When the Essex Jewish News was invited by Jewish Care for an incredibly tasty salt beef lunch and personal tour of the charity’s new Sugar & Ronson Campus in Redbridge, both this paper’s editor Simon Rothstein and I thought we’d wandered into a five-star hotel by mistake.

I’m seldom at a loss for words, but trying to describe this incredible building leaves me in danger of running out of superlatives!

New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has described Jewish Care as the “gold standard” for the adult social care sector, and it’s easy to see why.

First impressions are of spacious, welcoming, stylishly designed and decorated eating and meeting areas, café’s, lounges, wide corridors and sheer comfort for all who make this their home, or their home from home.

The Sugar & Ronson Campus brings together care, community and support services for the local Jewish community under one roof, continuing the legacy of more than 50 years of Jewish Care services on the site.

The 66-bed Sugar Family Care Home provides residential, nursing, dementia and end-of-life care, as well as respite stays.

Alongside it is The Ronson Community Centre, a vibrant hub offering a programme of activities including live entertainment, dancing, card games, exercise classes, bridge, yoga, table tennis and Jewish festivals and community events.

One resident, Corinne, had just had her hair and nails done in the ground-floor salon available to care home and community centre members.

“It looks like a hotel, never in a million years did I think I’d be in a place like this!” she beamed happily.

Michael, a resident at The Sugar Family Care Home, added: “The whole building is fabulous. There’s everything here, they’ve done a wonderful job and the garden’s gorgeous too.”

Jewish Care continues to make the most of a unique opportunity to create a new hub for the whole new community in the heart of Essex.

At The Ronson Family Community Centre on-site café, members of the community can meet friends for breakfast, lunch or tea and join in a variety of different events.

People of all ages can come in simply for a coffee, or a meal with their relatives. And the Campus is designed as a gentle pathway to attend an activity, while also having access to services such as social work, Meals on Wheels, specialist dementia support and mental health services from Jami if and when they need them.

The Dennis Centre, specifically designed for people living with dementia, is also part of the campus. Dementia-informed design runs throughout this part of building – that has its own secure entry and exit – with furniture, flooring, lighting and colour choices helping to support orientation, safety and independence.

One regular member there, Rita, was blown away when she first arrived, saying, “It’s really wonderful and the staff can’t do enough for us.”

Our lunch was hosted in the excellent café, open to the wider community, and serving kosher meat meals, somewhere that it’s easy to meet, eat and socialise. This includes an incredibly tasty salt beef lunch which will be on the varied menu once a month and will also features at the legendary Salt Beef Suppers.

Richard Shone, Jewish Care’s Interim Director of Property and Hospitality, was one of our guides as he was last year when we toured what was then a building site full of promise.

‘Walking around with Richard – an Essex resident himself – and Community Hub Manager Neil Rebak, it was clear just how proud everyone is of what years of hard work have achieved.

And Daniel Carmel-Brown, CEO, acknowledges deep gratitude for those who have made this new chapter possible, “All this would not have been achieved without the generosity of our cornerstone donors, the Sugar family, and the Ronson family through The Gerald & Gail Ronson Family Foundation, alongside a number of other key donors, and the support of the local community.”

Jonathan West z”l, Jewish Care’s late Director of Legal Affairs, Property and Procurement, was mentioned frequently. The new campus is a wonderful testament to his legacy.

One of the things that Simon and I loved most was seeing how the Jewish is being put into Jewish Care. From carefully chosen artwork reflecting different aspects of the Jewish experience, to classic Judaica loaned by local people, there are reminders of Jewish life everywhere.

Even the practical details have been carefully considered, for example in the way red and green tiles, plates and utensils are used throughout the campus to differentiate between meat and milk.

Jewish Care’s pastoral and spiritual lead, Rabbi Menachem Junik, already well known to many of the residents, says how wonderful it was being able to greet them, telling us: “Several admired the Jewish artefacts in the display case at the entrance. Many said that seeing that, and the mezuzahs we blessed on every door, made them feel truly at home.”

He was particularly moved by one lady’s request, adding: “She asked me to say a prayer with her to celebrate her move. It warmed my heart.”

The Sugar & Ronson Campus is open to anyone from across the Jewish community, with the needs of all Jewish affiliations covered, and services and activities designed to be inclusive and accessible.

