BGKT 2020 News

Updated 24 March 2023

BGKT 2020 NEWS

November 2020

INTERFAITH WEEK 8 – 15 November 2020

BGKT participated in Inter Faith Week
https://www.interfaithweek.org/

The Inter Faith Network of the UK acknowledged Kendal as the smallest town to hold an 8 day Inter Faith Week programme in the 8 day Inter Faith Week in 2020.

The IFN Interfaith Network for the UK included Kendal

IFN Inter Faith Network for the UK posted Kendal on the Inter Faith Week Facebook, and Website.

Inter Faith Week Website

Kendal is included every year in Events by Town
https://www.interfaithweek.org/events/by-town

https://www.interfaithweek.org/events/buddhist-group-of-kendal-theravada-open-meeting-participate-from-home-3616

2019/2021 A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF THE INTER FAITH NETWORK FOR THE UK THROUGH A TIME OF COVID. Kendal is included on page 49.
https://www.interfaith.org.uk/resources/annual-reviews
https://www.interfaith.org.uk/uploads/IFN_Review_2019_21.pdf

IFN Interfaith Network for the UK IFN e-bulletin (December 2020) page 8.

https://www.interfaith.org.uk/uploads/The_Inter_Faith_Network_for_the_UK_E-bulletin_December_2020.pdf

Inter Faith Week 2020: Connection, learning and cooperation at the time of COVID, The Inter Faith Network for the UK, 2021 (ISBN: 1 902906 93 4). Kendal included on pages 31, 32, 40, 42 and 65.

https://interfaithweek.org/uploads/Inter_Faith_Week_2020_FINAL_C.pdf

https://www.interfaithweek.org/resources/reports

17.5.21 Short Report on Inter Faith Week 2020

https://www.interfaithweek.org/resources/short-report-on-inter-faith-week-2020

2.11.21 A taster of activities being held for Inter Faith Week 2020 8-15 November

https://www.interfaithweek.org/news/a-taster-of-activities-being-held-for-inter-faith-week-2020-8-15-november

7.10.20 Fire and Rescue Services

https://www.interfaithweek.org/resources/fire-and-rescue-services-2020

Inter Faith Week Facebook

22.11.20 Kendal 8 Day Week Photo of Kendal Mayor Councillor Alvin Finch
Inter Faith Week 2020 Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/ifweek/photos/a.769764093050308/4214559595237390/

12.11.20 Kendal 8 Day Week
Inter Faith Week Facebook Page shared The High Sheriff of Cumbria’s Facebook Page about her Inter Faith Week event with SLEDP South Lakeland Equality and Diversity Partnership and SLIF South Lakeland Interfaith Forum.
https://www.facebook.com/hscumbria2020/posts/188553439464715

12.11.20 BGKT, SLEDP and Emergency Services
BGKT, SLEDP and CFRS Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service
Inter Faith Week 2020 Facebook Page
Image from 2019 pre-Covid Week
https://www.facebook.com/ifweek/photos/a.769764093050308/4184245678268782/

High Sheriff of Cumbria

High Sheriff of Cumbria News & Events 2020/2021

Inter Faith Week 11 November 2020

Weblinkhttps://www.highsheriffofcumbria.co.uk/news-events-2020-2021/

https://www.highsheriffofcumbria.co.uk/news-events-2020-2021/

High Sheriff of Cumbria Facebook Page 12.11.20

The High Sheriff of Cumbria’s Facebook Page, included an Inter Faith Week event with her, SLEDP South Lakeland Equality and Diversity Partnership and SLIF South Lakeland Interfaith Forum. This was shared on the Inter Faith Week Facebook page on 12.11.20.

https://www.facebook.com/hscumbria2020/posts/188553439464715

November 2020

“The Buddha Jayanthi of 1956”, Jacquetta Gomes Bodhicarini Upasika Jayasili Buddhist Group of Kendal (Theravada), The Middle Way: Journal of The Buddhist Society [London], 95(3), (Autumn 2020), pages 198-202.

(The Buddhist Society [London] (founded in 1924) started The Middle Way: Journal of The Buddhist Society [London] in 1926.) (ISSN 0026-3214)

https://www.thebuddhistsociety.org/page/the-middle-way-2

November 2020

Jacquetta Gomes (BGKT Secretary) was honoured and delighted to be included by The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab at Brandeis University USA in their This is What a Chaplain Looks Like Project

https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/projects/jacquetta-gomes

https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/this-chaplain

October 2020

Jacquetta Gomes (BGKT Secretary) was honoured and delighted to be included by Loughborough University Alumni on 23 October in

Supporting the #LboroFamily

https://www.lboro.ac.uk/alumni/supporting-the-lborofamily/

Alumna supports Kendal and Cumbria during Coronavirus pandemic: Jacquetta, from Kendal in the Lake District, is secretary of the local Buddhist Group of Kendal (Theravada). (23 October 2020)

https://www.lboro.ac.uk/alumni/news/2020/alumna-supports-kendal-and-cumbria-during-covid-19.html

