On Holy Ground

James is joined by Elinor Chohan. Elinor is a passionate advocate for social justice and community cohesion, with a 20-year nursing career as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Resuscitation and Clinical Skills. She holds a BSc in Psychology and an MSc in Management and regularly delivers motivational talks as an alumna of Manchester Metropolitan University.   In 2004, Elinor and her husband co-founded Miri Roshni, a charity dedicated to education, poverty alleviation, wellness, and humanitarian aid. The charity’s impactful initiatives include a school, orphanage, vocational training, higher education support, microfinancing for women, and healthcare projects. It also has initiatives addressing domestic abuse and has recently launched a community centre project in Pakistan. Extending its reach across the UK, Turkey, Pakistan, Kashmir, Romania, Gaza, Saudi Arabia and Zambia, Miri Roshni delivers emergency aid and tailored support, nurturing the next generation to excellence.   Elinor's contributions to interfaith dialogue and community development earned her an MBE in 2018, alongside numerous accolades. As Chair of the Remembering Srebrenica Northwest Board (2015–2024), she led genocide education efforts and raised funds for a counselling centre supporting women affected by war rape in Bosnia. She also serves as Chair of the Altrincham Interfaith Group and a Trustee of the British Muslim Heritage Centre, championing initiatives that foster unity and understanding.   Her work has included advising on race equality, championing humanitarian efforts, and mentoring future leaders through Teach First UK. Elinor's dedication to nurturing the next generation and fostering inclusivity reflects her lifelong commitment to creating lasting positive change.

In this episode James is joined by Debbie Tibbey. Debbie was born into a Christian family in the North East of England in the 1960s. At the age of 18, she found out about the Bahá’i Faith and after investigating the religion for a year or so, she declared her faith in Bahá’u’lláh and became a Bahá’i. After studying Drama and Art to degree level in Liverpool she trained as a primary school teacher, a career which spanned almost 30 years, and included teaching posts in various parts of UK and in Eswatini (still Swaziland in the 1990s) where she helped to establish a Bahá’i-run primary school open to children of all ethnicities, faiths and backgrounds. She has served on NASACRE, the REC and the Expert Advisory Group for RE as well as on Dorset SACRE as the Bahá’i representative. She now teaches and mentors teenagers with additional needs at an independent specialist school which holds great importance on mental wellbeing, creativity and the importance of animals and the outdoors. She married to artist and sculptor Charles Tibbey and they have two grown sons and a very elderly cat.

In this episode James is joined by Dr Ranvir Kanwar Singh. Ranvir is a teacher and while a Board Member of the Religious Education Council of England and Wales introduced the concept of worldviews to religious education. Prior to this, he served on the executive of the World Congress of Faiths and has written a Key Stage 3 textbook on Sikhism. He was the architect of paragraph 67 of the Durban Declaration which recognised Sikhs as a qaum or people.

In this episode James is joined by Waqar Amedi. Previously a journalist, Waqar has been teaching RE for 19 years, and been Head of Department for 14 years. Presently he is Head of RS at Prior's Field School in Godalming, Surrey. He is the author of several textbooks and revision guides for GCSE and A Level RS, and has run CPD and student events across the country. Every year Waqar travels to Pakistan to train secondary teachers in Rabwah, his mother’s birthplace. He has been on the NATRE Executive Committee since 2021. He is a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, whom he serves as a coordinator of various educational projects. He is on the editorial board of the community's international magazine, The Review of Religions.

In this episode James is joined by Stephen Darlington. He joined both the Franciscan and later the Benedictine Order and was ordained as a Catholic priest.  His main higher studies were at the Franciscan International Study Centre, linked to the University of Kent, Kings College London and the University of Wales, with his more recent study interests being - among many other topics - the Philosophy of Religion and Religion and Politics.    Stephen taught in Catholic schools for about 20 years, retiring early in 2003 to return to the monastery full time, though in recent years he has parted company with the monastery and lives independently in Cumbria and London. 

In this episode James is joined by the Amjed Zafar. Amjed is a pharmacist, he is also a community leader in Manchester serving as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Quba Initiative. Quba Initiative was established primarily to facilitate the dissemination of Sacred Islamic learning, It endeavours to engage with the community on all levels.

In this episode James is joined by the Reverend Dr K. Augustine-Ihm. Augustine is a charismatic Afro-American educator, theologian, pastor, activist, leader, mentor, trustee, presenter, speaker, and missiologist based in the United Kingdom. He is an active Anglican priest in the Anglican Communion and a member of the Order of the Mustard Seed. More about Augustine can be found on his website at augustineihm.co.uk  

'On Holy Ground’ the podcast dedicated to learning through encounter. It is based on the premise that in all of our dialogues we are able to learn more about others, and also about ourselves. It utilises the idea that the space between us is holy ground, with all of encounters being potentially transformative. This first episode will be different to subsequent ones, in the sense that I will be on my own and will provide the backdrop to future podcasts. It will explore my approach to inter-faith encounters.  Follow me at jamesdholt.com and @drjamesdholt