Maureen Valins, who volunteers at both The Sugar Family Home and The Ronson Community Centre, said: “I just love it that everybody can now be together in the one building.”

This includes the young volunteers and participants of the MIKE youth leadership programme onsite – nurturing the community leaders of today and of the future. The building itself is a striking transformation of the site formerly occupied by Sinclair House, affectionately known as ‘Club’, and has been designed with Jewish life in mind. It is light, bright, spacious and fully accessible, while visual reminders throughout the campus recognise the history of the community and the services that came before.

The familiar Jewish Care staff and teams remain in place, providing continuity and trusted relationships for people who have used their services for years.

The Ronson Community Centre will also be available for community functions and events, including birthdays, bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings, anniversaries, meetings and shivas, with bookings available from February 2027.

And, importantly, this is not simply a place for people once they reach a particular stage of life. It has been designed to grow with them, offering opportunities to remain connected to the community and access support at different points in their lives.

I hope to revisit The Sugar & Ronson Campus after the Yom Tovim, when many more prospective residents will have completed their move in time for Chanukah.

Shana Tova to them all – and watch this space!

• For more information visit jewishcare.org/sugar-and-ronson-campus or contact 020 8922 2222, helpline@jcare.org

Pictures courtesy of Jewish Care

The post A stunning addition to our local Jewish landscape appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

When I moved back to Woodford in 2021, after almost a decade in North West London, I saw there was a particular gap for Jewish people in their 30s, 40s and 50s to meet each other socially – especially singles.

After talking this through with Rabbi Odom Brandman at Chabad Buckhurst Hill, I decided to do something about it.

With his initial support, I organised a walk through High Beach in September 2024. Six of us turned up on a warm late-summer day. That was the start of Essex Jewish Socials.

Since then, the group has gradually evolved. We have visited cultural landmarks in London, walked around Fairlop Waters, taken part in quizzes, gone bowling and enjoyed L’chaims in and around north-east London and Essex.

The ethos is simple: openness, inclusivity and keeping things local. Most events cost very little and people can come and go as they please.

Although singles are an important part of the group, I was determined from the outset that it would not become a dating forum. Couples, including those with non-Jewish partners, have also joined us. Genuine friendships have emerged.

The King William IV in Chigwell has proved our most popular venue so far. As we move forward, I would like to organise more walks, as well as potentially introducing Friday night dinners, discussion events and film screenings.

There is certainly scope for the group to grow, but that depends on people getting involved. My advice to anyone considering coming along is simple: have no expectations and enjoy the event for what it is. Everything else can develop from there.

The post Building Jewish connections across Essex appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

He’d tell his sons: “When it’s a life well lived, of course, you are going to be sad, but these things should also be more about celebrating a life than mourning someone lost.”

When we remember Manny – who died in May aged 93 – we remember his wonderful career in the media, his love for our Essex Jewish community and his amazing EJN columns that continued right up until his final days. It truly was a life well lived.

Emanuel Rabinovitch was born on April 11, 1933, the first child of Ray and Sidney. He was close throughout his life with his brother Jeffrey and sister Gilda, whose passing in January of this year, which left him ‘last man standing’, affected him profoundly.

They grew up in Whitechapel in a block of flats called Chelsea Buildings in Princelet Street. His father was a Hoffman presser, his mother a seamstress.

On the night of 19 April 1941, the Luftwaffe launched one of its heaviest attacks on London, dropping a bomb on St Peter’s Hospital in Stepney, where Manny was being treated for dysentery.

His mother wouldn’t know for four days whether he had survived the bombing or not, only then finding out that he, together with the other survivors, had been evacuated to the village of South Mimms. He retained a vivid memory of tulips in the fields outside where he was staying. He was evacuated to Tylorstown in the Welsh valleys for the rest of the war, even attending chapel every Sunday.

Back in the East End, as youngsters, they had nowhere really to go, other than to the local dance hall, the Lyceum or the Royal, or to the local cinema, though sometimes a lack of money meant he often couldn’t afford to go to either.

And so, he joined a new club for Jewish boys, Brady. The purpose of the club, he once said, was to instil some sort of character. To him, Brady was his university. It was a place where they learned how to speak, how to respect their elders, and how to develop loyalties. It was also where he learned to dance – a skill to be shown off at simchas for years to come.

