Autumn in London. Monday October 1st. Opposite Hyde Park. The leaves are starting to fall. New York is four thousand miles away yet for one hundred and fifty Guyanese gathered in the London High Commission as the winter nights drew in, Manhattan Year Zero was right there in their hearts. They'd joined together in an inter faith memorial service for the twenty-four dead Guyanese in the World Trade Centre outrage of September 11th. Their common link - Guyana. Their motherland.

High Comissioner Laleshwar Singh set the tone for the evening when in his opening address he talked of the "the deep sense of loss, anguish and pain" experienced by the UK/Guyanese diaspora and the fact that the World Trade Center might be rebuilt physically but the "emotional trauma experienced by the families of the victims will not easily and swiftly be healed". The suffering was trans-national: "We feel the pain of our fellow Guyanese who have suffered".

The service was truly ecumenical and crossed all religious barriers. The Reverend Ivelaw Bowman spoke for the Christian churches. For the Hindu faith, Pandit Ramsarran Sankar said those who died were "making a sacrifice for a noble cause - the future freedom of mankind". He was followed by a wonderful rendition of 'Amazing Grace' and Iman Wazir Khan for the Muslim Guyanese. He poured oil on the troubled waters by equating Islam with "peace in our thoughts, our ideas, our hearts and our actions". These "Packages of peace" he offered to the whole community. This was received well but in silence.

High Comissioner Singh rounded off a memorable evening by calling for the spirit of "togetherness and solidarity" present in Bayswater Road on that autumn evening to export itself back to the native land. The audience, which included visiting Georgetown Deputy Mayor Robert Williams listened and approved.

It may have been autumn in England but it felt like a new spring. The Cold winter of the World trade disaster was three weeks gone. Was it time for a new beginning?