Make kindness your Golden Rule! The story of how charities and the North London faith community helped when thousands were without gas in winter.

by Bex Gilbert, communications consultant, VCS Emergencies Partnership.

In January 2025 a gas outage affected thousands of people in North London in the middle of a cold snap. We’ve chosen Golden Rule Day (April 5), to share this story of how a local multi-faith forum became part of an integrated community response.

The Golden Rule - 'treat others and the planet as you would like to be treated’ - is found in practically every religion and society. This day highlights the Golden Rule as a unifying value that everyone can use as a starting point for collaboration and change-making and this story is an example of bringing that concept to life. 

The incident began on January 12 when an Affinity Water pipe burst, flooding the gas network operated by Cadent Gas. This led to the loss of gas service for over 3,000 properties. Resolving the issue was long and complex and a week later 2,000 homes were still without gas. All gas supplies were restored by January 27 so, in total, the incident lasted two weeks.  

Support for priority households

British Red Cross emergency response volunteers were called out by Cadent Gas to knock on doors and offer welfare support to 500 households on the priority service register.

Red Cross volunteers Derin, Camilla and Andy were among those arriving to help and the Red Cross also reached out to the wider voluntary, community and faith sector via its networks in London. Steve Miller, organiser for the London-wide multi-faith forum, posted a message on their Whats App group asking for organisations that could offer volunteers. Members of the Haringey Multi-Faith Forum (MFF) stepped up to create a multi-pronged community response.

A British Red Cross volunteer and a worker wearing high vis knock on the door of a house affected by the North London gas outage in January, 2025, to offer support.

A photograph of REACT volunteers talking to a worker from the gas company, during the response to the North London gas outage in January, 2025.

Shared values

Bibi Khan is chair of the forum, which describes itself as “a family united by shared values of love, unity and respect” and was co-founded by her and Rabbi David Mason, on human rights principles. It now has a diverse group of members, including people from Muslim, Jewish, Pentecostal and Buddhist communities. 

After Bibi put the word out on the forum’s Whats App group, Rabbi Sandra Kviat, community Rabbi for Crouch End Chavurah and Niki Cooper, representing the SGI Buddhists in the area, were able to find volunteers who could respond in addition to the Red Cross and REACT volunteers who were already active. 

Sandra says: “We sent out a message to our members saying what had happened and asking if anyone was free to come and do some knocking on doors. Some people came once, some people multiple times. Five or six people helped over several days and Niki, from the Buddhists, had more. The Red Cross and Cadent created a very helpful spreadsheet which we used to organise shifts. 

A photograph of Cori Josias (left) and Niki Cooper (right), members of the Haringey Multi-faith Forum (MFF) dressed in high vis as they volunteered to help priority households affected by a gas outage in January 2025.

Flexible volunteering

“We’re quite a young community. There are very few retired people and most people are in work and have children, so daytime volunteering is harder for them. We found a mixture of people who were working part time, who were retired, or who run their own businesses so had the flexibility to come along for allocated time-slots. 

“People were paired up, briefed and then sent out to offer electric heaters, blankets and other items to people. The volunteers said they were mostly offering reassurance, letting people know they were being thought of and making sure everyone was aware where to go for things like hot showers, if they needed them. The volunteers went back to the community centre at the end of their shift, to hand over any information they needed to, especially about unmet needs. Mostly everyone was fine, they were just really glad to be asked. We got some beautiful messages afterwards to say thank you.” 

Strengthening local connections and understanding

Niki Cooper, the forum member who represents the SGI Buddhists, also found five or six volunteers who could help. She says: “We were wearing high vis jackets and visiting vulnerable households. We had interesting chats with all the other volunteers and Cadent Gas about where we came from and our different faith groups, as well as meeting people from the Red Cross and REACT. It was really interesting. I knew the Red Cross existed but didn’t know they got deployed in situations like this. It was really well-organised and we were well briefed. There were lots of different responses to the crisis. Everything from people who were rallying to the moment, to the more vulnerable people who were really scared or nervous, and not used to having contact with people. Others were angry and frustrated. You had a whole range of human responses. A guy from Afghanistan was holding our hands and saying ‘thank you so much, this is so amazing, I can’t believe you’re doing this’.  

“Cadent were good with information so we could update people in detail. They were very honest, and didn’t over-promise. They said they were 80% confident they’d have everyone back on by Sunday, and they got everyone back by Friday evening in the end. Most people said they appreciated us being honest with them.” 

Praising a team effort

From the point of view of Red Cross volunteer Andy, it was ‘rewarding’ working with other organisations supporting people and he ‘learnt a lot’. “It’s not always like that,” Andy says. He added: “Cadent were dishing out the work and were switched on and good at sorting out a crisis situation. Affinity Water were doing a lot of the same kind of stuff we were doing and they were a good bunch of people. The REACT team worked well too. I was impressed with the team effort.” 

Covid’s community-building legacy

The success of the January response was more proof of the value of a multi-faith forum that grew in strength during Covid-19 when the mosque became a vaccination centre open to everyone. Sandra says: “During Covid, the faith communities in general did so much of the communication and calming, reassuring people things were ok and that they could trust the NHS. The council and NHS asked the multi-faith forum to relay these messages because certain segments of the faith population weren’t getting accurate information. At the height of Covid we had weekly meetings online, talking through and interpreting rules so we could explain what they meant to our communities. Some members of our communities don’t trust police, or NHS, or anyone, so this was so important” 

Local union amidst a global crisis

The cooperation and fellowship continued after the Pandemic, with the mosque hosting a Holocaust Memorial Day education event, where Holocaust educators spoke to local school children, for example. Sandra continues: “After the events of October 7 in Israel, Bibi was one of the first people to call me to see if we were alright. Our multi-faith forum didn’t fracture. Lots of others did. I think it’s partly to do with the personalities of who we all are. We want this. It means that whatever kind of emergency we’re talking about there’s connection and understanding that although we don’t necessarily agree on everything, there’s no need for shouting at each other. There’s always been a deep level of respect and understanding.” 

That’s a sentiment echoed by Bibi, who is proud of the work of the multi-faith forum, and has been able to communicate its successes through her role as a Deputy Lieutenant, part of a network of people providing the ‘eyes and ears’ of good work in communities and reporting that back to His Majesty The King. She says: “This is about the good work in communities to build bridges. At this time, more than any other time, it’s where we need to ignore things that are going on in the wider world. I’m not saying you forget them but there are greater demands on us as individuals, so that’s why I want our work to be known.” 

More information on Golden Rule Day

Originally a project born out of interfaith organising in Africa, and particularly Ethiopia, Golden Rule Day was founded in 2007 by the United Religions Institute (URI)in to promote the universal values of empathy, compassion and peace.