Reading Interfaith Group
Minutes of meeting held on 26 February 2009 at Friends
Meeting House
Present: Paul Kingston, Mark Drukker, Sarah Griffin,
Chris Knollys, Bruce Denney, David Edwards, Swami Ambikananda, Dori and Jim
Talbot, Maya Malhorra, David McKnight, Viv Rimmer.
Apologies Zvi Solomons. Hugh Boulter
Matters arising:
CK has contacted
Ejaz Elahi, who has been away.
CK is waiting for a
reply from Douai Abbey re the next Christian hosted event – a talk on the
Trinity. See item 2.
Living Library:
Publicity was discussed. Action: DM and
SG to give SA a contact person for this
event.
RIFG leaflets: SA
suggested printing more of these for distribution in our places of worship. Action: BD to liase with Anthea West to
print these and bring them to the next committee meeting.
One World Week/RISC:
SG has been discussing this with them to decide the most appropriate way to be
involved.
Item 1 Feedback
from past events
Suggestions to
improve the quality of talks were: check the experience of speakers in giving
public talks, ask for a précis of their talk beforehand, allow enough time for
presentations, improve acoustics. Action:
PK to be responsible for arranging room layout and amplification/loop system at
future events to improve acoustics.
SG asked that
communications within and from RIFG be respectful, unhurtful and peaceful,
especially emails. Discussion during committee meetings had the advantage of
being safe, more controlled and involving the wider group. Emails were flexible
and convenient but needed discipline regarding their content. SG asked that
emails and publicity sent outside the group be moderated by the chair.
Committee discussions should be confidential to the committee. Action: Publicity etc to be sent via the
chair.
Transport to events:
Parking could have been improved at a recent event, and SG suggested a
transport pool. DE, BD, CK, PK and DM offered to provide lifts. Action: BD to provide parking information
for future events. PK and SG to coordinate members requests and offers for a
transport pool.
Thank you letters
for the past two events. Action: VR to
send these, SG to provide addresses.
Item 2: Next
events
Hare Krishna (19
March): There was discussion on the best way to publicise and interest people
in this. Action: DE and DM to design a
press release, send to SG, and then SA for forwarding to local papers.
Christian event
(talk on the Trinity): SG suggested we organise a backup in case Douai Abbey
are unable to respond. CK has one possible guest speaker in mind. Action: CK to ask members if they can
suggest Christian speakers for this. CK and BD to liase on publicity.
Item 3: Website
DE has now linked
the old website to the new one. Events for the next 2 months are online. The
contents of the old site are on CD. More work needs to be done before we
‘launch’ the new site (ie remind people it is there!) Further work suggested
was: transfer the contents of the old site to the new, update the committee
details with individual page for each member, create a page for each event,
linked to the RIFG calendar, include the history of RIFG, put on logos for each
faith. Action: DE and BD to work on
above.
Item 4:
Constitution
Updating the
constitution was considered. SG noted that expertise, advice and support in
this area were available from her husband and Reading Voluntary Action. BD
suggested the constitution should be ‘light’ in content, covering goals,
officers, basic structure etc, and details would be better in policy documents
which are more flexible and easier to amend. SG suggested our mission statement
be used more often in publicity, website, posters etc. Action: Committee to email SG suggestions on changes to be made. After
liasing and consulting, changes to be proposed at the AGM.
Item 5: Any Other
Business
MD noted that the
next 2 events clashed with the Jewish Passover. Apologies were offered.
MM noted there were
few Hindu events in the current programme. SG said that there will be a chance
for Hindu involvement in the Autumn event, and next year a Hindu event will be
a priority. Each year there is a focus on a different religion.
JT expressed concern
that RIFG keep its focus on friendship between faiths and not become too
involved with internal politics. Assurances were given by SG that this would
not happen. The discussion was to enable the election procedure to be reviewed
and followed.
SA reminded us that
a thank you letter also neded to go to the synagogue for hosting the last
event. Action: SA.
