A local group which works to establish harmony across all members of the community, regardless of faith or beliefs, has been awarded a massive funding boost.

The Oldham Interfaith Forum has announced it has received a National Lottery award of £80,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund.

The funds will be spread over three years and will be supplemented with an additional grant from Oldham Council, enabling the group to continue to develop its interfaith work across the borough until 2025.

The money comes as a recognition of the valuable work that has been done by the forum for more than two decades.

Throughout its 20 years, the Oldham Interfaith Forum has endured some challenges such as the pandemic which forced the forum to adapt and move most of its cross-cultural work online.

The group said there is a real need now to revive its face-to-face work and to continue to develop partnerships between communities of different faiths at an even more local level.

Mohammed Tufail OBE, the chair of the forum, said: “We would like to thank the National Lottery Community Fund for this award.

"It will help so much to continue to build a resilient network of relationships that will be able to address tensions when they arise and even prevent so many from happening in the first place.”