pin bowling. Four lanes were booked, and the children got into a very competitive mood very soon. Everyone had a brilliant time and it was great to see all the children having so much fun and making new friends, while the adults were able to catch up with each other, and also have a game or two of bowling.
We organised a“ Samaj Sewa Day” on Saturday 25th March to carry out odd jobs in the Samaj building, and it was great to see so many members give up several hours of their time supporting this. As a team we managed to get the cupboards upstairs tidied up, radiators in the hall fixed, main hall painted, loose tiles in washrooms removed, garden behind tidied up, and electrics for the new heating system installed.
In April we organised a“ Bollywood 70s Night” fundraising event to raise funds for Kidney Research UK and for the new heating installed in our hall … and what a success it was! The event was a sell out and everyone had a blast! It turned out to be fun filled night with lovely food( prepared by our own Mahila team), great dance performances, lots of music masti and opportunities to take photos with Amitabh, Ashwariya, Aamir Khan and Govinda! We raised over £ 7,000 and were supported by members of Coventry branch too, to whom we are thankful.
Birmingham branch was privileged to have supported several HQ events in 2017. We hosted an incredibly successful 5th Seniors Sneh Milan on Sunday 11th June. A record attendance of 1,050 people was present, celebrating 70 years of Indian Independence with some high-quality performances from Birmingham, Leicester and London! It was excellent to see so many of our volunteers help with pre-event preparations such as the planning and cooking of the breakfast, dedicating time over the weekend in setting up the hall and supporting the event on Sunday with car parking, serving breakfast and lunch, first aid, collecting donations, manning the hall, welcome dance( swagat geet), preparation for the Aarti, to name but a few.
Birmingham also had the opportunity to help with the registration desk duties at the HQ Mahila Samelan held in Leicester, and we had the pleasure of hosting the HQ Golf Day at the West Midlands Golf Club followed by an evening BBQ. Many members together with the committee helped with the pre-event planning and volunteered on the day, and most importantly, all the golfers had an enjoyable day.
We celebrated Navratri this year with record attendances in a long time. The vibe and excitement created throughout the year, coupled with new ideas of introducing more professional music drew the crowds. The young and old members both enjoyed playing“ ramzaniyu” and“ sanedo”- introduced in Birmingham for the first time- in addition to the traditional garba and dandiya raas. We also thank Walsall branch for participating in our Navratri this year at the weekend.
We also held a very enjoyable and well attended Children’ s Navratri workshop where the children had presentations on Navratri, watched a movie on the legend of Navratri, decorated Aarti plates followed by the children performing the first Aarti.
vol. 42 | Prajapati Sandesh 2017 57