The first Northern Christian Muslim Conference takes place at Hinsley Hall.

Speakers and workshops will tackle issues including working with a range of people – children, youth and university students, hospital patients, and prisoners.

Ahtsham Ali, the Muslim Prisoner Advisor for the prison service is one of the keynote speakers. He said: "At a time when walls are coming down among nations and superpowers, we cannot afford to build them in our own back yards."

"We need to go beyond our comfort zones. We need to take courage and delve into the no-go areas of our thinking. We need to shatter the 'us and them' mentality which is gaining ground from all quarters".

Canon Frances Ward, from Bradford Cathedral, said: "We need to move from toleration to trust, and make spiritual friendship a central quality to building lasting relationships, both personally and politically."

The Christian Muslim Forum is the first national organisation bringing the two major faiths together. Chairman Dr Musharraf Hussain said: "We aim to create more co-operation and more grassroots joint projects. In the current climate of suspicion, where extremists too often grab the headlines this is what we urgently need."