MARY BURNS AWARDS 2007

Welcome to the MARYS, the most glittering occasion in Salford’s community calendar. Here we honour the most deserving individuals and organisations in the city for their stupid statements, dodgy dealings and iffy activities over the past 12 months.

Please dress up in a monkey jacket or yer best frock while you read this and grab a glass of warm white wine. We would be grateful if you could applaud to yourself after each award is announced. Now, without further ado, let’s get on with the ceremony…

THE `Who can say, 'I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin'? AWARD

Goes to…

OASIS UK

Lots of contenders for this Mary too – like the whole Council Cabinet – but the clear winner is the Christian, Evangelical Alliance-connected foundation that is set to run the new `non-faith’ Academy in Salford Quays.

Oasis founder and Baptist minister, Steve Chalke, told the Star last spring that within the Academy “faith isn’t an issue at all…our Christian faith is what motivates us and drives us forward, it’s not what we expect of anyone else…”

Then we checked out job descriptions for the new Oasis Academy in Enfield where it stated that “It is vital…that our staff own our Christ-centred ethos and the values which flow from it” and “We are looking for a Principal…who owns Oasis’ Christian ethos…”

Since our feature Oasis has now changed the wording in its publicity. But it wasn’t a very pure start for the God-fearing, gospel loving Chalke and his organisation which is set to take over the non-faith community school, Hope High in 2009…

There’ll be more Marys for Oasis next year we’re sure !