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Dear <<First Name>>,
A warm welcome to our latest newsletter in which you will find information about the Oldham Pledge to Peace Forum, the Peace Education Programme in the UK, a local TPRF fundraiser, and updates about the activities of Peace Partners. If you received the Waves of Change Forum attendees updates you will notice some repeat information - we wanted to share the success of the event with as wide an audience as possible!
As always we thank you for your continuing generosity, interest and support, and hope you enjoy reading our latest news.
The Peace Partners team
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Oldham Pledge to Peace Forum
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Peace Partners have recently interviewed Richard Outram of the Oldham Pledge to Peace Forum and Maria Ellis of Peace Talks Oldham, the first UK signatory of the Pledge to Peace. These short clip format video recordings are an ideal starting point for any group that wishes to join the Pledge and can be viewed on the Peace Partners website Pledge to Peace page:
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In this first clip Richard describes what is involved in applying to become a signatory:
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The Oldham Pledge to Peace Forum have a very informative newsletter called 'Oldham Peace Times' which can be subscribed to by emailing richardoutram35@gmail.com
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Peace Education Programme update
a report from Mary Dalgleish, volunteer facilitator and UK volunteer support
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A Peace Education Programme for veterans was launched on Friday August 26th, 2016 in Crook, Co. Durham, with a special introductory event organised by Save Our Soldier and Changing Step Northeast, working in collaboration with volunteers from the Prem Rawat Foundation. Guests included veterans, emergency services personnel, representatives from the police force and other UK veteran's organisations. Lee Hayward, founder of Save our Soldier said: "We intend this to be the first of many such programmes across the country. For those in or out of the armed or emergency services, finding stillness after deployment or time spent in conflict through self mentoring is what we are bringing." The first 10 week programme starts in October. Contact Lee at saveoursoldier.co.uk for more details.
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Lee Hayward and PEP volunteers photo by Phil Lewis
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The Peace Education Programme has been running at Thameside prison in London since May 2015, and is still going strong thanks to the efforts of a dedicated team of volunteers who facilitate two sessions there every week.The benefits of Peace Education in correctional facilities has been recognised by Catch 22 ,an organisation that works with young people and adults in custody and in the community, providing a range of services including offender management and resettlement, IPP mentoring, veterans in custody, victim services, gangs work and youth justice. Catch 22 are now working with volunteers from the Prem Rawat Foundation to implement the PEP in several UK prisons. Watch this space for further updates.
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Local fundraiser for The Prem Rawat Foundation in Reigate
with special guest Charan Anand
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The late afternoon event and meal with Charan Anand in Reigate on Sunday 14th August, organised by local friends and supporters of TPRF, makes good use of Peace Partners payments facilities.
About 70 attended the Friends Meeting House event. Music was provided courtesy of Tim Hain and Martin Bentley, and there was a fascinating and magical DVD about Prem Rawat's recent visit to one of the most beautiful gardens in Kyoto. Very special guest Charan Anand spoke about a lifetime of sharing a message of peace, and about his more recent work in organising golf fundraisers for TPRF. The day really was as MC Sherry put it 'about expressions of what is beautiful'.
Afterwards it was a short journey to the Mela restaurant for a very enjoyable Indian buffet meal. As things drew to a close Barbara, our event organiser, rose to say a few words about Charan Anand's influence in her life, words that were surely appreciated by many of those present. A card signed by attendees and a personal gift were presented thanking him for 50 years of inspiration throughout the world and especially, year in year out, here in the UK. Charan Anand was clearly moved by these tokens of our feelings, and spoke again to say how personally inspired he was by everyone's efforts!
Johanna, sponsorship liaison for the day, then announced the fundraising results. Everyone was bowled over - £1760 had been raised, which with additional amounts accruing from gift aid claims could increase to over £2130. A conscious choice was made to use Peace Partners donation methods, including gift aid processing, to maximise both ease of payments and the amount raised. A fantastic result for a fabulous cause!
One of the local team, Graham, remarked "I felt all aspects of the event went well. It was a delight to hear stories and expressions from Charan Anand ... I thoroughly enjoyed the event and meal, and welcomed helping out. It seemed a great success and an incredible contribution will be going to TPRF ... I hope something similar can happen again."
Charan Anand, a lifelong advocate for peace, first visited the UK back in 1969. View an extract from his 'Soul Biographies' interview here.