October 2020

Jacquetta Gomes (BGKT Secretary) was honoured and delighted to be included by the WCF World Congress of Faith in their blog on 20 October.

http://www.worldfaiths.org/from-the-westmorland-gazette/

October 2020

Faith Action is a national organisation which is represented on the government’s Places of Worship Task Force. It advises the government about issues including closure of places of worship.

https://www.faithaction.net/news/2020/05/19/release-faithaction-asked-to-join-places-of-worship-taskforce/

In October 2020 Faith Action donated a mug to BGKT Secretary Jacquetta Gomes to thank her for her contributions and participation. The mug states “In the morning coffee is too important to skip. In life faith is too important to ignore.”

“One of our Coffee House regulars and panellist Jacquetta Gomes of Buddhist Group of Kendal with her Faith Action mug…”

https://twitter.com/FaithActionnet/status/1315969098556334080

https://twitter.com/hashtag/faithactionmug?src=hash

September 2020

BGKT Secretary Jacquetta Gomes was invited to be a speaker in Faith Action’s Coffee House Wednesday 30 September. Faith Action Coffee House: Meeting outdoors and in community centres. Faith Action is a national organisation which is represented on the government’s Places of Worship Task Force.

2020 29 September “Interested in finding out about worship taking place in less traditional spaces? Jacquetta Gomes of Theravada Buddhist Group of Kendal, one of three great panelists, will be at our Coffee House tomorrow, 11am – come along & join the discussion!”

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/faithaction-coffee-house-meeting-outdoors-and-in-community-centres-registration-122087375627#

https://twitter.com/FaithActionnet/status/1310885057717047296

https://www.faithaction.net/news/2020/05/19/release-faithaction-asked-to-join-places-of-worship-taskforce/

https://www.facebook.com/FaithAction/videos/2757114464526559

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1310885057717047296

https://twitter.com/FaithActionnet/status/1310885057717047296

https://www.faithaction.net/

https://www.facebook.com/FaithAction/

September 2020

The Hold Still community project was launched in May 2020, by The Duchess of Cambridge in partnership with The National Portrait Gallery, to create a unique collective portrait of the UK during the pandemic.

https://www.npg.org.uk/hold-still/

BGKT Sangha Authorized Dhamma Teacher Titus Gomes was delighted and honoured to receive a letter from HM The Queen sent to everyone who participated in The National Portrait Gallery’s Hold Still Community project of Portraits, on 23 September. The letter from HM The Queen can be viewed at

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/holdstill2020/

August 2020

Sakyadhita UK [International Association of Buddhist Women UK Branch] was relaunched in July 2020. BGKT Secretary Jacquetta Gomes joined the Sakyadhita UK development group in August. She attended the second meeting of the development group on 22 August 2020. Jacquetta assisted Wendy Barzetovic to develop Sakyadhita UK in the 1980s. She gave an Introduction to Sakyadhita talk at the Sakyadhita UK meeting at Conway Hall, London, on 9 September 1989. She also gave a talk, and led Metta [Loving Kindness] meditation at the Sakyadhita UK meeting at Fellside Centre Kendal on 18 July 2009.

https://sakyadhita.org/local/branches/uk.html

July 2020

“First Female Buddhist Fire Chaplain in the World” by Emily DeMaioNewton (Tricycle‘s associate editor) and Karen Jensen (Tricycle‘s web editor), Tricycle Buddha Buzz Weekly: Tricycle looks back at the events of this week in the Buddhist world, (04 July 2020).

https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/uighur-genocide/

July 2020

BGKT Secretary Jacquetta Gomes was a panellist in the Faith Action’s Best Practice in the Buddhist Community Session on 10 July. Faith Action is a national organisation which is represented on the government’s Places of Worship Task Force.

https://www.faithaction.net/

https://www.faithaction.net/news/2020/05/19/release-faithaction-asked-to-join-places-of-worship-taskforce/

https://www.faithaction.net/campaigns/faith-covid-response/good-practice/

https://www.facebook.com/FaithAction/videos/743568043138069/

https://www.facebook.com/FaithAction/photos/pcb.3559227060806576/3559226900806592/

https://www.facebook.com/FaithAction/photos/a.991049197624388/3558213910907891/

https://www.facebook.com/FaithAction/

https://twitter.com/FaithActionnet/status/1281574289163145217

https://twitter.com/FaithActionnet/status/1281608632728203264/photo/1

July 2020

Tulsa Yoga Meditation Center Blog 7/4/2020 included BGKT Secretary Jacquetta Gomes.

