| Council Members |
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Stephen Greasley Chair of the Forum of Faiths for Derby.
Alan Fitch
John Guest Council representative of the Christian faith in Derby.
Council representative of the Methodist Tradition of the Christian faith in Derby.
Raj Bali Council representative of the Hindu faith in Derby. I was born in India, and spent 16 years in Kenya before moving to the Uk, with my wife, in 1974. I am a practising Hindu and the President of the Geeta Bhavan Hindu Temple, school governor at Redwood Junior School and member of the Race Equality Council. As well as being one of the Hindu representatives on the Forum of Faiths for Derby, I am the founder member and director of the Open Centre and trustee of Multi-Faith Centre.
Anna Guatama
Council representative of Islam in Derby. Since moving to the UK in 1965, I have been involved in a number of Multi-Cultural and Interfaith activities, mostly in a voluntary capacity. I taught at the Multi-Cultural Education Centre in the 1980’s and have worked in translation from English to Urdu and vice versa. As well as one of the Muslim representatives on the Forum of Faiths for Derby Council, I am the Chairman of the Education Committee of the Racial Equality Council, a member of the Social Services Committee, Ethnic Minority Forum, the Religious Resource Research Committee at the University of Derby, the Derby Muslim Forum and a founding member of the Multi-Faith Centre at the University. Council representative of the Sikh faith in Derby.
Naranjan Lalria
Jacq Dobson Council representative for the Pagan faith in Derby.
Janet Tristram
Professor Paul Weller Co-opted Member of the Forum Council. I am Professor of Inter-Religious Relations at the University of Derby. I have been working at the University and living in Derby for almost twenty years. I was centrally involved in the original vision for the development of the Multi-Faith Centre at the University of Derby, where over the years I have variously been involved as a member of its various predecessor and development committees; its Programme Committee (2002-2004) and its Executive Committee (2004-2009). I have also been an elected Trustee (2006-2009) and Vice Chair (2007-2009) of the Centre. I am editor of the Religions in the UK: Directory, 2007-2010 (University of Derby and Multi-Faith Centre, 2007), standard work of reference on religions, their organisations and places of worship in the UK. Together with Michele Wolfe, I was commissioned on the Community Development Foundation funded research and development project (2003-4) that issued in a report that led to the setting up of the Forum of Faiths for Derby. At regional level I have been Chair (2004-2007) of the Faiths Forum of the East Midlands, while at the national level, and before coming to Derby, from 1988-1989 I was employed as Resources Officer for the Inter-Faith Network for the UK. I hold a higher Doctorate of Letters (2009) from the University of Derby on the basis of my contribution to the development of inter-religious dialogue and of pluralism in the UK. I am personally from within the Baptist Christian tradition. For the past twenty years I have been a member of the Baptist Church in Derby, where for many of those years I have been an elected deacon.
Chris Wynn Co-opted Member of the Forum Council. I am a 62 yr old Chartered Civil Engineer, IT Consultant and former Company Director. My professional career has taken me to Europe, China, Africa and the Middle East. I have served eight years on Derby City Council, including three years as a Cabinet Member. I most remember my time on the Council for the Rebuilding of 9 New Schools, launching the “Connecting Derby” Project, reconstructing St Mary’s Bridge and Project Chair for the City-Wide renewal of Street Lighting now underway, I am a trustee of four local charities including the Liversage Trust and Chair of Governors at three primary schools in deprived areas of Derby. I am a Member of Derby’s Schools Forum and a number of community groups. I sit on the Darley Neighbourhood Board where I chair the Highways and Transport Group and I represent the Board at the University Parking Group, which deals with highways issues across Darley, Mackworth and Allestree Wards. My teacher wife, Lyn, and I have two grown-up children. When time permits, my favourite leisure interests are driving, hill walking and African safaris. Council 'Observer' on behalf of the Multi-Faith Centre in Derby. In 2009 I was appointed the Director of the Multi-faith Centre (MFC) at the University of Derby; a charitable company whose aim is to support and sustain mutual understanding between people of faith, and belief. The Centre works in partnership across the community and voluntary sector and with statutory bodies. It also has a remit to the staff and students at the University of Derby . It is unique in the world as a co-designed building supported by the co-operation of seven faith communities from across the City and County, and was built as a consequence of a £2m match funded project with the Millennium Commission. The Multi-Faith Centre supported the development of the Forum of Faiths for Derby and worked through Professor Weller with the Derby City Partnership in the evaluation of the need for a faiths forum in the City of Derby . The MFC supports the work of the Forum and seeks actively to act as a partner with the Forum in project work and other strategic and operational commitments.
Abigail Steanson Council ‘observer’ on behalf of Community Action Derby.
I work for the 3rd Sector Participation Project at Community Action, which aims to improve and increase 3rd Sector engagement across Derby City Partnership. Part of my role is to sit on a number of networks and forums to ensure that all are aware of developments within the City Partnership and possible areas of collaboration with other Voluntary and Community Sector groups. Observing the council meetings also allows me to feed issues from the Forum into the City Partnership and Community Action when necessary. I have worked and volunteered in the Voluntary and Community sector since I graduated from the University of Derby in 2003 and have been at Community Action since May 2009, when I returned to work after having my first child. I love being a wife and a mum, and enjoy spending my weekends with my family.
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I have been a Baptist Minister since 1988, and since 1998 have served at Pear Tree Road Baptist Church in the heart of the inner city area of Derby. Working alongside Mosques, Gurdwaras and a Hindu temple, I saw the relevance of inter-faith co-operation at an early stage of my ministry in Derby. I became the Chairman of the Forum of Faiths at its inception in 2004 and have represented the Forum on the Derby City Partnership Board. I bring a strong commitment to the cause of religious liberty and am currently exploring this theme in a history of the early English Baptists.
My background is in education(Theology/Religious Studies).
Born and educated in India, I have lived and worked in Derby for 47 years and am now retired. I currently serve on the Board of Trustees at the Open Centre and the Multi-Faith Centre, served on Derby City Council (MECAC) for around 5 years, as well as the board of Governors at Derby Moor and St. Chads for a number of years. I have been the President and General Secretary of the Guru Arjan Dev Gurdwara for the past 4 years, and have been the Sikh advisor for Derbyshire Mental Health Services NHS Trust since 2007.
A teacher and counsellor, I have been involved in the Forum of Faiths and the Multi Faith Centre since their inception. As a Baha`i, I am very accepting of all the major world faiths and I have learned to respect my local colleagues/friends from many different faith backgrounds.
I am the founder and coordinator of the Derbyshire Pagans, an informal group that was set up in 2003 for safe contact between all paths within Paganism. I am also a Prison Pagan Chaplain to six prisons, the Pagan representative for the Derby SACRE and Pagan Hospital visitor for the Derby Hospitals.
I have lived in Normanton all my life and worked with the local community, both paid and voluntary for 30 years, so multi-culturalism/inter-faith is a way of life to me! I am a very enthusiastic member of the Forum and have a real passion for faith being a positive force to draw people together to make a difference to our shared world. My day (and night!) job is developing and managing community projects for St James Centre. I also work part time for the Forum in a similar role supporting inter-faith projects. I have been a Christian for 40 years and worship at Pear tree Baptist Church (in Normanton, of course!).
