THE SECOND meeting of a newly-formed forum to improve social cohesion was held at the weekend - and was described as a further step in the right direction.

The 100 Voices group met on Saturday and will meet again in March when a national conference at Blackburn Rovers' Ewood Park is hosted by Jack Straw.

One of the keynote speakers will be Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality.

The ideas forum - with a mix of races, ages and gender - was launched by the leadership of Blackburn with Darwen Council and met for the first time in December.

The main issues to come out at Saturday's meeting, at King George's Hall, echoed some of the dominant themes from the first forum meeting.

They included the role of sport in bringing people together, faith schools, the perceived breakdown in family values, Arts in the Park and the Mela, and the necessity for high quality jobs in the borough.

The meeting, chaired by former BBC North West political editor Jim Hancock, was in two parts.

During the morning session there was a brief debate followed by an interactive quiz.

And after lunch the forum divided into smaller groups to discuss how integration could be improved in the town.

The issue of alleged racism on Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother was raised first by the forum chairman, but there was little appetite to discuss the topic with one person labelling it irrelevant to the day's discussions.

Susan Jackson, of Pleckgate, Blackburn, said that during the previous meeting participants had been operating under the wrong assumption that white people were the perpetrators and Muslims the victims.

She said there had not been the same problems with other migrant groups like Jews and Italians because those groups had not expected the indigenous population to change their way of life.

She said: "The only thing I can come up with is that they are asking us to change our way of living, asking us to accept that animals be killed in a way we don't like. They want their own schools, their own areas of land."

Conservative councillor Brian Gordon agreed. He said: "Previous waves of migrants did not demand as much of the host society as the Muslim population."

The need to attract high quality jobs and investment was discussed with some lively exchanges between participants and chief executive Graham Burgess. Low wage levels in the borough were the subject of complaint from one or two participants.

The inclusion of the interactive quiz, on a series of factual questions about the borough, was criticised by some.

Opposition leaders Tory Coun Colin Rigby, and LibDem Coun David Foster, later questioned the point of the quiz. Coun Foster said: "I spoke to a couple of people at lunch time and they said to me was that council propaganda?'"

In the afternoon groups discussed initiatives that could encourage integration.

Ideas included amalgamating the Arts in the Park and Mela events into one festival over a bank holiday weekend.

Setting up mixed sports leagues, a marathon, and a borough Olympics' were suggested. But some recognised that sport alone would not work.

The idea of music and food festivals was also floated.

Other participants talked about encouraging more exchanges between churches, mosques, schools and neighbours.

Two groups wanted to ban state funding of faith schools and more apprenticeships for youngsters was suggested.

During the final debate an Asian teenage girl and a white woman exchanged strong words with both saying the other should learn to be more adaptable.

Margaret Cornall, of Hill Side Close, Blackburn, said after the meeting: "There are still a few underlying issues to come out. I suspect they will come out at future meetings. But I think it went well on the whole."

Tas Hussain, 45, of Whalley Road, Little Harwood, said: "It was a great progression from last month's meeting. We are starting to get to the nitty gritty now."

Anthony Duckworth, 47, of Gib Lane, Blackburn, said: "It's going to be a lengthy process.

"Bureaucracy moves slowly but there's a lot of goodwill among the people who have attended and there's strong hope for the future."

Sarwar Shah, 17, of Earl Street, Blackburn, said: "It was good but there were a few dodgy comments.

"It should be about issues that affect the community, not always about religion."

Anjum Anwar, of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, said: "It is a start. At the end of it we all have the same objectives which is to create a place we can all be happy in."

Canon Chris Chivers, with responsibility for interfaith issues at Blackburn Cathedral, said: "I think we should be encouraging the council. Recognising there is a problem is a massive step towards the solution."

Graham Burgess said after the meeting: "I thought it was a positive second step on what is going to be a long march towards improving relations within Blackburn with Darwen."

Coun Kate Hollern, leader of the council, said: "I am really pleased there's a willingness to discuss issues openly and honestly."

Coun Rigby said: "Attitudes were very frank and open. It was a good step forward."

Coun Foster said: "As long as this is the start of an exercise and not the end then it is a good thing."

Apart from the 100 Voices forum, the project, supported by the Lancashire Telegraph, will also incorporate a further five discussion groups of 100 people representing neighbourhoods.

A steering group will be set up to put into action the ideas that come out of the various 100 forums.