Multi-faith meeting in Wrexham hailed as “unifying force” for the local community

A Wrexham sergeant has described the latest multi-faith meeting in the town as a ‘unifying force’ for the local community.

Sgt Dave Smith attended the event at the Wrexham Islamic Cultural Centre on Grosvenor Road last week (4 March).

The well-attended public meeting aimed to encourage positive interaction between people of all faiths and beliefs, with a focus on finding agreement and common ground.

Members of the Islamic Cultural Centre and Glyndwr Chaplaincy were also in attendance for the 90-minute session.

Guests heard an informal sermon from local Imam Ahmed Gattani before joining a discussion led by Community Cohesion Officer and WGU Humanist Chaplain, Gareth Hall.

Representing North Wales Police, Sgt Smith provided an overview of policing priorities within the town and highlighted his own work with a recently-launched multi-faith community forum.

He said: “I would like to thank Gareth Hall for opportunity to join the inter faith community at the Wrexham Islamic Cultural Centre.

“We were made to feel very welcome and it was a fantastic example of cohesion, and of different faith communities in Wrexham finding common ground.

“Events like these are important. They put real emphasis on coming together to celebrate the shared values we have with others.

“Tolerance, understanding and respect were the key messages that I picked up on, and I hope we see even more people in attendance at future meetings.”

As the fourth largest urban area in Wales, Wrexham has a diverse population and is home to people of many ethnicities and religious backgrounds.

Discussing the importance of community integration, Gareth Hall said: “As we work towards emerging from the COVID pandemic, and revitalising Wrexham and our neighbouring communities, we believe our local faith centres are a vital resource to help us all to reconnect and learn more about each other.

“Thank you to Sgt Dave Smith for joining us at the Wrexham Islamic Cultural Centre.

“We really value the input of North Wales Police in these interfaith discussions, and we look forward to building that relationship at future Finding Agreement events.”