Community campaigner receives MBE for work bringing different faiths together

A community campaigner who has dedicated her life to bringing different faith communities together and empowering women has been awarded an MBE.

Britwell resident Julie Siddiqi earned recognition in the latest Queen’s Birthday Honours for her work promoting inter-faith understanding.

Since moving to Slough in 1996, the 49-year-old has set up a number of initiatives promoting community cohesion.

This includes the Nisa-Nashim Jewish and Muslim Women’s Network, which aims to help women from both faiths understand their similarities.

She also founded Sadaqa Day to encourage mosques, community groups and individuals to give back to the areas they live on a day of social action.

She has also been outspoken on knife crime.

One of her latest projects, Together We Thrive, has connected Muslim women with women from different faith communities with the aim of improving female leadership and opportunities.

Julie told the Express: “My big thing is about encouraging people to become friends because through that you develop trust, they become your allies and when there’s a problem you know you’ve got people around you who can stand up for you.

“It’s not necessarily about me. All of what I have done has always been about working with lots of different people from different backgrounds, different ages and different faiths.

“That’s what I love and I will still carry on as long as I can.”

Visit https://togetherwethrive.co.uk/project/thrive-together for details.