On Saturday 7 May Dr Keith Munro was invited speaker at the AGM of UNIFEM-NI in Belfast. His subject was the life and work of his great-aunt Margaret Cousins, who played a significant part in achieving women’s franchise in India between 1921-1929. The talk was well received and the ladies present were inspired by the fact that a young lady from the West of Ireland made such a mark on society in India. She was also involved in the Irish Women’s movement and had helped to found the Irish Women’s Franchise League in 1910.
A picture of the Indian Bahá'í temple was shown as well as a quote from the Peace Statement of 1985 with reference to women’s equality. Five Bahá'ís who were present are active members of the organisation. Mrs Hazel Holmlund is a member of the National Council of UNIFEM.
CKM
At the April “Deepenings in Derry” meeting Dr. Iain Palin spoke on the goal given to the UK Bahá'í community by the Universal House of Justice, namely the acquisition of a new Bahá'í Centre in Edinburgh. Using a PowerPoint presentation Iain explained the history of Scotland’s capital, and its connections with the Faith, which go back to the 19th Century. He also showed the many links between Scotland and Ireland, both Bahá'í and otherwise, before going on to emphasise the increasing role of Scotland’s capital and the importance the House of Justice has attached to this new development.
CTP
At the United Kingdom National Bahá'í Convention in Llandudno, NI’s Iain Palin (centre) stepped down from the National Spiritual Assembly after 25 years service. The Hon. Barney Leith made a presentation on behalf of the National Assembly to Iain, to mark this service, and to his wife Elizabeth in recognition of her support.
A memorial meeting was held recently for Mildred Boswell. Mildred was a member of the Castlereagh community for just a few years before she died on 14 November 2004. In that time she drew very close to all our hearts. She had the gift of making everyone feel so welcome. Mildred had an ongoing project of creating a beautiful garden around her home - it was full of flowers and every time we went, there was something different. Latterly Mildred had to give up her car and she travelled everywhere by bus and train.- she found that this gave her great opportunities to teach the Faith. In fact this was how she herself had heard of the Faith many years previously through travelling to work and meeting Stella on the train. Mildred lived for a number of years in South Africa and her experiences there helped to form her unique approach to life. We miss Mildred a lot but are happy to have had her in the community for even a short time. MK
A member of our National Spiritual Assembly is a Senior Producer at a national radio station. One of his colleagues delights in introducing him as a “Bahá'í Bishop”. When he did so recently to a visiting artist the visitor’s reply was: “Bahá'í ? Cool! That's a rock and roll religion. Buddhism with attitude.”
A new slogan?
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