He became the first boy to edit the club’s magazine, once writing about the visit of Princess Margaret to the Brady Girls’ Club. He also used to go to watch Brady teams at football matches and started to write reports about their games.

And then on a Sunday afternoon after the match, he would write a report and take it down to the local newspaper, the East London Advertiser, and was chuffed when they used his report in the paper without changing a word.

That planted the seed in his mind that maybe he could become a journalist. Committing to this, he would spend his weekends in Fleet Street delivering photographs from picture agencies to national newspapers. It was his way of finding his way round, and from five o’clock in the afternoon until nine o’clock at night, he would be paid 10 shillings, but it gave him an ‘in’.

After National Service, he applied for work on the Stratford Express. The paper served the supporters of two professional football teams, West Ham United and Leyton Orient, and so he was given a job, on the heady salary of £4 a week.

Having told the Editor he liked football, he subsequently found out that none of the other journalists wanted to cover football because it meant working weekends. So he was appointed Sports Editor at the age of 21 and started sending snippets of news from the two clubs to the Evening Standard.

Journalism, at that time, wasn’t really a go-to career for a young Jewish guy from the East End of London. In fact, he became Manny Robinson when it was explained to him that his name needed to change if he wanted a by-line as Emanuel Rabinovitch was just too long to fit across a single column of type.

Eventually he was approached by the Evening Standard and offered a job there. And at 23, he became the youngest journalist at that point ever to get into Fleet Street, combining that work with reporting for the Sunday Express under the alias of Harold Swan. He stayed at the Evening Standard for 35 years, leaving as its longest-serving journalist.

It was a career that afforded him the chance to travel, to New York, to Israel and, memorably, to Birmingham on a wet FA Cup night, when the delayed trains meant he arrived after the final whistle, leaving him to report on a match he hadn’t seen and didn’t even know the score.

When a paper for the local Jewish community in Redbridge, then called The Bridge, launched in 1980, Manny became an essential part of the founding team, which included Israeli Itu Aviram, Frank Cass, Bernard Joseph, Philip Finlay and Geoffrey Phillips.

Manny soon became the Editor, changing the name to the Essex Jewish News, switching the format and pioneering the newspaper that so many still know and love today.

Under his editorship, the Essex Jewish News twice won the Community Newspaper of the Year Award, saw its circulation rise to 20,000, gave a start to numerous young journalists and provided a home for the writing of a number of older ones.

After retiring as Editor, Manny stayed on as Editorial Director and columnist – with his View from the Sidelines pieces always the most popular part of any edition.

The real love of Manny’s life was his family. He met Helen at an East End club and they were wed on 10 June 1956, a marriage that lasted until her passing almost 53 years later. In 1960, they were blessed with the arrival of twins, Paul and Stuart, and then five years later, with Howard.

Any visitor to Manny’s bungalow would find it rammed full of pictures of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He loved nothing better than getting down on the floor and playing with each new arrival, although in recent years getting back up again proved harder!

After Helen’s passing in 2009, Manny found new companionship with Betty, spookily enough called Betty Robinson, and they continued to enjoy travelling until ill health for both made that no longer possible.

In April, the family gathered to mark Manny’s 93rd birthday, enabling him to spend time with all of them together for the last time.

• This tribute is based on the eulogy written by Manny’s son Howard and Manny’s own work documenting the history of the EJN. We are delighted that Howard has taken over the hugely popular View from the Sidelines column.

Tributes from the team

Simon Rothstein: It’s impossible to put into words what Manny meant to me. After taking over as the Editor of the Essex Jewish News, he became not just my guide and mentor, but a true friend. My favourite memories of Manny are sitting in his bungalow, going through articles – which we used to literally have to print out and glue onto pages – and swapping war stories about our careers, the world of journalism and, his favourite of all, the hilarious typos that had somehow made it into print. Manny may be gone but his legacy will live on through this newspaper.

Micaela Blitz: I first joined the paper as the youth reporter, when I was still at school, and was the youngest one at our editorial meetings by a few decades, but Manny always made me feel included and listened to. He was such a kind, good humoured and interesting man full of amazing tales. I will miss his stories and I will miss him.

