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- PressPRESS RELEASE 1 February 2012 Marriage Week launches with positive message: family breakdown doesn’t have to be the norm All around the country churches and community groups are encouraging married couples to use Marriage Week, 7-14 February, to focus on actively nurturing their relationships. Hundreds of local organisers will put on events to encourage healthy marriages in their area. In past years, events have taken the form of Valentine’s suppers, the renewal of marriage vows in local churches, and pub quizzes. Founder and director of Marriage Week, Richard Kane says that: “Too many couples just drift apart and marriages, which could be fantastic, tragically come to an end. It doesn’t have to be this way. “Marriage Week is about saying let’s wake up and be intentional about our marriages, just as we were intentional about making the decision to marry in the first place.” The organisations behind Marriage Week UK, are reporting that the rise of the unmarried family1 correlates with the increase in family breakdown and will highlight the need for stable families throughout the week-long series of events. Speaking on behalf of the coalition, Nola Leach, chief executive officer of CARE, says: “More than two thirds of Britain’s families are headed by a married couple and statistics2 show that these 12 million couples are more likely to stay together because of, not in spite of, being married. “At the basis of marriage should be a decision to commit to each other and to the marriage – it is so much more than two signatures on a legal document.” On 9 February Professor Scott Stanley, one of the world’s leading experts on relationships between couples, will speak at the sixth National Relationships Education Conference as part of Marriage Week. He has studied the way relationships form and develop for more than 25 years and will highlight how commitment can make a difference when couples – especially men – make a decision that a relationship is for life. Professor Stanley says: “People often slide into cohabiting rather than making a firm decision about what exactly they are doing. But if couples think about what they are doing and where they are going together, their decision making can build a stronger, more lasting commitment.” To launch Marriage Week 2012, Sir Paul Coleridge, Rabbi Mirvis and Professor Scott Stanley will speak at an event in the Houses of Parliament on 6 February. Founded in 1997, Marriage Week UK is part of Marriage Week International. There are currently expressions of Marriage Week in 15 countries. Ends Media enquiries: Andrew Green Evangelical Alliance 020 7207 2105 / 07734 194445 a.green@eauk.org For list of events: www.marriage-week.org.uk/events NOTES TO EDITORS: 1. The number of opposite sex cohabiting couple families increased significantly, from 2.1 million in 2001 to 2.9 million in 2011. The number of dependent children living in opposite sex cohabiting couple families increased significantly, from 1.3 million to 1.8 million over the same period. Source: Office for National Statistic. http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/family-demography/families-and-households/2011/stb-families-households.html 2. One in three cohabiting couples separate before their child’s fifth birthday – four times the rate of married parents. Source: Married and Unmarried Family Breakdown by the Bristol Community Family Trust http://www.bcft.co.uk/2010%20Family%20policy,%20breakdown%20and%20structure.pdf Marriage Week Marriage Week UK is a part of the registered charity, The Future Way Trust, which is also spearheading the development of Marriage Week in other nations. It began in 1996 in and has attracted the support and attention of political, religious and media figures, such as David Cameron, Tony & Cherie Blair, Archbishop Rowan Williams, Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Les Dennis, Amanda Holden, Steve Chalke OBE and many others. Marriage Week is supported by the following organizations: 2-in-2-1, CARE, Care for the Family, the Church of England, CWR, Futureway Trust, the Evangelical Alliance, Family Life, Family Time, Marriage Care, The Marriage Course, The Mothers’ Union, New Wine and Time for Marriage. Spokespeople Marriage Week Director Richard Kane 07702426500 richardkane101@gmail.com Marriage Week Chair Nola Leach 02072 274 713 info@marriage-week.org.uk CARE Dr Daniel Boucher, Director of Parliamentary Affairs 07768 165 543 daniel.boucher@care.org.uk Care for the Family Katharine Hill, Director 077966 314 496 Katharine.Hill@cff.org.uk Church of England