Contact List\ Working towards a closer community

128 East Lane, North Wembley, HA0 3NLCharity Registration No. 287810

BSNL Chairman’s MessageDear MembersI on behalf of the Board of Trustees wish you, your family and friends avery happy, healthy and prosperous 2015 year.This year we have full Trustees Board of 15 Trustees. I welcome all newtrustees who have come forward to serve BSNL.

2014 year was celebrated as 40th anniversary of BSNL organising variousprogrammes by BSNL and our elders group, Abhilasha, and Cultural Club. Ithank all who supported throughout the year. During the year BOT hasagreed in principle to refurbish our building and develop portacabin. Workat our hall is ongoing, toilets down stair have been refurbished and upstairswork of new toilets and independent access upstair will start shortly.We need volunteers for our sub groups and building maintenance team,please join the group of your interest and help us to build a strong BSNL.Over the year we have not only organised various programmes but alsoparticipate in associated organisation such as Diwali at Trafalgar Square,thanks to Harshaben who represented BSNL.I am sure you would join me to thank all trustees, subgroup convenors,and volunteers for their selfless dedication and contribution to BSNL and ofcourse you the members.Many Thanks to all.Our financial accounts are very well maintained by Treasurer and his teamparticularly Mrs Ninaben Joshi. Many thanks to them.Trustee Board has approved plans to develop Portacabin. The Plan is tohave new two storey building in place of portacabin to accommodatearound 150 to 200. Architect is working on the plan and I will time to timelet you know the progress we have made.I strongly believe that united we stand strong as BSNL family. My humbleappeal to all is to get involve with BSNL in whatever way you can.Jai Mahadev

Kind RegardsGunvant Dave

Bhajans

BSNL will start the new year, with our well attended and popular Bhajans programme at our own BSNL house,These are the details.Venue: BSNL HouseDate: Saturday 24 January 2015Time: 8pm till 11pm

Please bring all your family to this popular programme.

Dear Members,If you play an Indian musical instrument, we are looking for and invite you - young or old - to join our BSNLin-house music group and participate during our events (such as bhajans, garbas etc.)!Please contact Trupti Joshi on 07947 807 147 and get involved!

BSNL No. 1 January 2015

Next Programme

Secretary’s Report

BSNL’s Annual General Meeting took place on Saturday 13 December 2014 at BSNL CommunityCentre. This year meeting Chairman of Trustees- Mr Gunvantbhai Dave gave his annual report andhighlighted various functions that were arranged during the year. He reported that unlike last yearthis year there were 13 elected trustees, though one resigned for personal reason but two trus-tees e joined later in the year making total team of 14 trustees.He concluded by saying that we need to stand united and work together for betterment of BSNL.Ramnikbhai Joshi, Treasurer presented the annual audited accounts for the year ending 31 August2014. Any member can obtain a copy of the account by sending stamped self-addressed A4 enve-lope to the Secretary BSNL, 22 Bosworth Road, New Southgate, London, N11 2SY.At this meeting no resolution was received.This year only three trustees to be elected that include Mr Vinodbhai Mehta and Mr Raj Joshi whowere nominated during the year by BOT and Mr Samir Pandya resigned during the year. Nomina-tions were received from Mr Vinodbhai Mehta and Mr Raj Joshi for formal election and HarshabenBhatt. They were unanimously elected to the Board of Trustees. 12 Trustees elected last year con-tinue to serve for two years are Gunvantbhai Dave, Ramnikbhai Joshi, Mukeshbhai Raval, Haren-dra Raval, Mrs Parul Jani, Pramath Pandya, Nilimaben Rawal, Selina Raval, Vandanaben Joshi,Hitesh Purohit, Trupti Joshi and Sumantbhai Desai.At the first meeting of the Board of Trustees following responsibilities were allocated to the Trus-tees:Chairperson – Gunvant DaveSecretary – Harendra RavalAssistant Secretary – TBATreasurer: - Ramnik JoshiAssistant Treasurer: Hitesh PurohitProgrammes and fund raising: Convenors of each event will take responsibility.Membership: - Hitesh PurohitBuilding Upkeep: - Parulben JaniBuilding Development: Gunvant Dave and Vinod MehtaElder’s Club: - Vinod MehtaCultural Club:- Trupti JoshiAbhilasha: - Harshaben BhattGrants: - Vandanaben joshi and Sumantbhai DesaiYoung Brahmin: Vacant.Harendra K Raval( Hon Secretary- BSNL)

BSNL Hall Update

Building Renovations

The refurbishment of the toilets in the Main building have been completed. Plans are in hand to paint the Halls andreplace the current carpets in due course.The Building sub committee is also looking to have a main door built in front of the building which will allow membersto use the stairs instead of the fire escape stairs.There are also plans in hand to build toilets upstairs so that this hall can be used during day time in week days.

