1). President -Vinod Parekh announced : i) Last Thursday we celebrated Navratri in a very splendid style - with the live band singing non-stop Garbas and melodious music which was very enjoyable and everyone liked it. The attendance was nearly 300 members and many guests. There is one thing, which I have always reminded to you all, is to sign in the Attendance Register as soon as you enter the Hall. This is very important to give us the correct number of people present in the Programme. Last Thursday only 243 had signed and this shows that around 50 members did not sign in their names. I request you all, please sign your name first in the Attendance Register as soon as you enter the Hall. Hope there will be better records after today.
ii). Regarding the Diwali Dhamaka - our most eagerly awaited programme- if you have not booked your tickets, please do so quickly as we will close any more bookings after next Thursday - 2nd November. There will be no more booking after that. So far we have already booked around 300 and we have many member's guests this year.
Disabled Members & Carers - as usual, we have reserved 3 tables at back and near the Buffet serving area. Bathrooms are also near. Our Volunteers will help prepare your plates.
Rangoli : So far we have not received any names for Rangoli Table. How can we go without that on Diwali celebration ! Does it mean that NVK does not have any Rangoli experts ? Please think about this and come back to us.
Jain Food : We have made arrangements and it will be kept on a separate table. This arrangement is strictly for Jain members.
Dress Code : Ladies in colourful Saris. Gents in Smart Dress. We are pleased to inform that this year we have two prizes - one for the Best Dressed Lady and one for the Best dressed Gent. So start working on this and open your wardrobe to select your best attire. The two prizes have been sponsored by our members.
Gate for entry to the Banquet Hall will open at 10.30 am.
Raffle Prizes : This year we have introduced Raffle prizes. We have received some good prizes. The Ticket we have issued will be your lucky number, so do not loose this. Otherwise you may miss on the prizes. So far we have collected 5 prizes. Our thanks to all Donors.
We have emailed the Route plan on how to reach Blue Room to all members. We hope this will be of great help to all depending on which route they select to reach the venue. Please note for travel by London Overground train - only use the slow train which stops at all stations and not the fast one - or change at HarrowWeald.
Sale of Excess Food : We have collected - £ 37 on 5/10/23
£ 64 on 10/10/23
£ 29 on 19/10/23
Aarti Collection on 19/10/23 - £ 219.19
2). Today's Warm up Yoga was conducted by Dineshbhai T Shah and the main Yoga by Manishaben. She conducted many Yogic poses for toning up the body joints and muscles and giving benefits to health for each poses. She stressed how to do these poses correctly. Her main theme today was on Yoga poses on Balancing and the health benefits. Many thanks to both from NVK.
Next week - members to bring their Yogic Belts.
3). DONATIONS : a) £86 from Hansaben Patani on the occasion of her 86th birthday on 30/10/23. NVK's many thanks and we pray that she will continue to enjoy many more birthdays to come.
b) £51 from Laxmiben Meghani as 'Khusi Bhet'. Many thanks from NVK.
c). £ 25 from Batukbhai Sanghrajka who celebrated his birthday two weeks ago. Many thanks from NVK and we pray that he will continue to celebrate many more birthdays to come.
Navratri Donations : £ 11 from Kantaben Ramanbhai Mehta.
£ 10 from Dr. Suresh Parikh
£ 11 from Shantaben Pindoria.
£ 25 from an anonymous donor.
NVK's many thanks to all above donors.
4). After lunch today our Cultural Co-Ordinator - Dr Vinodbhai Kapashi has arranged
a programme of Health, Wellbeing and Nutrition. We have invited Ms Nishaben Hirani who teaches many aspects of health related matters.
As usual at Tea Time, NVK will provide Tea/Coffee and the sponsored Biscuits.
(Todays Lunch Menu included : "Garam loose Mohanthal", Khaman Dhokra, Bhakhri, Kichdi/Kadhi, Spinach/bateta/mattar nu saakh etc )
The afternoon programme started at 2.15 pm after our Cultural Co-Ordinator - Dr Vinodbhai Kapashi introduced Nishaben Hirani.
NVK had invited Nishaben Hirani to give a talk on Nutrition and Well-being. She is an expert in health and Nutrition matters. She gave a very valuable advice on balanced diet and necessity of taking proper food supplements in our diet. Some of our age old beliefs about the roughage in food, Source of Protein and Calcium etc are not completely true. We need more roughage than we think as the real roughage comes from various leafy vegetables only. Modern milk does not give us Calcium. For real protein we can eat Soya products. (doctors permitting).
Nishaben's colleague - Chandrika Patel also spoke about her life. She had met with an unfortunate accident and was in bed for six years. She strictly followed the natural life-style and health related foods. She started doing Yoga etc. She has almost recovered now.
NVK thanked both the ladies for their very informative information. As a token of appreciation our Secretary - Purnimaben Mehta presented a Rose Bouquet to Nishababen.
The programme ended at 3.15 pm. Everyone enjoyed the talk - specially as Nishaben gave hilarious examples and cracked jokes often. This was another very good programme.
5). Next Thurs – 2nd November we will have a programme of Diwali 'Mistan' recipes. More information will follow.
6). Winter time change - Don't forget to change your clocks one hour behind before you go to sleep on Saturday - and enjoy an extra hour's sleep. In UK the time is changed on Sunday - 29th October at 2.00am and we will be on GMT.
7). Vice President - Dr. Vinodbhai Kapashi announced that for this afternoon's programme we have invited Nishaben Hirani and it will be a very informative talk on health matters.
TODAY’S ATTENDANCE FROM THOSE WHO SIGNED THE REGISTER : 210
TODAY’S WEATHER AND TEMP : CLOUDY/RAINY & SUNNY AFTERNOON 15 C