean, Dr. Wesley Carr and the Canon-in-Residence, Canon Robert Wright, who is Chaplain to the House of Commons, for their warm welcome and kind assistance throughout the whole time of our visit. Refreshments were served afterwards in one of the Dean's rooms in the Abbey, where we were  joined by folk from Marcus' Oxfordshire parish, and by members of the World Congress of Faiths.

The 2005 Week of Prayer for World Peace will be from 23rd to 30th October. The inaugural inter faith gathering of prayer for peace will be held at the London Fo Guang Temple, 84 Margaret Street, London WI, by the kind invitation of Abbess the Venerable Man Jang and her community. This will be the first time since our foundation in 1974 that we have been invited to a Buddhist temple for this gathering.

The Administrator's Report at our November meeting was the last one to be presented by Trudie Charles. Following her recent bereavement, and moving to a new home in Plymouth, she has decided to relinquish the duties of Administrator, which she has carried out with great diligence over the past eight years. I am asked by our committee to express the warm thanks of all our members and supporters for the great job she has done. With effect from 1st April her place will be taken by Mrs. Lesley Daisley, the administrative assistant at the London Inter Faith Centre, where we hold our meetings.
We extend a warm welcome to her, and look forward to many years of happy cooperation.

Donations towards the cost of this newsletter may be sent to our Treasurer, Mr. Norman Taylor, 98 Merewood Road, Bexleyheath DA7 6PQ.

Other correspondence may be sent to me, the Revd. Sidney Hikes, Secretary WPWP, 1 The Bungalow, Bremilham Road, Malmesbury SNI 6 ODQ Tel. 01666 825249 e-mail sidney@fish.co.uk