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A message of togetherness and things in common overcoming differences was front and centre at an interfaith Ramadan dinner this week.
A cross-faith gathering of individuals from education, faith, businesses, charity and sport, organised by The Light Foundation charity, came together to break fast at the Quakers Meeting House on St George’s Road in Deepdale on Thursday (6 March) evening. Blog Preston was among those invited.
Speakers included Mayor of Preston Phil Crowe, police and crime commissioner Clive Grunshaw, Southport mosque Imam Ibrahim Hussein and MP for Ribble Valley Maya Ellis.
The focus throughout the speeches was on how different communities can be successfully brought together – with Preston repeatedly held up as a shining example for this.
Speaking briefly, Mayor of Preston Cllr Phil Crowe said: “It’s a fantastic city. It’s a mixed and varied population. Everywhere I go, every community event particularly, people are there to help one another.”
Clive Grunshaw, elected police and crime commissioner for the wider Lancashire area, said: “The work that has gone on through the years, with events like this and people coming together, means that the community cohesion we have in Lancashire is second to none.
“I think Preston itself is the greatest example of that. Preston is known for being a town where people do genuinely support each other. You can see standing room only here tonight, just people willing and wanting to come here.”
The conversation turned, at times, to the disorder seen in other parts of the UK last summer but not necessarily in Preston. Southport, however, did see disorder with its mosque in particular subject to attacks from rioters in the days that followed the murders of three Southport schoolgirls by 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana.
Despite the killer having no connection to Islam, misinformation abounded in the days following the murders, with posts on X claiming the suspect in custody to be an asylum seeker.
Grunshaw added: “In Lancashire, the only place you had real concerns was in Blackpool. The disturbance there was more about far-right rioters and attendees of a punk festival.
“Misinformation sent out online to try and divide communities did not succeed here.”
Imam Ibrahim Hussein, whose mosque in Southport was targeted by rioters while he and others were inside, spoke of the need for openness and togetheness.
He said: “People will always look at colours or your nationality or ethnicity or anything – they look at it and they are afraid and worried. They are afraid of what the ‘other’ person is thinking and what the ‘other’ person wants.
“People used to walk across the road from our mosque and wonder ‘what’s going on inside here?’
“Of course, nothing is going on except people getting together to worship in the way that they have been taught. If you want to know what is going on at the mosque, come and knock on our door. We will welcome you.”
After a pause to break fast at 6.02pm with a date, followed by food provided by local businesses for the event, Maya Ellis spoke to those gathered.
The MP for Ribble Valley, rather than Preston where the event was held, she spoke of wanting to see more events of this nature – and what she does when events in the world can be distressing.
She said: “Things like this are what we need to see more of in this country. I feel like we did a lot of it when I was growing up, but that there’s been less in recent years.”
“The thing that always keeps me going when I see really tricky things happening in the world is a Fred Rogers quote which is: ‘look for the helpers’
“That will show you what the world really is about. I just encourage everybody here to be one of those helpers too because that’s how we build our communities and how we can make our communities thrive.”
