Noah’s Pudding Celebration in Basingstoke and Deane with the Right Worshipful the Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane Cllr Roger Gardiner

Wed, 03 Dec 2014 18:30 in Community Engagement

Where: Brookvale Hall, Lower Brook Street, RG21 7RU, Basingstoke
Date: 3rd December 2014
Time: 18:30

Speaker:

Cllr Roger Gardiner, The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane
Inspector Paul Maginnis, Officer in charge of the Safer Neighbourhood and Community Safety teams at Basingstoke
Revd Andrew Ashdown, Inter-faith Adviser for the Winchester Diocese

Abstract

The basis of annual Dialogue Society grass roots activities, ‘Noah's Pudding’ celebrates the common heritage of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

In the Muslim prophetic tradition, the day Moses (peace be upon him) and his community were saved from the Pharaoh's army, and the day Noah's (peace be upon him) ark was saved from the flood is marked with fasting, and in modern times with the sharing of a special dessert known as ‘Noah's Pudding’.

Every year, thousands of bowls of Noah's pudding are shared by the families of Dialogue Society volunteers with their neighbors and with members of various faith-based organizations in the South of the UK.

Biography of Roger Gardiner

Roger was born just across the Berkshire border in Reading in 1949. He attended school in Sonning and Wargrave before starting his higher education at Reading Technical College, where he studied business while working part-time in accounts for a local builder. After college, Roger attended Hull University to study economics and accounting, and his political career began when he was elected as a Conservative member of the student union council. At Hull he established long lasting friendships based on a common sense of humour and held the role of treasurer of the university rag committee.

In 1980 Roger left Cooper's to join Tally Ltd as chief accountant where he stayed for 22 years seeing the company grow significantly and move location twice, eventually ending up in Basingstoke.

Roger took on the role of treasurer for the local Conservative association, joining the Pamber Heath Parish Council in 1991 and fighting his first borough council election. Although not successful, he tried again in the 1992 full council elections on the safer ground of Calleva and was elected.

In 1996, Roger joined the Haymarket Theatre board as a council representative where he served the maximum term of nine years, remaining as company secretary to this day. Roger has also been involved with Pamber Forest, first as Treasurer to the management committee, but since transfer to the Hampshire Wildlife Trust as a member of the advisory committee.

After a four-year break from the council, and after he retired from BDZ Holdings in 2012, Roger successfully stood for the Pamber and Silchester ward and returned to the council where he has now clocked up 18 years of service.