Ahead of this year’s Visit My Mosque Day, volunteers from over 250 mosques across the UK took part in the Great British Spring Clean.
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.
Harun Khan, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain said, “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”
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.
An estimated 25 million tonnes of litter is dropped annually in Britain costing the UK taxpayer over £1 billion a year.
Keep Britain Tidy Chief Executive Allison Ogden-Newton said, “This year we’re aiming to inspire half a million people to join forces to collect and safely dispose of litter from our streets, parks and beaches, through our annual Great British Spring Clean campaign. We are delighted for the support of over 250 mosques in Britain getting out early and hope to see many more turn out again in spring!”
Visit My Mosque this year 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
For further info, call Pedro on 07831 556 951 or e mail: fnik@btconnect.com
