Bishop of Manchester listens to local women and community concerns

Bishop of Manchester, David Walker meets local community workers

Two local Rochdale community workers met with the Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, to discuss with him the process of changing local communities in Rochdale and across the nation.

Sabina Akhtar and Shanaz Mukhtar, two Muslim women who are both engaged in community work at the heart of Rochdale, had a forty five minute audience with the Anglican Bishop in which they discussed the local projects they were involved in at their local communities.

Shanaz said: “It was really inspiring to hear about the work the Bishop was involved in around Manchester and his passion for communities really resonated with me as a Muslim.”

The pair, who are partners of the Nehemiah Foundation, also got the opportunity to discuss how transforming communities operates at a national scale, and were able to detail a little of the process and journey that they had been on to reach this point.

In meeting the Bishop, Shanaz and Sabina were able to inform him about what life was like in Rochdale, as well being able to tell him about local residents that they work with on a day-to-day basis.

The meeting came midway through Interfaith Week, a national celebration of Britain’s Interfaith Culture that is supported by the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Prime Minister and various faith organisations including the Church of England, the Muslim Council of Britain and the Network of Sikh Associations.