The Bulletin, Clubs and Information
J-Club
An exciting new weekly venture benefitting from the superb facilities of our recently refurbished synagogue building. The group meets once a week to socialise, with food and a dynamic programme of activities.
J-Club runs in 8-week seasons. Please contact Rabbi Pink for the next series of dates.
For more information about future J-Club events, please contact us.
Book Club
This group is currently online.
The Leicester Jewish Book Club had its first meeting in June 2017 and continues to meet monthly in our private homes over coffee and a biscuit, to share a love of books and set the world to rights as we forge our discussions!
We read fiction and have read a wide range of authors and genres including the human condition; war; fantasy and crime. We often disagree on how we respond to the book selection, but it is never dull. One favourite of everyone was “All The Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr; this was an exception, some of our other selections had a much more mixed reception!
If you would like to come along to the Book Club, please contact Beverlie. There is no obligation, and you may come along as often or little as you like.
The 342 Trust
The 342 Trust has been set up for the benefit of older Jewish people and people with familial Jewish connections. The Trust’s money is derived from the sale of Abbeyfield.
WHAT is it for? Any equipment for the home to make life easier, for example, a seat for the bath; a wet room; special aids for those with visual impairment; ramps to improve access; respite or short-term packages. The Trust cannot fund long term care.
WHO is it for? Anyone over the age of 50 who could benefit from help to make their lives easier. You do not have to be disabled or on benefits. The grants are not means-tested and confidentiality is assured.
HOW much can be requested? There is no lower limit.
WHO should you contact? Please get in touch with Anthony for an informal chat and advice on applying by email or by phone on 07802 828 222. Please find the application form here.
League of Jewish Women
The League of Jewish Women (LJW) is a national and international voluntary service organisation that provides help wherever it is needed both in the Jewish and the wider community. It is the leading Jewish women’s voluntary services organisation in the UK.
In Leicester, volunteers host regular tea-parties with home-made sandwiches and cake for people living alone. Guests are driven to and from the venues. We also visit the sick and lonely at home or in hospital and several members help to run the Shalom Club, the weekly community day centre, by being cooks, drivers and helpers.
We do not fundraise but have an occasional social event. The Rabbi’s wife, Rivkie Pink, is an honorary member. All are welcome. Contact Jacqui Coleman or Ruth Neuberg through the contact page for more details
Gilroes Cemetery
Lives Behind the Stones
A Heritage Lottery Funded Project about the Jewish section of Leicester’s Gilroes Cemetery
Compiled by Rosalind Adam
The first burial in the Jewish section of Leicester’s Gilroes Cemetery took place in 1902. Over the years, records of burials had been intermittent and so, in 2014, a team of six members of Leicester’s Jewish Community, together with 37 volunteers, set out to accurately catalogue all the graves. We created a comprehensive website with full search facilities, researched stories about past members of the community and implemented work to improve access to the cemetery. All this was made possible thanks to a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
As with many old graveyards, the early section had fallen into disrepair. We did not want the stones, or, indeed, the lives behind those stones, to be lost. It was not possible to repair each stone and so we recorded all the inscriptions from the headstones.
Unfortunately, quite a few plots had no stone and so, after considerable research using the limited information available from the written records as a starting point, we recovered enough information to have small plaques made and affixed to these plots. We replaced row markers and broken kerbstones and produced three large information boards at the site; one is a map of all the sections and the other two contain the plot locations of every grave in the cemetery at the time of going to print.
My job, as Project Coordinator, was to write the text, including the in-depth stories. We have stories about people arriving in Leicester after long and dangerous journeys escaping persecution, about inventors with copies of original patent applications, about doctors, tailors, market traders, and a complete cross-section of society covering more than a hundred years of life and death in Leicester’s Jewish Community. There is always room for more stories so please let me know here if you would like to contribute a story about a friend or a member of your family buried there.
The website, which can be found here, includes lesson suggestions for Key Stage 2 teachers, information on the cemetery’s history and, most importantly, a complete and searchable database of all the people buried at the cemetery. This is a permanent online facility. We hope that it will also be used as a template for other communities who are concerned about preserving their past for the future.
Want to Know More?
Serving the local community, our synagogue provides regular bulletins about our events.