Manchester interfaith initiative scoops top award

Greater Manchester’s successful Muslim Jewish Forum has scooped a prestigious national award.

The interfaith initiative, which last year celebrated its 10th anniversary, won the Community Organisation of the Year at the Fusion Awards – which celebrate multicultural collaboration – in Blackburn last night.

The Forum was founded by Holocaust survivor Henry Guterman MBE and Labour MEP Afzal Khan, and seeks to promote cultural ties between Manchester’s Jewish community – the second biggest in the UK – and its diverse Muslim population.

Its co-chairs Councillor Helen Fletcher and Mohammed Amin accepted the award – which was dedicated to the memory of the late Mr Guterman – on the Forum’s behalf.

Praising the group’s extensive achievements, Amin said: “In almost eleven years, the Forum has built many bridges between Manchester’s Muslim and Jewish communities.

“In 2015 we led the UK by initiating a petition to Parliament to preserve kosher and halal slaughter which received over 100,000 signatures in only nine days. The award is wonderful recognition of our service to the community.”

Fletcher, a Salford City Councillor, added: “The past eleven years have not been easy but we shall continue steering our organisation forwards so Muslim and Jewish friendships can become normalities and not exceptions.”