Salamun Alaykum,

Hope that you are all well InshAllah.

I would like to start by wishing you and your families a Happy Eid-e-Ghadeer and Eid-e-Mubahila Mubarak. 

To all of those of were blessed to have been guests of the Almighty, I pray that your Hajj is graced with divine acceptance and that the Community can benefit from the blessings of your sacred experiences.

Please find below a short update regarding the activities of the Building Committee.

Reminder regarding the EGM this Tuesday!

Thanks to all of you who attended the Referendum on September 23rd 2012.  As many of you are aware, the members who attended unanimously agreed to postpone the Referendum and instructed the EC to look at ways to involve the Ladies in voting.

Therefore, on THIS evening Tuesday (6th November 2012), there will be an Extraordinary General Meeting at 8pm in order to pass a resolution defining who can vote in the Referendum. We are hoping that the meeting will be quite short and therefore would like to urge all members to attend.

When will the Referendum be held?

It is the committee’s hope that the referendum will be scheduled for some time in Muharram/Safar. The Community will be notified as soon as the dates are set – we sincerely hope that you as everyone will attend in numbers to cast your votes.

The presentations from the Referendum are now online!

If you were not present at the referendum or if you would simply like to review the information presented, all the presentations made by the Building Committee on the day are available here.

At the referendum there were a number good questions raised by the public.  The committee is in the process of compiling written answers to the questions and these will be shared with you in due time.  To see a list of the questions raised at the referendum please see here.

Balsall Heath Forum

1. A Neighborhood plan for the area – This is a master plan for the comprehensive redevelopment of Balsall Heath. 
2. Plans by The St Paul’s Trust to open a Studio School. A Studio School is a new type of school that mixes traditional academic studies with work-based training. The idea with such schools is to equip pupils with the skills that are required by employers so that they can find a job more easily when they leave school
3. The launch of a Community Charter for Balsall Heath (pictured) with a view to improving the area further.

At the meeting, I managed to meet with a number of prominent people in the local area. Such acquaintances will help to keep us within the loop of local developments and give the Community opportunities to work in partnership with local residents and organisations on mutually beneficial projects.

Balsall Heath is also one of the pioneering areas in the government’s plans to give more power to the grassroots to decide how their local communities should be run. It was very interesting to see that there are so many people working for the betterment of the wider community. 

Attending the meeting made me realize that there is a lot more to Balsall Heath than attending the mosque. As Muslims, I think that it is our duty to be active in wider society and this is perhaps an aspect of our responsibility that we have neglected over the years. If we don’t engage then people we will not understand others and they will not understand us. It is only through dialogue and engagement with each other that we will be able to progress towards the harmonious society that we all crave for. How Can You Help?If you have any photos, videos or stories of our community from the ‘good old days’ please do get in touch with us. Historical treasures like this really help us to remember how the community changes over the years and how we can move forward together.

If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions please feel free to get in touch with any of the following committee members:

With Salaams and Duas,