National media enquiries: 020 7898 1326 Out of hours queries: 07774800212 General email enquries: cofe.comms@churchofengland.org Main contact (fielding enquiries) – Steve Jenkins, Head of Media Relations: 020 7898 1457 (direct line),steve.jenkins@churchofengland.org Evangelical Alliance Dave Landrum, Director of Advocacy 0207 207 2105 or 07734 194 445 d.landrum@eauk.org Marriage Care Terry Prendergast 020 7371 1341 ext. 204 Bridie Collins 020 7371 1341 ext. 203 Mother’s Union Reg Bailey, Director Fleur Dorrell, Head of Faith and Policy 020 7227 9734 07973 667027 New Wine Mark Melluish, Regional Director and Conference Host 020 8799 3778 www.new-wine.org Time for Marriage Andy Banes, Executive Director 0207 193 5615 andy.banes@timeformarriage.org.uk Relationship Central / The Marriage Course Mark Elsdon-Dew, Communications Director 0845 644 7544 www.the marriagecourse.org 2-in-2-1 Dave Percival 07802, 6605242 dave@2-in-2-1.co.uk You have received this Press release or media alert because you are on our mailing list to receive them. If you wish to unsubscribe please reply to this email with ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject field. Equally if you would like to change your email address, contact us. (223494/ Mr A Green /a.green@eauk.org) This email is confidential and intended for the addressee(s) only. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and destroy any copies of it. Unless specifically stated, this email may contain personal views, which are not those of Evangelical Alliance. Emails cannot be guaranteed secure. You should carry out your own virus checks before opening any attachments. Evangelical Alliance cannot accept liability for the content of the message. Evangelical Alliance Registered Head Office: Whitefield House 186 Kennington Park Road London SE11 4BT. A company limited by guarantee Registered in England & Wales No.123448. Registered Charity No.212325 – England, Wales and Northern Ireland: SC040576 – Scotland.
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- EventsMarriage Week events will be different everywhere, it just depends upon who is organising it. So it maybe a quiz night with a particular theme at the local pub or it maybe a Renewal of Vows service in a church. They key components are that it is fun, honours married couples and has some skill based content. Very often Most events take place in local churches -, because clearly Christians are interested in this as a as a subject, but also some of the best skilled based programmes have originated in Church based enterprises’. In 2011 events included Valentines Dinners with an after dinner speaker or comedian, Renewal of Vows services, communication workshops and many other types of event. Last year a total of 664,000 people attended a Marriage Week event worldwide –why not join us in celebrating marriage this year?
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- DonateMarriage is a hugely important issue in our nation. Most people don’t even think about it as a topic, and that’s probably why breakdown is rising in all it’s forms. During a recent radio interview for Five Live, the presenter asked; “what is the greatest challenge facing couples in 2011?”. The answer was of course “ignorance”! Couples clearly want their relationships to work, they just forget how to make it work. Our job is to remind the nation; “If you are fortunate to be in a marriage – you should look after it, and hre are some resources to help you do that”. It takes a great deal of time and effort to set up Marriage Week each year and to be available for and carry out media interviews all year round. We are a fully registered charity called The Future Way Trust, we have independently inspected accounts and we run a pretty lean ship. We are however, still entirely reliant upon the regular £20 per month type of gift aided donations from individuals, and so any contribution you can make is much appreciated. If you are organising an event in your church or community why not donate one pound for each person who comes along? Finally, for your support, Thank you. Click here to make a donation…
- News from 2011Britain. Year 14 Launch at Houses of Parliament – 120 guests (incl 2 bishops and several MP’s) plus press attended. Three speakers including Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Rt Hon. Iain Duncan Smith. Debate in House of Lords Lead by Bishop of Chester with several excellent speeches. 12 Partner Organisations 221 local couple based events 40,000 people physically attend events (est) 28 National newspaper stories 49 Regional newspaper stories Regional radio coverage