Linda Newman: Long before I started writing for the EJN, I had been an admirer of Manny Robinson. I was a regular reader – nay fan – of his wise, entertaining and original columns and in fact it was Manny’s work that inspired me, a retired journalist, to volunteer and become a writer for EJN myself. Because I am ‘a newbie’ to the paper, I met Manny only once, but I will always treasure that time and be thankful that he and his brilliant work ‘introduced’ me to the paper.

Pat Lidiker: Manny Robinson was a Fleet Street legend who kept his writing skills, infallible ear for a story and sheer joy of writing almost to the end. Success never went to his head, he stayed the same gentle person he always was – liked and respected by all who knew him. Few of us reached Manny’s heights and skills in giving decades of readers just what they wanted. We were so lucky to have him on our team.

Manny’s incredible family

Children:
Paul and Rona
Stuart
Howard
and Melanie

Grandchildren:
Michele and Joe
Sophie and Aryel
Sarah and Josh
Ella and Darren
David
Noah and Kaylin

Great
Grandchildren:
Reuben
Lottie
Rafi
Rosie
Cole
Nomi

The post A life well lived: A tribute to Manny Robinson appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

The show of solidarity followed a racially aggravated assault against a member outside of the mosque as he was leaving evening prayers.

Rabbi Richard Jacobi said: “As Jews, we know from bitter experience that attacks on one faith community or racial group often lead to similar attacks on other faith groups or communities. We must sustain a zero tolerance of any and all such attacks.

“As part of the Loved and Wanted Alliance of Waltham Forest, we confirm to the members of the Noor Ul Islam community that you are indeed loved and wanted here in Leyton, in this borough of Waltham Forest, and in this country.”

The post Showing solidarity with targeted mosque appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

Work Avenue marked its 20th anniversary with a special evening recognising two decades of transforming lives, honouring five incredible pioneers and affirming a continuing commitment to helping people earn a living with dignity.

More than 250 guests – including past and present CEOs and staff members, trustees, clients, communal leaders, supporters and donors – came together at Work Avenue’s Wohl Enterprise Hub in Finchley to celebrate the charity’s central and vital role in Britain’s Jewish community.

They heard how, from modest beginnings with one small desk in Regents Park Road in 2006, Work Avenue has since grown into the community’s leading employment and business support organisation with offices and outreach across the country, including Essex, and more than 4,000 people engaging with its services every year.

Opening the event, Work Avenue Chair Mark Morris spoke of his pride in the huge number of families who have been supported.

He said: “We have assisted more than 40,000 families during the past 20 years. We are extremely proud that Work Avenue is there for everyone within our community and beyond – irrespective of their religious background, age, gender and geographical location.

“Our service has grown and evolved over the years, but what has never changed is what I consider our greatest achievement – the way we ensure every client is treated with the utmost care to enhance their self-esteem.

“My pledge tonight is that Work Avenue will continue to be that pillar in our community, maintaining the same mission and always assisting individuals and families to earn a living with dignity.”

A highlight of the evening was the chance to celebrate all those who helped build Work Avenue’s success, including former CEOs Shraga Zaltzman and Debbie Sheldon.

Trustee Paul Mann presented the Pioneer Awards to five individuals and organisations whose vision, partnership and innovation have been mutually beneficial for themselves and Work Avenue. The winners were:

Employer Pioneer: Global Group
Partnering with Work Avenue over many years, this company, led by Moshe Feldman, regularly utilises the charity’s Recruitment Service in order to create employment opportunities for members of the community.

Business Pioneer: KMP Solutions
Starting out nearly 20 years ago at Work Avenue, Philip Klein and Solomon Mozes have grown KMP Solutions into a highly respected property and asset management company that commits time and resources back to the community.

Entrepreneur Pioneer: Ben Cohen
Demonstrating pioneering spirit, with Work Avenue’s support from inception, Ben founded HomeSun a solar panel business, over 15 years ago. He now runs Blink Payment, an innovative platform allowing organisations to collect payments seamlessly. 

Innovator Pioneer: Craig Hartzel
Starting his journey by speaking on a Work Avenue AI panel, in the early stages of Chat GPT, Craig now works with businesses, charities and communal organisations to demystify AI as a way to support rather than replace people.

Partnership Pioneer: The Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation
Playing an incredible role in the story of Work Avenue, the Foundation’s ongoing commitment and generosity supports the year-on-year delivery of vital services, while also making the Wohl Enterprise Hub shared workspace a reality.

