After many years of struggling for space we finally found space on the first floor of Central Methodist Church on the High Street. We moved in at the beginning of February and have worked hard to decorate, organise the storage and create an office space.
Putting together an interfaith and multicultural library was a long process from gathering donations of books to purchasing soe with funding we had from the Hibbert Trust. We had a very kind donation of books from retired priest in Yorkshire who donated over 300 books for the library. The library has books representing many faiths including Christianity, African religions, Baha’i, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism etc. There are also books from India, China and Africa and books about faith and the environment, interfaith and faith and food. In many sections there are books for children to learn about their faith and to learn about other faiths. This is a wonderful resource for the county of Greater Lincolnshire. This is a great start and we have managed two full book cases of interfaith resources and will continue to strengthen this library as it progresses and we want people to donate and come and utilise this space and there will be free tea/coffee and chat also available.
Alongside the library we have a shop selling Fairtrade products, Palestinian olive oil, soap, coffee and chocolate, we also sell greetings cards, books and faith, festival and seasonal embroidery decorations.
18th March the Interfaith Centre, Library and Shop were officially opened by the Mayor of Lincoln, Councillor Alan Briggs, he was honoured to be part of the opening and to officially cut the ribbon. Alan and his Sherif, Councillor Brian Hardijng , have been a great supporter of our work over the last 12 months. Councillor Chris Burke, patron of TCfR, cut the ribbon to officially open the TCfR office. The opening was a wonderful occasion for people to come together, network and learn about the work TCfR has done over the last six years. Also, it was great to have present our long standing supporter and the former Mayor of Lincoln Jackie Kirk.
It was wonderful to see many friends who have supported our work over the last six years attending and helping us celebrate this achievement as well as organisations we work with including, City Council, Age UK, Lincolnshire Coop, Mint Lane Café, Lincoln Interfaith, Dialogue Society, LEAN and LCVYS. It was great to have some of our hygiene volunteers attending too especially from St Giles Methodist Church and Moorland Community Centre. Board members and LFC members were also in attendance and Rev Margaret from Central Methodist Church gave a tour of the Church to those who wanted to see the Church.
