Hallam City Learning - The Grand Opening

On Thursday 5th February, invited guests gathered to celebrate the Official Opening of our new CLC building.

Attendees included faith leaders, Notre Dame Governors, colleagues from our CLC Partnership schools, representatives from the LEA and the other CLCs, our Sponsors, the architects and others involved in the design and creation of the building and Sixth Form students who looked after everyone so well.

After a welcome from Mr Conway, as the Chair of the Hallam CLC Partnership Board, Bishop John stepped forward to officially open our Centre.

His words of reconciliation and vision of world peace set the scene for the day, and he pulled back a curtain to reveal the stunning art work created by Mrs Sykes, which now welcomes visitors as they enter the foyer.

Original design of 'Welcome' art work - designed by Mrs G Sykes

As you can see in the original design, the theme includes symbolism from the popular world religions, and reflects our idea of creating a learning environment for people of all faith backgrounds and cultures to make use of.

The Blessing of the Centre by the Faith Leaders
Mr Conway then invited each of the faith leaders to say a few words and bestow a blessing on the Centre. We are indebted to the following;

The Baha’i Blessing - Mrs Croft

The Hindu Blessing - Dr Chatterjee

The Jewish Blessing - Rabbi Golomb

The Muslim Blessing - Mr Desai

The Sikh Blessing - Mr Dhillon

The Christian Blessing led by The Right Reverend John Rawsthorne, Bishop of Hallam along with The Very Reverend Bradley, Dean of Sheffield Cathedral Majors Melvin & Suzanne Fincham, representing the Salvation Army Rev. Guicharra, representing the Methodist community Mr Haywood representing the Church of England community Rev. Donald Stoker representing the Hallam Diocese on Inter-faith issues

Faith leaders gather in celebration with Mr Conway at the official opening

Everyone agreed that it was a wonderful and uplifting experience to be part of a celebration involving so many from different faith backgrounds.

With the formalities over, the celebration continued as the group joined together to enjoy the superb vegetarian buffet, kindly created by Mrs Stokes and her team. People were also given the opportunity to look around the Centre and look at the kind of activities that are taking place there.

Our thanks to Mr Dicken , Mr Harker and Mr Plant for setting up the Video Conferencing demonstration, and to Ms Nicholls and the students who ‘worked out’ continuously in the Fitness Suite!

Our gratitude also goes to Amanda Wray and Corralie Turpin, the artists commissioned to work with Y8 students and create a public piece of art in the Faith Garden, who were on hand to discuss their ideas.

Finally, many thanks to Mrs Willis for organising this very special event.

Mr Conway shows Bishop John how to use
the fitness equipment under the watchful eye
of our education supporters, Hans Hux (BBraun)
& Dame Mary Richardson (HSBC)

Rabbi Golomb blesses the Centre
on behalf of the Jewish community

Sixth Form students were involved in the ceramics project.
Their work is on display in the CLC foyer, and combines themes from different cultures & countries, including Ireland, Great Britain, Nigeria, India, China, Romania and the West Indies.

Dr Chaterjee bestows a blessing on behalf of the Hindu Community