Havering Islamic Cultural Centre opened its doors on Sunday 18th February to participate in its inaugural Visit My Mosque day, organised nationally by the Muslim Council of Britain.

We were joined by St Francis Hospice, and with our team of volunteers we raised £2,500 for this indispensable organisation. We hope that this is only the start: we will continue to support St Francis Hospice in the longer term due to the great work they do for the community.

Tahir Sharif of Havering Islamic Cultural Centre’s development committee presented our vision for the future alongside Aidan Potter of John McAslan architects, we hope that we can bring some world-class architecture to our town.

Thank you to everyone who came, we sold out completely of our burgers, chicken and coffee. All other food was distributed to the homeless through our partners in Ilford.

For those who would like to further support St Francis Hospice, please click here to donate.

A final big thank you to Charlotte, Andy and Michelle of the SFH team for explaining the work of the Hospice to our congregation.

Photographs from the day:

Despite the weather, we had a great turnout on the day.

The cake stall proved very popular, thanks to Tabby and her team of helpers.

Mr & Mrs Andrew Pollard (from developers Firstbase) with Aidan Potter of McAslan (the HICC architect for the new Centre).

Tahir Sharif (HICC Development Team) presenting the Vision for the future of the mosque with Aidan Potter.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to understand the issues we face as a community and how valuable it is to have a mosque in central Romford. It garnered a lot of interest.

Many thanks to Deputy Leader of the council Damian White who addressed the congregation on the presentation without having prepared, receiving applause from the visitors.

Somebody had to get on with the serious business.

Thanks to Aleeza, Dean and the Costa Coffee team who served up the nation’s favourite coffee with all proceeds to St Francis!

Even after 5 hours of cooking, they’re still smiling!

It was great to see Saint Francis Hospice fundraising team (pictured: Andy Furneaux) there on the day, with visitors gaining an insight into their valuable work and learning about volunteering oppurtunities.

Thanks to Sidra Naeem for delivering two great talks on Islam’s history in the UK and some of the Islamic world’s greatest inventions.

Father Hinkley of St Agnes’ church (where we used to pray till we had a permanent home) and members of the local Conservative Party also joined us.

Mayor Van den Hende also spoke to the Metropolitan Police, who had a stall to explain their work.

Just some of the attendees together with Mayor Van den Hende.

Local councillors (including Deputy Mayor, Dilip Patel – right) with Officer Aleem.

Councillors Patel and Benham with our long-standing Imam, Abdul Rehman.

Umer Sharif (Trustee at HICC) showed Havering’s Mayor, Linda Van den Hende, and Talha Ahmad (Treasurer of the Muslim Council of Britain) the stunning plans.

Before being joined by the architect, the Imam and the Deputy Leader of the Council.

The Mayor and her deputy.