Professor David Latchman CBE, Chair of the Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation, collected the Partnership Pioneer Award. He said: “My late uncle Maurice said to me, on many occasions, ‘build all these buildings, do all these things, but never forget the individual person’.

“Work Avenue is very much about supporting individual people and we are delighted to be associated with them.”

Over two decades, Work Avenue has helped 40,000 families by providing community members with essential lifelong skills. During that time, the charity estimates it has held around 30,000 one-to-one employment advice sessions, 15,000 one-to-one business advice meetings and hundreds of workshops and training courses.

Closing the event, Work Avenue CEO Debbie Lebrett said: “Looking around the room tonight, it is clear that Work Avenue’s growth and success over the last two decades is down to an incredible team of trustees, staff, supporters and clients – all with a shared vision and unwavering commitment to helping people in our community build better futures for themselves and their families.”

The post Work Avenue marks 20 years and 40,000 families supported appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

More than 1,000 guests gathered at Jewish Care’s Annual Dinner for a moving celebration of the charity’s work, raising an incredible £5.6 million to support its life-changing services.

The evening placed Jewish Care’s clients and families, many from Redbridge and Essex, at its heart, with the charity’s clients, volunteers and supporters becoming the stars of the night.

You can read three of their powerful stories in the Rosh Hashanah edition of the Essex Jewish News.

The record-breaking amount raised will help Jewish Care meet the £20 million it needs each year, at a time of significantly growing demand and when many of its services receive no government funding.

Hosted at Grosvenor House by journalists and broadcasters Emily Maitlis and Rob Rinder MBE, who generously donated their time, the Dinner celebrated the impact of Jewish Care’s transformative services across the community. They highlighted the growing need for care, connection and support at every stage of life.

From Jami’s mental health services, now part of Jewish Care for people aged 11 and over, to specialist support for older people with increasingly complex needs, the evening showcased the breadth of the charity’s work. It also recognised how important this support is at a time of rising antisemitism in the UK and around the world.

Guests heard first-hand stories of the difference Jewish Care makes through its community services, dementia care, mental health support and end-of-life care.

One of those, Barbara Jaye – a regular volunteer in our region – spoke about the friendship and belonging many have found through Jewish Care’s community centres and programmes.

Taking a starring role on stage, being interviewed by former BBC Newsnight host Emily Maitlis, was also a special moment.

Barbara told the Essex Jewish News: “I really didn’t know what to expect, but as soon as I arrived the people who work for Jewish Care took me under their wing and explained everything to me… they didn’t leave my side!

“I met with Emily Maitlis, Rob Rinder and the West End star Emma Kingston. Also, Lord Levy seemed to recall he’d seen me at other events!

“Everybody who came up to me before and after my ‘debut’ on stage praised me and that’s what makes me smile. I feel sure the new Sugar & Ronson Campus will make a difference to many people in and around Redbridge and I am very excited that the community events will be moving there too!”

Jewish Care Chair Marcus Sperber said: “Our heartfelt thanks go to our hosts, Emily Maitlis and Rob Rinder, to Emma Kingston, to our table hosts, and to everyone whose time and support made the evening such a success.

“We are especially grateful to the clients and volunteers who shared their stories so movingly and are at the heart of all we do.

“We rely entirely on the generosity of our community to provide the highest quality care and support, rooted in dignity, respect and Jewish traditions and values, and we are immensely grateful to them.”

The post Essex supporters help Jewish Care raise record sum appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

Progressive Jews of all ages came from all over the UK, Ireland and beyond for the sold-out event. Attendees represented 53 different Progressive Jewish congregations and included more than 50 rabbis, cantors and student rabbis.

Among those from our region taking part were members of East London and Essex Liberal Synagogue, Harlow and Chelmsford Jewish Community and Sukkat Shalom Reform Synagogue.

Opening the conference – the first since the merger of Liberal and Reform Judaism – MPJ Co-Leads Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy spoke about the poignancy of the moment and the huge potential of what lies ahead.

Rabbi Josh said: “We have been reflecting on just how emotional this is for us to be here, in this space, not as two Movements but as one. Today, The Movement for Progressive Judaism really is able to say ‘Hineinu, here we are’ together.”

Rabbi Charley added: “Here we are ready to study, sing, explore, dance, renew and refresh. Here we are because we are stronger together. Here we are, inheritors of a remarkable legacy, ready to build upon it. Here we are, ready to help shape Jewish life, British society and the world our children will inherit.”

