written by John Guest, Chairman of Thurrock Faith Matters
We are happy to report that our Annual General Meeting took place at Gateway People’s Centre in Stanford-le-Hope on 18 June with a powerful presentation from Thurrock’s Emergency Planning Team and a vibrant and positive discussion on the future of TFM.
Russell Godward and John Guest have now swapped roles for the coming year with John taking the chair and Russell vice chair. Our existing team (Pastor Lanre Gold, Yash Gupta, Baldev Gill, Naguib Nuthoo, Alan Cotgrove and Lorraine Barfoot) are all continuing and have been joined by Hilton Ellis and Major Sharon King. We plan to meet soon!
We hope to build on our existing strong links with Thurrock Council (ably supported by Natalie Warren and her colleagues) and with Thurrock CVS through Terry Piccolo and Kristina Jackson. We are delighted to be working alongside Alan Cotgrove (Safeguarding) and Lorraine Barfoot (SEPT) as well as many faith groups throughout Thurrock. We are especially grateful to Tim Harrold of Transformation Thurrock for helping publicise our work. However…
WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP! Our main aim as the principle co-ordinator of faith activity within our borough is BUILDING BRIDGES THROUGHOUT THURROCK. Will you join with us in this endeavour? There is so much in our community that is good and yet division, misunderstanding and sectarianism still a blight our world, whether it is as obvious as Iraq and Syria or as local as hate crime and racism. ‘A world that is coming apart needs a people who are coming together’ runs the old slogan, and that is just as true in Thurrock as it is in Brixton or Bradford.
If you have any comments or suggestions as to how we can improve our communication and sharing of information, please let us know. If you would like to attend one of our meetings, let us know. We tend to meet bi-monthly for about 90 minutes. If you know of others we should be in touch with (of any faith or none) who might wish to support TFM, please let us know.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Your servant and friend,
John Guest
Chairman of Thurrock Faith Matters
