Monday, 3 December 2007

Community Networking

We had a very successful networking lunch at the North Watford Mosque - or at least a very successful networking event. I will explain.

The event began at 10:45 with a tour of the Mosque hosted by the Mosque Committee. At 11:30 we began the meeting proper, and an audience of about 70 heard Qari Mohamed Salim (Watford Central Mosque), Khalil Mogul (Muslim Community Project), Riaz Hussain (Muslim Awareness Forum) and Zamir Shah (Anjuman-e-Ja’fariyya); all were excellent and received a warm reception. The speeches ended at 12:15 and we had allowed 15 minutes for questions. There were lots of questions on extremism, the role of women, youth work, mental health, education, racist attacks, further dialogue and so on. There were so many questions that I allowed another fifteen minutes. And then another fifteen minutes.

By this time it was apparent that things had gone wrong: our caterers had let us down badly. Those Muslims belonging to North Watford Mosque were leaving to attend lunchtime prayers. The event did not conclude with a relaxed sit-down meal for 75 people. I did my best to jolly things along, but there was no hiding the fact that people were hungry and disappointed and the meeting ended on a note of disappointment and confusion.

Some stayed behind for tea or coffee, and finally (45 minutes late) the food arrived with profuse apologies from our caterers. But my appetite had disappeared along with two-thirds of the participants.

Nevertheless, I think that the event was a remarkable success and will hopefully set down some markers and relationships for the future.

Lessons? This is the second networking lunch where we have got the catering wrong. We have been trying to do things cheaply using inexperienced caterers. From now on we will need to step up a gear and move the whole thing on to a more professional footing. Fortunately, our next lunch is at the YMCA who thankfully have their own on-site caterers. It’s on 21 January with the theme: “Improving Watford’s Mental Health”.

Later in the afternoon, I was stumped by the terrible news of Jim Lillington's death. He was a lovely man and a tireless activist: a real star for the voluntary sector, for Shopmobility and for the Disability Forum. Thanks Jim.