Faith > Welcome > The North West Multi Faith Tourism Association

The North West Multi Faith Tourism Association

Charity number: 1090742

The Northwest Multi-Faith Tourism Association works with those responsible for Sacred Sites - Cathedrals, Churches, Synagogues, Mosques, Temples and Gurdwaras - throughout the Northwest region.

The purpose of the Association is to: 1. Encourage sacred sites or faith centres to be OPEN
2. Make helpful links between the tourist boards and those who work at these attractions
3. Enrich the visitors' experience and help these attractions to offer the best possible welcome, and
4. Encourage and facilitate the use of these sites for education, understanding of heritage, multi-faith discovery and to make a contribution to community cohesion.

The Association is governed by five Trustees:
Monseigneur John Devine (Chairman)
Mr Peter Rossiter
The Revd Daniel Burton
Mr Rod Ashby
One vacancy.

The Trustees delegate the day to day running of the Association to a larger Management Group. This group is chaired by Malcolm Stonestreet who is also Chief Executive of The United Religions Initiative UK (see: www.uri.org.uk).

The association has over one hundred members drawn from all the Faith Groups operating in the Northwest Region.

Present work includes:

1.The development of Tourist Board's Websites and their general commitment to the Sacred Sites in their area. The Association believes that such sites are key players in Tourism.

2.The delivery of the Association's Marque for Excellence to sites which reach a high standard of excellence in welcoming visitors. Criteria and those presently being considered for the Marque are listed below:

a) Time of being open to visitors.
b) Disabled access
c) Loop for those with hearing difficulties.
d) Written information available - historical and spiritual, present day use and involvement.
e) Stewarding
f) Information available through IT display
g) An attempt to show the connectedness of the site to the community both historically and at present time.
h) Refreshment - spiritual
i) Refreshment - food and drink
j) Refreshment - intellectual
k) Toilets
l) Health and safety

Further details of the Association's work are available from:

www.multi-faith.org
Malcolm Stonestreet
Northside
Grange in Borrowdale
Keswick
Cumbria CA12 5UQ.
Tel: 017687 77671
Email: info@multi-faith.org

Download a brochure about the Northwest Multi-Faith Tourism Association here.

The Management Group have awarded the Marque to:

Neston Parish Church, Cheshire
Princes Road Synagogue, Liverpool
The Gujarati Hindu Centre, Preston
The Parish Church of Saint Lawrence, Chorley
The Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool
All Saints Church, Cheshire
The Manjushri Buddhist Centre, Cumbria
Cross St Chapel - Unitarian Church, Manchester
Bolton Parish Church of St Peter, Lancashire
The Parish Church of St Martin, Cumbria
The Parish Church of St Andrew, Cumbria
First Church of Christ Scientist, Preston
Church of St Oswald, Cumbria
The Church of St Michael of All Angels, Cumbria
Hawkshead Hill Baptist Church, Cumbria
Cartmel Priory, Cumbria

For venues interested in receiving the Marque of Excellence, please contact Malcolm Stonestreet at the address above.