For all your Hall hire Enquiries please ring Pramath Pandya on020 8385 1900

Upcoming ProgrammesBhajans

Saturday 24 January 2015 at 8pm till 11pm

Contact; Truptiben Joshi and Vinodbhai Mehta

Valentine Dinner and Dance

14 February 2014 Saturday Check our leaflet.

Mahasivratri Pooja

Tuesday 17 February 2015 from 8pm to 10pm at BSNL Hall.Yajman places will be limited so please reserve early, first come first served.

Contact; Pramath Pandya on 07747802141 and Trupti Joshi to get details of what you have to bring with you forthe Pooja and details of items which BSNL will provide.

Holi Celebration

5 March 2015 Thursday at BSNL Community Centre from 5pm to 9pm.Contact: Truptiben Joshi, Harshaben Bhatt and Raj Joshi

Chaitri Navaratri

22 March 2015 Sunday at BSNL Hall from 6pm to 11pmContact Harshaben Bhatt, Truptiben Joshi, Vinodbhai Mehta

108 Hanuman Chalisa

Saturday 4 April 2015 from 9.00am to 4.30pm at BSNL HallContact Gunvant Dave ( 07877565747) and Nilimaben Raval (07956428050)

Ice Skating: 22 February 2015 Sunday, Check out our Leaflet.

What You Missed

BSNL Bhajan Evening

an evening of bhajans onSaturday 29 November 2014, 8pm onwards at our BSNL hall

featuring the talents of our very ownJatinbhai Acharya, Bhaviniben Bhatt,

Anandbhai Pancholi and Kailashbhai Thaker.

The Christmas Party

The BSNL Christmas Party for all our youngsters was a Big Hit with all. The entertainer was fantasticwith the youngsters, and all had a fabulous time. Santa Claus and the helpers were Superb.Thank you to Hitesh and his team for a Fun and Enjoyable event

BSNL Valentine Dinner & Dance .

Ice Skating

With BSNL at Sobell Leisure Centre, Hornsey Road, N7 7NYon Saturday 21st February 2015, 5pm - 6:30pmTickets: £7 per family member over 5 years of age

(Spectators free)Contact:

Trupti Joshi on 07947 807 147Hitesh Purohit on 07882 571 234

BSNL invite you to come and celebrate our most colourfulfestival of HOLI

at BSNL House on Thursday 5th March 2015

Programme of events:6:00pm - Lighting of the Holi bonfire and pujan followed by Aarti & Darshan

7:00pm onwards Dhuleti colour play

Delicious hot food available for purchase from 6:30pm onwards.

To sponsor this event, or for more information, contact:Trupti Joshi (07947 807 147), Harsha Bhatt (07909 050 120), Raj Joshi(07802 905 770)

Chaitra NavratriChaitra Navratri starts on the first day of Chaitra month and ends on Ram Navami, the ninth day of the month.

The Importance of Chaitra NavratriChaitra Navratri is an important festival for Hindus. Devotees worship Maa Shakti, Goddess of cosmic power, during thistime and wish to be bestowed by divine benediction from Goddess. Fasting and praying mark the Navratri celebrations.Goddess Shakti manifests herself in three different dimensions as Goddess Durga, Laxmi and Saraswati. Navratri is divid-ed into sets of three days to adore these three different aspects of the supreme Goddess.

