The members of Soka Gakkai International continue to use the beautiful Taplow Court to undertake a wide range of activities in support of peace, culture and education. This year, these included the mounting of an exhibition entitled, 'From a Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace: Transforming the Human Spirit'. The exhibition has been on view during the Taplow Court Open Days which fell on the first Sundays of June, July and August from 2-5.30pm, and on the National Heritage Day, 13 September.
Over the past few years SGI-UK has mounted two live arts events each summer – these are held in May and August – open to the general public. This year the programme is called 'Guitars Galore' and revolves around music for the guitar, written by such greats as Joaquin Rodrigo, Villa Lobos, Django Reinhardt, Lennon and McCartney, and James Taylor, but also includes voice, violin, and saxophone. All proceeds after costs are donated to UNICEF.
A gathering of practitioners from different Buddhist traditions took place at Taplow Court on July 10, for a seminar organised by the Institute of Oriental Philosophy entitled ‘Ordinary or Extraordinary Living?’ The next seminar in this Creative Awakening series will be held on 13 November 2010, when Dr Susan Blackmore, a psychologist who practises Zen Buddhism, will be talking about concepts of identity and neuroscience.
The first in a series of three annual academic symposia, discussing issues relating to peace was held in January, based on the theme 'Toward Humanitarian Competition – a New Current in History', with a second event being held later this year has the theme 'Toward a New Era of Value Creation'.
200 young people came to Taplow Court on March 18 to participate in an Inter-Change Conference. Organised by Creative Junction together with a group of Slough schools , who have previously held their Model UN General Assembly events at Taplow Court, this event brought together delegates from very diverse social and geographical backgrounds. Tackling complex global issues, they inspired and empowered each other to be young agents of change within their own communities.
On May 24, Taplow Court hosted a visit by five tsunami orphans and three helpers from Thailand. They came from their home in Thailand which they share with 67 other children orphaned by the tsunami to thank various organisations in the UK who support them. SGI-UK was asked to help by one of our friends from the Anglo Thai Friendship Society to provide a day out for the children. They looked around the house and heard about the King of Thailand staying there in 1891. They spent time in the gardens taking lots of photos and the children performed a beautiful Thai dance for everyone.
SGI-UK offers Taplow Court in support of a wide variety of local charities’ events. This year they have included Thames Valley Hospice Care, who held their annual fund raising open day and ‘bring and buy sale’ on 5th June and were able to raise £700 for the Hospice; the Maidenhead fundraising group for the Thames Valley Hospice held a live arts concert on 30 April and were able to raise over £4,000 which will go towards palliative care for patients with cancer and other life limiting illnesses, their family and carers; and Thames Valley Adventure Playground held a concert with Alex Prior and the Young Virtuosos, raising in the region of £6,000.
And finally, there have also been a number of educational visits, looking at either the history of the site, or to support comparative religious education.
Andy McKenzie
