Ahead of this year’s Visit My Mosque Day, volunteers from over 250 mosques across the UK have started supporting the Great British Spring Clean campaign. Mosques from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland took part in street clean ups today.
This year’s campaign, in partnership with Keep Britain Tidy, launched today with a street clean at the London Muslim Centre that saw volunteers both young and old, Muslim and otherwise, don gloves, litter pickers and high-vis jackets.
The launch comes as Muslims around the country will be welcoming in their neighbours on Visit My Mosque day on 3 March, to learn more about each other’s lives and in particular our common values for the care of the environment and respecting mother nature.
Fahmida and Billy, volunteers participating in today’s street clean, said that they “couldn’t believe how fun and easy it was to do the street clean”. An estimated 25 million tonnes of litter is dropped annually in Britain costing the UK taxpayer over £1 billion a year.
Harun Khan, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain speaking at today’s event said, “It’s incredible to see volunteers here today, giving up their Sunday morning to make a difference to their local environment. Whatever faith or background you come from, care and cleanliness for our local environment is a unifying force that brings communities together.
He continued, “We are pleased to be supporting Keep Britain Tidy in their Great British Spring Clean campaign this spring and we hope Visit My Mosque going green will spark conversations across the country on what more faith-based and other community groups can be doing to support local environmental causes”.
Keep Britain Tidy Chief Executive Allison Ogden-Newton speaking at the event said , “Litter makes us feel bad about where we live”. She highlighted the shocking fact that “80% of litter found in the sea comes from our streets” and spoke about the importance of creating more awareness about keeping our streets clean.
Keep Britain Tidy are aiming to inspire half a million people to join forces to collect and safely dispose of litter from streets, parks and beaches, through their annual Great British Spring Clean campaign. Mosques are joining the campaign this year and are starting early by raising awareness about the environment at this year’s #VisitMyMosque day on 3rd March.
Visit My Mosque is a national initiative facilitated by the Muslim Council of Britain, the country’s largest Muslim umbrella body with over 500 affiliated national, regional and local organisations.
This year’s Visit My Mosque is supported by British Muslim-led charities Penny Appeal and Muslim Aid, as well as the grant-making charity the Aziz Foundation.
Members of the public are invited to visit their local mosque on 3rd March. Participating mosques are listed at: www.visitmymosque.org/find
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Notes to Editors:
1. #VisitMyMosque day is a national initiative where over 250 mosques across the UK are holding open days on 3 March 2019 to welcome in their neighbours of all faiths and none. Further information at www.visitmymosque.org
2. ‘Visit My Mosque’ is going green for its 5th year anniversary in 2019 by supporting the national charity #KeepBritainTidy (www.keepbritaintidy.org) for cleaner streets and local environments.
3. Visit My Mosque is facilitated by the Muslim Council of Britain, the country’s largest and most-diverse Muslim umbrella body with over 500 affiliated mosques, educational and charitable associations.
4. This year’s initiative is supported by British Muslim-led charities Penny Appeal and Muslim Aid, as well as the grant-making charity the Aziz Foundation.
5. Visit My Mosque started with about 20 participating mosques in 2015 and has grown to over 250 mosques in 2019.
6. The participating mosques represent the diversity in Islamic traditions, with mosques from a wide variety of Islamic schools of thought and traditions taking part, including some of the country’s largest mosques seasoned in doing outreach activities, as well as smaller mosques holding open days for the first time.
7. For further information please contact:
Tel: 0845 26 26 786 or email [email protected]
The Muslim Council of Britain is the UK’s largest Muslim umbrella body with over
500 affiliated national, regional and local organisations, mosques,
charities and schools.
For further information please contact:
The Muslim Council of Britain
PO Box 57330
London
E1 2WJ
Tel: 0845 26 26 786
Fax: 0207 247 7079
[email protected]