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After three and a half years of producing Coast to Coast, the newsletter for the North of England and Scottish Borders, Dawn Pettinger has very reluctantly and regretfully decided to call it a day due to ill health.
What started as a small diary of events to sixteen people turned into the mammoth task of a 4-5 page newsletter sent to 110 friends all over the North of England and to pioneers abroad.
Dawn writes: "I have had some of the most wonderful moments when the isolated friends dropped me a line to let me know how they and their friends and families were going on, and the prayers and support I have had during bouts of illness have been wonderful. I have never felt alone".
Coast to Coast will be missed by its readers who are undoubtedly grateful to Dawn for her years of committed service and to her husband Paul for all his support. Be happy and take a well-earned rest, Dawn.
Started in January 1998 the Prayer Link is nearly one year old. It has been much used over the year by many people - Baha'is and non-Baha'is. At the moment there are sixteen members arranged in an imaginary circle all around the British Isles from London, the West Country, Wales, Northern Ireland, Northern England and Scotland, for any prayer request. To enable prayers to be said sometimes for Baha'i communities, all those serving on the Prayer Link are Baha'is themselves. The membership is re-arranged every three months to allow some to have a rest and for others to join in.
Thanks to the Journal, we have received phone calls for prayer from Malta, Holland, Poland, as well as from the little Scottish Island of Raasay. We would like to express our love and gratitude to all those who have been part of the Prayer Link during the past year.
If you would like more information please telephone Chris or Juliet Grainger, Tel: 01225 863859.
The Baha'i friends in Scarborough presented a copy of "Olya's Story" to the local library and then went to the press with the news of events in Iran. A few days later an article was printed, not only mentioning this book, but also giving a detailed account of the persecution of Baha'is in Iran.
As the editors of local newspapers are always keen to have a local link in the stories they print, this might be an approach which other communities would like to try in their endeavour to publicise the fearful situation of our fellow Baha'is in Iran.
Following a letter from the Universal House of Justice, the National Spiritual Assembly sent this message to the Spiritual Assembly of Aberdeen:
The House of Justice was pleased to learn of the success of this gathering, and have requested that we kindly convey to the participants the assurance of its prayers in the Holy Shrines for the confirmation of their devoted efforts to advance the process of entry by troops in Scotland .
The Unit Convention for the Orkney and Shetland Islands was something quite special this year. The island communities have always found it difficult to participate in this event in the way mainland believers can. It is a wonderful opportunity on the mainland for communities to actually get together, for individuals to get to know each other and for bonds to form between both the individuals and the communities.
This has never been possible for the island believers. The communities have never been able to get away from the islands en masse. For years the Orkney believers had to go to Inverness - a journey involving a 2 hour boat trip, on a good day, and a further 3 hours by road. A trip which certainly couldn't be done in one day, and a trip which incurs a fair expense. The Shetland believers, who live as close to Norway as they do to the British mainland had to travel to Aberdeen if they wanted to attend Unit Convention - a 14-hour boat trip, one way!
Things have improved in recent years. Both communities have about twenty believers each and now form a Unit between them. The two island groups take it in turn to host Unit Convention. However, there has still never been more than a couple of believers from the one island group who could attend the Unit Convention in the other as the distance involved between the two island groups is still so considerable that an 8 hour boat trip has to be endured or a costly flight needs to be paid for.
This year no one was able to travel from one island to the other, yet we all had the opportunity to see and to speak to each other. Each island community gathered in the local Further Education College to make use of the video-conference equipment. It was wonderful! Each community had 2 large screens: one on which the other community could be viewed and the other to see what view the other community had of it. We were even able to zoom in on individuals, a facility which the Orkney community made particular use of, to see the newest additions ( in the form of a toddler and a baby) to the Shetland Community clearly.
We felt this was a very exciting development in communication between the two communities. Everyone in the Unit could come together to consult for less than the cost of sending just one representative from one island to the other. It is definitely a facility we will make use of again.
Rosemary McLaughlin
On the 2nd October, the Omagh Baha'i Community held a well attended programme, An Evening of Remembrance , for those affected by the dreadful event of 15th August - for the deceased, the injured, the bereaved and for the wider community.
After 30 years of violence, it seemed that some sort of "peace" was on the horizon. Omagh hasn't suffered the strife and communal problems of other towns and cities. What happened has had a shattering effect on the town and its citizens. Members of the Baha'i community knew a number of those killed and injured and it is doubtful if anyone here has been unaffected.
The Evening took the form of Baha'i readings with prayers in English, Irish, Arabic and Spanish. Music was performed by part of the "Derg Valley Cross-Community Choir" and by three members of "Village Earth", a singing group from Limerick. Songs included "Tears in heaven", "Amazing Grace", and a song specially written to mark 15th August. Each family attending was presented with a copy of the book "Hope", containing extracts from the writings of Abdu'l-Baha. One of the local papers reported the event.
Malcolm Lake
Hope
Without death how is there life?
Without pain how is there relief?
Without tears how is there happiness?
Without hate how is there love?
Without a beginning there cannot be an end.
You must die to be reborn.
You must see beyond the veil of hate, pain and anguish,
for beyond this veil is a new world of happiness, love and hope. Do not
forget,
but do not dwell.
It may seem like the end, but memories never die.
Hold on to hope because as darkness falls
there is always the certainty that the sun will rise again.
Karen Jamshidi, aged 16 from Omagh wrote this poem following the tragic event of the bombing on 15th August. It was printed in the local newspaper.
Congratulations to Edwin Graham of County Armagh who rates an entry in the latest edition of "Who's Who in Northern Ireland". The Faith is mentioned through reference to his membership of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Craigavon. Edwin is active in community work in Northern Ireland, was chairman of the Peace People for a time, worked for various worthy organisations in community relations and is now director of the Lurgan Council for Voluntary Action.
In the UK there may be around half a million members of the Sikh community. However, as yet no publications in this country have been produced to appeal to this group, even though so much of their belief leads naturally to the Baha'i viewpoint.
Warwick Bookshop has produced a leaflet entitled, "Sikhism and the Baha'i Faith", which is designed for Baha'is to give to Sikhs. Many of the similarities between the two sets of belief are not spelled out in the leaflet, but the Sikh reader will recognise them anyway.
To order copies of Warwick leaflets contact: 6, Welsh Road West, Southam, Warwickshire, CV33 0JN. Tel: 01926 817291, e-mail: vickers@netcomuk.co.uk
Four members of the Londonderry community (Ina Cantrell, Cait Cantrell, Elizabeth and Iain Palin) represented it at a one-day Earth Rights conference in the city on Saturday 28th November.
The conference was organised as part of the Local Agenda 21 process by the Foyle Basin Council, a recently-established active regional environment and development body.
The Baha'is had a stall displaying appropriate material, a good amount of which was taken. They participated in the workshops and in both a workshop, and a plenary session tribute was paid to their active role in Agenda 21. Some useful contacts were made on both sides of the Irish border.
