About Us

HANIF MALIK: AN APOLOGY

In issue 135 we published an article entitled "The Making of a Terrorist" by Shiv Malik. A letter by Martin Gilbertson commenting on certain aspects of this article was published under the title "My brother the bomber 2" in Issue 136. Both the article and the letter made reference to Hanif Malik, a prominent community leader in Beeston and the former director of the Hamara Healthy Living Centre. The article and the letter made a number of serious allegations about Mr Malik. These included allegations in both publications that he promoted the spread of radical Islamist ideas and in the letter that he allocated public funding in a discriminatory way, controlled a gang of Muslim youths known as the "Mullah Boys" and had dishonestly concealed the closeness of his relationship with the 7/7 bombers.

We accept that there is no truth whatever in any of the allegations made. Mr Malik is a respected community leader who has repeatedly expressed his shock at the 7/7 bombings and has been prominent in a number of local multi-faith initiatives. He has never been a supporter of radical Islamism. We are happy to take this opportunity to put the record straight and to apologise unreservedly to Mr Malik for the upset and distress which was caused. We have agreed to pay him substantial damages for libel along with his legal costs. The article and the letter have been removed from our website.


 

Hamara Healthy Living Centre offers a variety of services to the community of Leeds with a particular focus on BME communities residing in South Leeds. It is one of seven Healthy Living Centre’s in Leeds and was developed following the successful completion of a £1.2 million fundraising campaign in 2004. 

Hamara is an Urdu term meaning ‘OURS’ reflecting the local community involvement in the planning and development of the project.  Over 17.000 people reside in the immediate catchment area, with high unemployment, low educational attainment and poor health faced by many residents.

We take a holisitic approach towards health & wellbeing, with specific initiatives and projects around;

  • Health & Sports
  • Older People
  • Women
  • Training  
  • Information Advice and Guidance
  • Bringing Communities Together
  • Community Café
  • Events
  • Youth Initiatives

With a strong staff base of 20+ we deliver many sessions from our centre as well as utilising external venues.  Many advice surgeries run on different days eg. Citizens advice bureau, smoking cessation and welfare rights.

The Community Café currently running from Monday to Thursday is a key indicator of a successful community cohesion initiative. The diversity of people using the café is amazing, with a good mix of young and old from different ethnic backgrounds.

Our holiday provision for young people offers an excellent mix of sports sessions coupled with arts and crafts and cooking schemes.

We organise various community events throughout the year around themes such as community safety, health promotion, careers and cultural events.  

Finally, we offer meetings rooms for hire which are flexible in their use as the capacity can be increased by opening partitions. There is also a variety of meeting room equipment available for hire.

 

Click here to download our Annual Report

Activities which are currently running at Hamara.