For your diaries

Just a quick post flagging up two upcoming events to put in your diaries. 

Firstly, as trailed at the Water and Sanitation gathering the other week, we are collaborating with Synergy, the young adult community at St Barnabas to hold a joint discussion looking at the pros and cons of pacifism and non-violence (especially within a faith context). The meeting will be on the 30th November (that's next Wednesday) at the Elephant Pub in Finchley from 7:30pm and will be similar to the recent informal gathering at Catcher in the Rye - an opportunity to meet other people and wrestle with a topic over a few drinks. The Facebook event is here, if you are interested and on FB.

Secondly, our main session in December will be a week earlier than usual due to Christmas, so come along on the14th December for a festive celebration of Justice Matters' first year, featuring live music from the very talented Tanya Cristina. As usual, meet from 7pm for food and networking, 7:45 for the main session. The Facebook event page is here.

Hope to see you at one of the gatherings!

November update

Last Wednesday we had our first informal gathering of Justice Matters - a discussion of the Occupy protest camp and the way St Paul's Cathedral responded to it. This was an experiment for us, an effort to build more regular get togethers into our pattern with a view to encouraging a deeper sense of community and participation among members outside the monthly formal sessions. We had a good turnout and some interesting discussion. We anticipate to book in more of these less structured get togethers over the coming months, sharing ideas and our lives over a drink or two, so get yourself along to one soon.

Next week is out main event for November, and we are very excited about it. We have not one but two guest speakers joining us for the evening to talk on the subject of water and sanitation in the developing world. Tim Pegg spent two years working with MedAir first in Afghanistan and then Madagascar, delivering water and sanitation projects to people in extreme need. He's going to tell us some stories from that experience, and then Ali from WaterAid will talk to us about how we can get involved in this important area of need.

I'm sure you'll agree that sounds pretty good, so do come along - you could even bring a friend or two. If you're on Facebook, the event page is here. As usual, join us from 7pm for food. The talks will kick off at 7:45. See you there...