England celebrated its First National Inter-faith week (15^th to 21^st November 2009) with the Launch of the event on the 12^th at QE11 London.

Friday November 20^th, His Worship the Mayor of Luton, Cllr Mohammed Riaz, Luton North MP, Kelvin Hopkins, Faiza Bashir, Campaigns officer from the National Fairtrade Foundation, Stella Opoku-Owusu, Regional and Local Inter Faith Officer for the Inter Faith Network for the UK and local faith leaders were present at the Sanathan Sewa Samaj Temple in Hereford Road to witness the launch of the first Fairtrade Hindu Temple in the UK. The night started with a prayer by Yogesh Mistry (Asst Secretary and trustee of the temple) and an explanation of why fairtrade is important to Hindus.

Faaiza Bashir congratulated the temple for leading the way and the Mayor presented the certificate of recognition. MP Kelvin Hopkins expressed his delight for such action and how proud he is to present Luton in the Parliament. The evening ended with laughter at jokes from different communities and fair-trade refreshments.