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Peace Partners news and updates
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Movie and Dinner autumn fundraising events
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Gala Benefit fundraiser London November 2015
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Following our successful Gala Benefit event in London last year we have further events planned for the Autumn.
An event in London which will feature a screening of the Inside Peace movie with a reception afterwards. The film was screened in London earlier in the summer at an event hosted by the Tutu foundation and TPRF.
And we would like to engage with supporters in various parts of the country in holding regional events of a similar kind. The financial objectives of these events will be the support of one or more TPRF projects.
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Partnerships
Peace Partners has as a principal objective the establishment of creative and effective relationships with other organisations with similar goals and aspirations. In the course of our two main events over the past year we have established partnerships with some innovative and groundbreaking teams. Here are some of the interesting groups we have partnered with and are looking to extend our engagement with, with links to more information about them:
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Recently we have been exploring the possibility of collaborations with voluntary groups working in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) who may have an interest in the pioneering work of the Peace Education Programme (PEP). You may already be aware that PEP was the subject of the 'Inside Peace' forum jointly convened this summer at the BFI, London by TPRF and the Tutu Foundation UK.
Clinks is a charity that facilitates non profit groups working within CJS who wish to make a difference to the quality of rehabilitation services provided in the UK. Although it is early days we feel this could be a very exciting development. To learn more about Clinks, click on the logo below.
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International Peace Day 2016
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Celebrating International Peace Day on 21st September this year?! ...
Why not let us know what you are planning and we can help to promote your activity through the Peace Partners website, our Facebook page and other social media.
Tell us what you did to promote Peace Day on 21st September and we will celebrate what took place … feel free to send us a blog, photos and details of how your event turned out.
You could actively support Peace Day by sending a link to your family, friends and colleagues to watch the annual Peacecast broadcast available worldwide for 48 hours on 21st September. Check it out at:
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For more suggestions to celebrate International Peace Day visit:
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A number of volunteering opportunities will become available in the near future. If you are interested please check regularly on our volunteering web page which will have full details about the available roles and how to apply:
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The Crystal Exhibition Centre Arriving by cable car
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Our peace and sustainability forum 'Waves of Change' was held in the summer at the Crystal Exhibition Centre in the Royal Victoria Docks in London. If you attended it you will already have received two e-bulletins outlining some of its positive outcomes.
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The Panel - morning session
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Here is a brief summary of some of the presentations and participatory sessions that took place:
- Introductions - Paul Vincent Cable
- Opening Keynote address by Leon Stuparich, documentary film maker
- presentation by Ayrton Cable on his work
- presentation by Richard Outram of the Oldham Peace Pledge Forum
- morning workshops on supporting the International Day of Peace on September 21st and on the Water Explorer/Roamer Robot projects
- afternoon workshops on the Peace Education Programme and Sustainable Energy
- signing of the 'Pledge to Peace' by Peace Partners trustees
- Closing keynote address by Ron Geaves, visiting professor at the University of Cardiff
- Thank You - Paul Vincent Cable
There was also plenty of opportunity for networking during breaks and at lunch.
Videos shown included Prem Rawat's address at the BFI, and one from web based broadcaster PeaceCast.tv We were fortunate that the opening and closing sessions were filmed; here are links to video extracts of some of the highlights of the day:
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Leon's Dalai Lama documentary clip PeaceCast.tv film
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A few of the overwhelmingly positive comments by Forum participants:
"Wonderful day, lots of interesting information"
“I’m so glad I came here today as it was by chance.”
"I found it most beneficial participating in the workshops with other attendees who shared their wealth of ideas ... The venue for the number of attendees was comfortable, the surrounding area calm, refreshment & lunch was excellent, all helped to make the day an effective way to absorb the information presented. I certainly benefited and am still enthusing about the day plus its content to others"
"Lovely venue"
"Great time, wonderful event"
"A very inspiring day meeting with people who are passionate about the interdependencies of peace and sustainability"
"Amazing time, thank you!"
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The successful launch of Peace Partners in the past year has led to an increasing volume of items and pages on our website and an appreciation of the need for a significant redesign.
Our webmaster, Phil Lewis, comments on the ongoing revamp "the thinking behind the current set of updates is to refocus the website to better align with Peace Partners aims and actions, to streamline its appearance by rationalising the menu system, tidying up the Home page and making it easier to navigate on both desktop devices and mobile platforms"
To view the new look of the website click here:
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please feel free to share this newsletter
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