FIRST FEMALE BUDDHIST FIRE CHAPLAIN . . . IN THE WORLD!

https://www.tulsayogameditationcenter.com/blog/first-female-buddhist-fire-chaplain-in-the-world

July 2020

In July 2020 Jacquetta Gomes (BGKT Secretary) was honoured and delighted to be included in a list of Famous Western Buddhists by the CBE Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia.

http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php?title=Jacquetta_Gomes

http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php?title=Category:Famous_Western_Buddhists

June 2020

Quang Duc Monastery Fawkner (near Melbourne) Victoria Australia added to its website

https://quangduc.com/p52204/homepage

2020 22 June Buddhism:  (Lectures and Essays on Buddhism) by Venerable Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thero, Published by Samayawardena Colombo Sri Lanka. (1993) (ISBN 955-570-038-9).

https://quangduc.com/p52208a68742/buddhism-lectures-and-essays

2020 22 June Chapter 7 Family Life:  (A talk given at Chiswick Vihara at an English Buddhist girl’s wedding)

https://quangduc.com/p52208a68822/family-life

June 2020

BGKT Buddhist Group of Kendal (Theravada) was included in the booklet by Cumbria Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE), Visits and Visitors for Religious Education, published by Cumbria County Council (June 2020)

https://www.cumbria.gov.uk/elibrary/Content/Internet/537/6381/6528/6529/4407713399.pdf?timestamp=440799144

June 2020

Faith Action is a national organisation which is represented on the government’s Places of Worship Task Force. In June 2020 Faith Action invited Jacquetta Gomes (BGKT Secretary) to join their Buddhist and Women’s Interfaith Focus Groups during Covid-19. The main points raised in these meetings are sent to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to be fed into the government’s Places of Worship Task Force.

https://www.faithaction.net/

https://www.faithaction.net/news/2020/05/19/release-faithaction-asked-to-join-places-of-worship-taskforce/

June 2020

The WCF World Congress of Faiths (of which Jacquetta Gomes (BGKT Secretary) is a member) recorded her inclusion in Pioneering Women of Sussex, on the WCF Facebook page and Twitter on 13 June 2020.

WCF Facebook 13 June 2020

https://www.facebook.com/worldfaiths/posts/1086307351753451?__tn__=-R

WCF Twitter 13 June 2020

https://twitter.com/WoCoFaiths/status/1271710451366330368

June 2020

On 12 June 2020 Jacquetta Gomes (BGKT Secretary and Fire Chaplain) was honoured and delighted to be included in a list of 100 Pioneering Women alongside Jane Austen, Margaret Bondfield (first female Cabinet Minister), Millicent Fawcett and Dame Vera Lynn. The list includes both contemporary and historical women who have been researched and written about by many authors.

Brighton Museums

2020 12 June 100 Pioneering Women includes BGKT Secretary and Fire Chaplain Jacquetta Gomes.

https://brightonmuseums.org.uk/ (search for Jacquetta Gomes)

https://brightonmuseums.org.uk/discovery/history-stories/jacquetta-gomes-a-worlds-first/

May 2020

BGKT’s Vesak Celebration took place in homes on May 7 2020. (Covid-19 lockdown)

March 2020

Jacquetta Gomes (BGKT Secretary) was honoured and delighted to be included in Q Eye, “Trail-blazing women from Jacquetta Gomes from Kendal” The Friend [Quaker Magazine], (13 March 2020), page 16. ISSN 0016-1268.

https://thefriend.org/article/eye-13-march-2020

March 2020

Jacquetta Gomes (BGKT Secretary) attended SLDC South Lakeland District Council’s SLDC Local Plan Review meeting in Kendal on 6 March.

SLDC Local Plan review – External stakeholder launch workshop, 6th March 2020

https://www.southlakeland.gov.uk/media/7156/local-plan-review-launch-event-report-final.pdf

February 2020

On 15 February 2020 Jacquetta Gomes (BGKT Secretary) was interviewed at the Brewery Arts Centre Kendal, about Buddhism in Cumbria as part of The Street Project.

“STREET is one of 40 new projects taking place in and around 40 arts centres as part of Here and Now, a national and local celebration of culture within communities. Supported by Arts Council England and Future Arts Centres, marking the National Lottery’s 25th birthday. Street is a collection of real stories from the people of Cumbria, retold in a walk-through multi-media installation.”

https://www.breweryarts.co.uk/article/street/

February 2020

World Interfaith Harmony Week 1 – 7 February in Kendal

https://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/

World Interfaith Harmony Week Website

Event: https://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/pec-events/event-in-the-mayors-parlour-kendal-town-hall-uk/

Report: https://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/view-reports/?report=46064

February 2020

BGKT attended the monthly meditation retreat at Ketumati Buddhist Vihara Manchester, led By Venerable Pidiville Piyatissa Abbot of Ketumati, on Saturday 1 February. Bodhicarini Upasika Jayasili Jacquetta Gomes (BGKT Secretary) led the Metta Meditation (meditation on loving kindness). http://www.ketumati.org/

Theravada