A packed programme included more than 80 sessions – ranging from Shirei Chagigah’s spaces for joyful harmony, illuminating liturgy through song and exploring non-Ashkenazi melodies from around the world to Hineinu panels and discussions exploring liturgy, identity, practice, prayer, Israel, LGBTQI+, social justice, leadership, activism, community building and the future of Jewish life.

There was also a dedicated crèche and children’s programme – run by LJY-Netzer and RSY-Netzer – including sessions for kids and their adults together.

Joyful, spiritual and musical services harmonised all the different traditions and tunes within Progressive Judaism and its communities.

Cantor Zöe Jacobs, Founder of Shirei Chagigah, said: “It is a gift to be together, and we can hear it in the beautiful harmonies we are singing: We know there are going to be moments when we pray differently together. Please know that your voice, and your minhag (custom) is always going to be welcome even, or especially, when you do something different to us.”

Shabbat services were led by clergy including Rabbi Aaron Goldstein, Cantor Sarah Grabiner and Cantor Rosalie Will (Friday night) and Rabbi Rachel Benjamin, Cantor Josh Breitzer and Cantor Zöe Jacobs (Shabbat morning) with many poignant moments and contributions from members of our region.

Mich Sampson, Music Director at East London and Essex Liberal Synagogue, played a key role throughout the event as part of Shirei Chagigah faculty – leading worship, teaching song and working alongside special guests from North America Cantor Josh Breitzer, Cantor Rosalie Will and Noah Aronson.

Hineinu’s keynote address was given by MK Rabbi Gilad Kariv, who made history by becoming the first ever Progressive rabbi elected to Israel’s Knesset (Parliament) and who was introduced to the conference as “the most important rabbi in the world right now”.

He said: “The creation of this new united movement places British and Irish Progressive Judaism at the very heart of our global Jewish Progressive Movement.

“At a time when we need to strengthen the voice of Progressive Judaism, both in Israel and all around the Jewish world, I want to thank you for carrying out this important, important process.

“I hope that many others learn from you so that we all find ways to work together and to create one Progressive Jewish force that will help us to guard our fundamental values, both in Israel and around the world.”

Other special guests from abroad included Rabbi David Saperstein – Director Emeritus of the American Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center and the first rabbi to be designated a U.S. Ambassador – and Rabbi Dr Michael Marmur, Professor of Jewish Theology at Hebrew Union College Jerusalem and the son of the late and beloved former Oaks Lane Reform Synagogue (then SWESRS) minister Rabbi Dow Marmur.

As the conference came to a close, participants were given packets of seeds to take back and plant – to signify a commitment made by all those present to go home and grow their communities and Progressive Judaism in their region.

• Pictures by Si Marcus (Addictive Media) and Student Rabbi Richard Greene

The post Inaugural Progressive conference plants seeds for the future appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

Leading members of our local Jewish communities helped the Jewish Joint Burial Society (JJBS) dedicate its first ever Holocaust Memorial, located at the Woodland Cemetery, Cheshunt.

A special service was led by Rabbi Dr Jackie Tabick with readings from Rabbi Professor Deborah Kahn-Harris, Principal of Leo Baeck College, and Movement for Progressive Judaism Co-Lead Rabbi Charley Baginsky. It blended traditional memorial prayers, Yiddish songs, poetry and the writings of Holocaust survivor Rabbi Albert Friedlander OBE.

Attendees included representatives of many of the 46 Progressive, Masorti and Independent communities served by JJBS – including many located in Essex and East London – as well as the Mayor of Broxbourne Councillor Patsy Spears.

Steve Wynne, Outgoing Chair of JJBS and a member of Sukkat Shalom Reform Synagogue in Wanstead, said: “It has long been our desire for the Society to have such a memorial on our grounds, and I am pleased that we have now been able to achieve this.

“We just marked the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings. This began the journey which ended with the world learning about the Shoah and stopped the further deaths of so many innocents. This memorial is for all those who died in those horrific times and for years after, their families and descendants.”

He was joined by JJBS Senior Sexton Mitzi Kalinsky and JJBS Honorary President Frank Goldson – both also members of Sukkat Shalom – and Incoming JJBS Chair Cheryl Petar of Harlow & Chelmsford Jewish Community.