On the first three days Durga or Goddess of Energy is worshipped.The next three days are devoted to Lakshmi or Goddess of WealthThe last three days for Saraswati or Goddess of Knowledge.On the eighth and ninth day, Yagna (sacrifice offered to the fire) is performed to honor Durga Mata and bid her farewell.On these days Kanya Puja is also performed. Nine young girls (those who have not reached puberty) representing thenine forms of Goddess Durga are worshiped. In some regions a young boy also accompanies them who symbolizesBhairav, who is considered as protector against all evils. Those who worship Goddess without any expectation or desirebeing fulfilled receive her blessings as ultimate freedom from all bondages.BSNL’s Abhilasha invite you all to come and celebrate ChaitriNavratri together at BSNL

House on Sunday 22nd March 2015.

Programme of events:

2:30pm-5pm: RaasGarba5pm onwards: Thaal and Aarti followed by refreshmentsThere is no charge for this event so please come in large numbers to make this event asuccess. Donations are most welcome.Don’t hesitate to call us if you have any queries:Harsha Bhatt – 07909050120, Sandhya Pandya – 07958616432, Trupti Joshi –07947807147

Jai Shree Krishna

Our BSNL Elders Group (eGroup) is thriving thanks to members’ support and the hard work of our dedicated team ofvolunteers and committee members. 2014 was a very successful year for us – finishing with our Christmas Party on 16thDecember which everyone enjoyed. And after a 3 week winter break over the festive season we entered 2015 with ournormal get-together on Tuesday 13th January. And we have planned an exciting programme of events for 2015 includ-ing kite flying picnic, special religious and festive celebrations and parties and a holiday trip for the elderly. There willalso be the usual sing songs, games and discussion sessions, etc. every Tuesday. We are generally limited by spaceconstraints but where possible we will try to keep all our activities and events open to all BSNL members and friends.More details of forthcoming events will be published in this Newsletter nearer the time.

Our normal activities will continue every Tuesday with Elders Yoga (eYoga) managed by Mrs Nirmalaben Rawal, fol-lowed by Bhajans, Bhojan and Manoranjan managed by Mr Shashikantbhai Mehta. A full vegetarian lunch will be provid-ed - managed by Mr Kailashbhai Thaker and Dr Sharadbhai Mehta. And special programmes and events organised byour Deputy Chairman Dr Mukundbhai Mehta. The challenging task of Membership management falls under Mr Harshad-rai Shukla. And we are all assisted by our very able Administrator Mrs Prafulaben Purohit. These good people are oureGroup Committee members also. Plus we are supported by lots of volunteers – too many to mention here.

As you know, due to space restrictions we have had to introduce a “Members Only” policy from last year. With the helpof our Board of Trustees we intend to increase our eGroup capacity this year with a 3 stage strategy of 1. inviting thoseon our waiting list to attend whenever we have known vacancies, 2. to install an outside door to our main building up-stairs hall which has greater capacity than the porta-cabin so that we can invite more people and use it without disturb-ing the Montessori running downstairs, and, 3. to replace the porta-cabin with a 2 storey building to give us the muchneeded greater capacity to offer eGroup membership to all our BSNL elderly members. We will need your patience andsupport for this.

Wishing you a Happy New Year!

Mr Vinod MehtaeGroup Chairman

Elder’s Group

Dear Members,Culture Club (CC) is a fun club for all BSNL children& young people aged between 5 and 18. We meet every Satur-day (10 sessions per school term), between 2 and 4 pm at BSNL house.Since we started in February 2013, we have been going from strength to strength. The group have enjoyed gaininga wealth of learning that includes:Knowledge of 10 common shloks (meanings as well as recitation)The story of RamThe story of Bal-KrishnaThe 9-Durga Roop celebrated during Navratri and ‘Mataji’ in generalThe 10 Vishnu AvatarsAs well as this, our young members now have a catalog of some 20 bhajans, and a few garbas, that they can singalong to (as well as understand) and are well on the way to reading and writing Gujarati!But perhaps the most rewarding things to see are the new friendships that have blossomed within the group(friendships that will hopefully be lifelong) and the fun that the group has together each week.Looking ahead, for the first term of 2015, which starts on Sat 17 Jan, our children will be learning about Lord Shiva.So if your child is aged between 5 – 18, do encourage them to us!For more information, please contact Trupti Joshi (07947 807147),Darshini Joshi (07866 555522) or NutanPurohit(07963 796748)…we look forward to hearing from you!Jai Shree Krishna from Trupti, Darshini, Nutan and all at the Culture Club.

Culture Club