Contact List\ Working towards a closer community

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

BSNL Secretary’s Message

Dear MembersIt is near the end of the year and there have been numerous activities ar-ranged during the year. Navratri and Havan functions were all well attendedand everyone who attended these programmes enjoyed them. See detailedreports.I am sure members who have purchased tickets for the BSNL Diwali Dhama-ka to be held on Saturday 21st November 2015 at Sangam Community Cen-tre 210 Burnt oak Broadway, Edgware HA8 0AP will have a very enjoyabletime with music by Musical StarsThank you to all those very many members who renewed their membershipbefore the start of Navratri. This was a great help to the organisers duringthe actual Navratri function.If you have not yet renewed your membership, the form and details are onour website- www.bsnl.org.uk.Our AGM is on Sunday 6th December 2015 from 3 pm and it is at this timeyou have the opportunity to know what our Society has done throughout theyear and how it carries out various activities.This year also we are organising to sing 11 Hanuman Chalisa before the AGMand also to provide a simple but delicious dinner after the AGM. Come andjoin the Board of Trustees and contribute to make BSNL a successful organi-sation for all us to be proud of. Finally on behalf of Board of Trustees wish you and your family a very HappyChristmas and a Prosperous and healthy New Year.

Harendra RavalHon Secretary and Trustee

BSNL No. 5 - November 2015

A Prosperous New YearTo All Our Members

&

Diwali Dhamaka on Saturday 21st November 2015

This year’s Diwali Dhamaka Programme will be held at Sangam Community Centre 210 Burnt Oak Broadway Edg-ware HA8 0AP from 6.30 pm to 11.30 pm.

Music is by Musical Stars (male singer Manjit Singh and female singer is Lolani).Delicious Dinner will be served followed bythe programme..

Hanuman Chalisa on Saturday 6th December 2015

Leading singers and Musicians from BSNL will be reciting 11 Hanuman Chalisas. Please come and join them.On Saturday 6th December 2015 from 3pmAt BSNL Community Centre 128 East Lane, North Wembley HA0 3NLAfter Hanuman Chalisa we will hold our AGM and then Dinner will be served.

Children Christmas Party Sunday 20th December 2015(Organised jointly by BSNL and UKVBA )

Meet Santa and his elves in his Grotto, enjoy an afternoon full of games.entertainment, and take part in the best dressed com-petition.On Sunday 20th December 2015 from 2.30 pm to 7.00 pmAt BSNL Community Centre 128 East Lane, North Wembley HA0 3NLChildren upto age 16 -Free-Adults £2For further information contact Nutan Purohit on 07963796748 or Hasit Purohit on 07891155207See attached flyer for further details

BSNL Website

We are looking for a volunteer to maintain and update our website on a regular basis If you have the knowledge and are will-ing to assist then please contact Bhavini Bhatt on bbhatt_7@hotmail.com or Harendra Raval on 07956428050. Training will beprovided.

Proud Moments

Congratulations to Mrs Uma Purohit for being voted Employee of the Year at GEM Awards 2015

Congratulations to Ravi Joshi for singing as s chorister of the Chapel Royal Choir at Remembrance SundayService seen on BBC1

NextEvents

Annual General Meeting Sunday 6th December 2015

Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of The Brahmin Society North London will be held onSunday 6th December 2015 at 4 pm at BSNL Community Centre, 128 East Lane North Wembley MiddlesexHA0 3NL

The following business will be transacted at the Annual General Meeting

a) The presentation of the annual report of the Board of Trusteesb) Reports by:(i) Building Maintenance sub-Committee(ii) New Building Project sub Committee(iii) BSNL Elders Group sub-committee(v) BSNL Cultural Club sub-committee(vi) BSNL Abhilasa sub-committee

c) The presentation and acceptance of BSNL’s accounts as at 31st August 2015.d) The appointment of the Independent Examiner, per the Charity Commission Guidelinese) Election of 15 Trustees- If you wish to stand as a Trustee for the following 2years then please completethe attached Nomination Form and send it to The Chairman of Trustees, BSNL, 128 East Lane, North Wem-bley, Middlesex HA0 3NL to reach him by 2nd December 2015f) Receiving recommendations from the Board of Trustees in respect of the subscription rates payable bydifferent categories of members in accordance with clause 5 of the constitution.g) Voting on any proposals of which the Secretary has been notified in writing at least fourteen days beforethe AGM.h) Any other business with the permission of the Chair

If you wish to submit any proposals then please send it to Chair of Trustees BSNL 128 East Lane NorthWembley Middlesex HA0 3NL duly signed and seconded by at least nine Full and/or Life members to reachhim by 2nd December 2015

Please note that there will a programme of singing 11 Hanuman Chalisas from 3 pm and after the AGM din-ner will be served.

Don’t just be a spectator, support your community, come to yourAGM and get involved

Put it in your diary AGM Sunday 6th December 2015

ImportantEvent

Navratri 2015 13th October to 21st October and 24th October

This year again Navratri was celebrated at JFS School in Kenton. Organised jointly with UK Valam Bramih Associationand Bardai Brahm Samaj London,The Festival was very well attended and members enjoyed the music by Musical Stars and enjoyed the refreshmentson sale in the refreshment Hall.A big thank you to all the sponsors ,volunteers and helpers without whose contribution the festival will be difficult toorganise.Check out the BSNL website and Facebook for the photos.Our Navratri celebrations at JFS School featured in the OUT and ABOUT TV programme on Z TV.Thank you also to all members who brought food for the FOOD Bank during Navratri.

