Latest news stories of interest to the Norwich and Norfolk Christian community include a controversial march in the city, students helping Norwich Foodbank and a coroner’s initiative on suicide.
More than a hundred people attended a public meeting to discuss how they will protest over a planned
Norwich march by the
English Defence League. The EDL is planning to hold its first march in Norwich on
November 10, citing a decision to ban a Christian bookstall as a reason for the demonstration.
They say they want to march because Norwich City Council banned
Rev Alan Clifford, of the
Norwich Reformed Church, from using a market stall on
Hay Hill (pictured above), following a complaint about allegedly anti-Islamic leaflets. The league says that decision violated freedom of speech.
A group called
We Are Norwich – a coalition of community groups, individuals, political groups and trade unionists – plans to hold a counter protest and many attended a public meeting at the
Vauxhall Centre in Norwich to discuss how to tackle what the “unwelcome visit” of the English Defence League.
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Bosses of Christian charity Norwich Foodbank who help to feed thousands of the city’s most vulnerable people have been “blown away” by how local schoolchildren have responded to an appeal for them to donate food through harvest collections.
Among the young people who have collected tins, bags, boxes and jars of food are students at The Hewett School in Norwich who have helped to built up a mountain of donations at The Base community and family resource centre, which is next to the Cecil Road school. Karen Howes, activities co-ordinator at The Base, said: “We have been a collection point for the Norwich Foodbank for some time and we thought, come harvest time, it would be good to make contact with the school about it.
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A “ground-breaking initiative” aimed at getting Norfolk groups together to discuss how families of suicide victims can be better supported could become a regular event. Norfolk coroner William Armstrong convened a conference calling for more support for the families of suicides, after noticing an increase in the number of cases in recent months.
Supported by the coroner’s chaplain, the Rev Chris Copsey, Mr Armstrong invited medical, nursing and social work professionals, together with bereavement experts, clergy, Victim Support and leading voluntary organisations to the conference on the subject, “Responding to Suicide: Exploring the effects and supporting the survivors”.
Mr Armstrong said: “Launching an initiative of this kind is, in a way, extending the traditional role of the coroner, but I think it’s a perfectly legitimate thing to be doing. I see the coroner’s service as not just a legal process but a way of reaching out to people.”
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