Tameside Interfaith Network

 

 

 

Launch Conference

 

 

 

Held on 7 September 2004

 

 

Report

 

 

 

Introduction

 

The idea for an InterFaith Network for Tameside has been evolving in different arenas across Tameside over the past year or so. As part of T3SC’s role in supporting and developing the local Community Empowerment Network (CEN) – Tameside Voice – our agency became involved with a small group of individuals from different faiths in Tameside who were committed to taking this work forward. From an initial meeting held in March 2004, a Steering Group was formed with the aim of working towards a launch event in September 2004. The funding for the event is from the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit’s Community Participation Programme, and it is the intention that the InterFaith Network will be part of Tameside Voice. The network has many challenges and many opportunities to take up over the next years. Some of these are strategic, and entail working at policy level; others are more related to issues of common humanity, and will require a great deal of working at grassroots level.

 

Tameside’s Community Cohesion Partnership is supportive of this initiative, and recognises its potential benefits. However, Tameside now appears to be the only District in Greater Manchester which does not have faith representation at the Local Strategic Partnership, and this will clearly be an immediate challenge for the network.

 

The success of the event speaks for itself in the Report which follows. We are fortunate to have many talented, experienced and committed individuals living and working amongst us. They will undoubtedly ensure that this is just the start of the process of faith communities coming together to learn and share, and -through joining forces – to be able to have a real impact on issues relating to the quality of life for all residents in Tameside.

 

Moira Cunningham

Chair of the Steering Group, and Director – Tameside Third Sector Coalition

 

 

Foreword

 

The contribution of faith communities to civic life has always been important, but it has now become an issue of some political significance.     In the light of international events there is a much sharper public consciousness of religion as a potential cause of division, and in Britain some racist groups now openly use inflammatory language against religious minorities as a proxy for inciting racial hatred.  There is increasing concern about community cohesion, and experience in areas such as Oldham has shown how even well-intentioned regeneration programmes can contribute to community tensions.

            Within this context there is a real need for faith communities to work together, to counter the propaganda of those who would want to see religion divide communities, and to make a positive contribution to regeneration programmes.     It was therefore timely that Tameside Third Sector Coalition was able to use Community Participation Programme funding to bring together a wide range of faith groups and their partners to set up an Interfaith Network.

            It is encouraging that over 150 people participated in this inaugural conference, and there was a positive and clear desire to work more closely together.     Tameside is rich in religious and ethnic communities, and the conference agreed that it was important for faith groups to develop a much better understanding of each other, to build trust, and to identify common areas of concern and activity.  In addition to the excellent speakers there were strong contributions in and from the working groups, which will provide an agenda for the coming months.

            There are real challenges to faith in our fragmented and often painful world.      Working together faith communities can make a real difference to regeneration programmes, community cohesion, and public life.    If the Interfaith Network is to have real value then it needs to be much more than a meeting point and a talking shop – useful as that will be in the early days.      What matters, more than anything, will be faith in action.

 

 

 

Gabrielle Cox

Conference Chair

 

Faith Groups in Tameside

Martin Miller – Church of England Manchester Diocese

Martin Miller presented the facts and figures which tell the story of Tameside and its communities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why are Faith Groups involved in Partnership? (Greg Smith, University of East London)

  • They are genuinely concerned for local communities
  • They may have valued which challenge social exclusion
  • They need funding support to survive
  • They want to be good stewards of their resources such as buildings
  • They want to promote their reputation by doing good
  • Their own members are struggling
  • They want to recruit new members

What do Faith Groups bring to Partnership working?

  • A value base provides extra motivation
  • A long term presence in all areas
  • A channel to hard to reach groups
  • A source of volunteers
  • A source of community facilities

 

 

 

Introducing Super Output Areas

The maps are based on the latest statistical geography: the Super Output Area (SOA).

 

The SOA used in the maps is the Lower Level SOA.  It is constructed from the smallest census “building block” or Output Area.   Between 4 to 6 Output Areas combine to form an area with a population of approximately 1500.

Middle and Upper Level SOAs are under development.  Since each layer of SOA will nestle within the one above, together they form a complete system for collecting and presenting social and demographic data.

 

Tameside

                                    England                     

No. Output Areas

725

175,434

No. Lower Level SOAs

141

32,482

 

 

 

 

What are the advantages of this new statistical geography?

 

-          First, national coverage enables “like with like” comparison across the whole of England.

-          Second, since SOAs are unaffected by regular boundary reviews of electoral wards, it is possible to analyse change over time.

-          Third, as you will see from the maps, SOAs have immense potential for promoting and supporting detailed analysis at neighbourhood level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greater Manchester Religious Affiliation (Comparison by borough)

 

The figures are based on the 2001 Census.

 

It is important to note that these figures give a perspective to the Faith Affiliation maps.  For example, the colour gradient for the distribution of the Buddhist community in Tameside relates to a total Buddhist population of 270.

 

Local Authority

All people (number)

% stating religion as:

 

 

Christian

Buddhist

Hindu

Jewish

Muslim

Sikh

Other Religions

No

Religion

Religion

not

stated

Bolton

261037

74.56

0.1

2

0.06

7.07

0.03

0.15

8.75

7.28

Bury

180608

73.68

0.14

0.37

4.94

3.74

0.11

0.17

10.16

6.7

Manchester

392819

62.42

0.55

0.73

0.78

9.12

0.43

0.28

15.97

9.72

Oldham

217273

72.62

0.11

0.61

0.04

11.06

0.03

0.12

8.92

6.47

Rochdale

205357

72.1

0.12

0.24

0.09

9.37

0.04

0.14

10.79

7.11

Salford

216103

76.46

0.22

0.32

2.4

1.2

0.11

0.15

11.01

8.12

Stockport

284528

75.43

0.21

0.47

0.58

1.75

0.07

0.23

14.18

7.09

Tameside

213043

75.54

0.13

1.36

0.04

2.52

0.03

0.17

12.1

8.11

Trafford

210145

75.8

0.17

0.59

1.1

3.32

0.49

0.16

11.98