The stone, created and donated by Gary Green Memorials, stands at the entrance to the Woodland Cemetery. It bears an inscription from the Book of Lamentations: “For those I weep, stream of tears flow from my eyes because of the destruction of my people.”

It is the first Holocaust memorial at a Progressive Jewish cemetery. A weeping willow will be added to the grounds in October to commemorate those murdered by Hamas in the 7 October 2023 terrorist atrocity.

The Woodland Cemetery gives people the choice to be buried in an ecologically-friendly manner with a variety of areas and options to suit the desires of individuals and their families.

It allows couples to be buried together – including Jewish people with their non-Jewish partners – in double-depth graves.

To find out more about the Woodland Cemetery, please visit www.jjbs.org.uk/cemeteries.

The post Local leaders help dedicate Woodland Cemetery’s Holocaust Memorial appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

By Pat Lidiker

The finishing touches are being made to The Sugar & Ronson Campus, set to open in Redbridge in summer 2026.

Jewish Care’s landmark hub will transform the way the charity cares for, connects with and reaches out to the Jewish community in Essex and north east London, bringing its services under one roof in a modern, inclusive and welcoming space.

Our never-before-seen photos show the outside of the purpose-built care and community campus … and we can’t wait to take you through the doors in future issues.

Jewish Care CEO Daniel Carmel-Brown said: “The build and finish stage is complete in The Sugar Family Care Home and the final touches are being made to The Ronson Community Centre and The Dennis Centre for people living with dementia.

“We are looking forward to opening the new first-class Sugar & Ronson Campus this summer, and seeing our long-held vision become a reality.”

The post First look at Jewish Care’s incredible care and community campus appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

The honour recognises Neil’s sustained national contribution across more than two decades of leadership and comes at a time of heightened concern over antisemitism, safety and social cohesion in Britain. It

As CEO of JLGB.org (the Jewish Lads’ and Girls’ Brigade), Neil has led the transformation of one of Britain’s oldest youth movements into a modern national award-winning organisation – expanding access and enabling thousands of young people from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds to participate, while strengthening identity and belonging.

His work also includes producing Yom HaShoah UK – the Jewish community’s annual Holocaust memorial – and chairing the Interfaith Youth Trust, which supports grassroots interfaith projects across the UK.

The King has a longstanding and warm relationship with the Jewish community, including through Holocaust remembrance, interfaith engagement and as a Patron of Jewish organisations including, fittingly, JLGB.

Speaking following the ceremony, Neil – who was born in Ilford and now lives in South Woodford – said: “This is a deeply humbling moment, not as a personal recognition, but as a reflection of an extraordinary community. It was particularly special to speak to The King about this, and the challenging times we are facing, and to hear of his support.

“I stand on the shoulders of giants. Everything this honour represents has been built by generations of young people, volunteers, partners and families who show up every day with commitment, resilience and belief, determined to be a credit to their community and their country, and to pay it forward to the next generation.”

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A post shared by Neil Martin CBE (@neilsmartin)

In a moving Instagram post (above), he thanked his wife Ginny and their children saying: “Last time I stood here, before His Majesty The King, then the Prince of Wales, to receive my OBE, I was a son, standing with my parents. This time, I stood here as a father, with my own children, to receive my CBE.

“The day was made all the more special with Ginny at my side once again. With the many roles I am privileged to hold, I often come home with very little left to give, while Ginny holds our family together behind the scenes.”

The award of the CBE has also prompted praise from senior civic leaders across Government and public life.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “London is proud of leaders like Neil, whose work has brought communities together, supported young people across our city, and ensured that the lessons of history are never forgotten. His CBE is richly deserved, and I congratulate him on this national recognition.”

Wes Streeting MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, added: “Neil has spent two decades strengthening the fabric of British society through youth empowerment, Holocaust remembrance and interfaith understanding. His elevation to CBE is a testament to his tireless service and unwavering commitment to building a more cohesive, resilient and compassionate country.”

Ruth Marvel OBE, Chief Executive of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, added: “Neil has played an instrumental role in expanding access to the DofE Award for thousands of young people who might otherwise have faced barriers. His leadership has helped ensure that opportunity is truly inclusive. We at DofE are delighted to see his contribution recognised with a CBE.”

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