A fantastic Childrens’ garba event! on Sunday 18th October 2015

This Navarati, BSNL once again were very honoured to be able to invite children to their very own Garba event atBSNL house.On the afternoon of Sun18th Oct, our newly renovated hall was packed with children and their parents/grandparents.Everyone enjoyed an afternoon of garba dancing and music followed by a delicious meal of kheer, rotli, shak and ma-tar bhat with yogurt – all cooked in-house by a wonderful team of volunteers – Dakshaben Joshi, Induben Mehta,Lalitaben Bharadava and Kamalben Purohit – Thank You ladies!Wonderful vocals were delivered with devotion by BSNL’s very own Jatinbhai Acharya, Bhaviniben Bhatt, ZareenbenRawal, Anandbhai Pancholi, Shivani Joshi and Ravi Joshi with musical support from Kailashbhai Thaker and ShreeyasBhai Mavani– otherwise known as Swar Sarita – We thank you for the music!!!As well as Swar Sarita, attendees were treated to a very special performance by some of the children of our BSNLCulture Club who sang (Vaishali, Alicia, Keiya, Nishika, Janki, Tanishka, Helisha, Diya, Dhruv, Dev, Riya, Ravi) andprovided the music (Shivani, Simran and Ishaan) for four lively garba’s…a special well done and thank you to ouryoung musical stars!!A big thank you also to Dipesh & Shivani Joshi, Manish Vyas, Hitesh Mehta, Bilesh Joshi, Hitesh Purohit, Parul Jani,Ramnikbhai Joshi, Mukeshbhai Rawal and Gunwantbhai Dave who helped with the smooth running of the afternoon’sevents.

But the biggest thank-you must go to all of you who attended enthusiastically and made the event the success that itwas…..as always, already looking forward to next Navratri!Check out the website and our facebook pages for the colourful pictures of this wonderful afternoonJai Ambe from Trupti Joshi & Nutan Purohit (Event Conveners).

Garba at BSNL House on Thursday 15th October 2015

What a fantastic Navratri we’ve had this year!!!!

As you will remember, the JFS School was unavailable on the evening of Thursday 15th October. Rather than missingthe opportunity to celebrate and honour Mataji during this evening, BSNL were happy to hold Garba’s at BSNL Houseinstead.

Attendees enjoyed a fun filled evening of dance and devotion, with wonderful music being provided, on a voluntarybasis, by our own in-house talent: Swar Sarita! Thank you to each and every member of the group for your dedica-tion and hard work in preparing for this evening…you certainly have our appreciation as well as Mataji’s blessings!

Thank you also to everyone who attended and made this evening special.

Jai Ambe from Trupti Joshi, Parul Jani and Nutan Purohit (Event Conveners).

Opening of refurbished Hall on 26th September 2015After completing the renovation of the upstairs Hall an opening ceremony programme was arranged. The ceremonystarted with dinner which was served in the downstairs hall. An opening ceremony was performed by cracking a coco-nut in the new front entrance followed by members proceeding to the renovated hall by chanting Gayatri Mantra.Gunwantbhai welcomed all the members and then Parul Jani lit a Diva and then gave a brief resume of the workdone.

This was followed by cake cutting. The evening continued with Bhajans by BSNL own music group Swar Sarita andmembers from the BSNL E Group.Ice cream was served during the interval and the programme continued with soothing Bhajans.Thank you to all Trustees, Donors and volunteers who helped in this function.

Events So Far

New Hall Ready

Building Renovations

Proud moments for Brahmin MembersBSNL is run through a group of individuals who are willing to give up their own personal time away from their jobs and family.They take on different roles for BSNL from organising and managing our main functions, ensuring that BSNL is represented at allfunctions to maintain our very own building.One such volunteer is Parul Jani. Parul is a just like you and me (maybe a little louder than us). Does she have experience ofensuring smooth running of a hall, ensuring that the heating is always working, water is always running the doors are alwaysopened and closed for all hall hires? No – she doesn’t just like us she is a family woman with a husband, 2 kids and a mother-in-law not to mention a full time job. However this did not deter her taking on the role of Building Trustee.As building trustee she has maintained the smooth daily running of the hall. She has recently gone above and beyond to under-take a project to renovate the upstairs hall. Again did she have experience to do this – no but she knew she had a team shecould rely on to support and guide her. With the help of her team she learnt how to work with builders, plumbers, electricians toundertake a multi month long project. The project started with renovation of the downstairs toilets and has just completed theupstairs hall.Due to the hard work put in by the team led by Parul we now have a hall that we can be proud of. It is absolutely beautiful –modern lighting, wooden floors, increased capacity, upstairs loos, refurbished kitchen and most importantly a separate entranceallowing us to have more than one function in the hall.If Parul can do this – surely we all can find some time in our busy lives to do good for OUR community? We don’t need experi-ence all we need is the willingness to learn and lead.I wanted to use Parul as an example to encourage others to join BSNL and help as much as they can. I also wanted to congratu-late Parul on her mammoth project that she successfully delivered for the benefit of us the BSNL members.Kind RegardsKamal Purohit

Its Festival & Party TimeThis BSNL Hall is Perfect for most Family Functions

Parties and Religious Events

Ring Our Hall Hire Mobile; 07483904979

Events So FarAbhilasha

Visit to Houses of Parliament 26th October 2015Our trip to the houses of parliament was a great success.Everyone turned up on time. And enjoyed the guided tour.Some feedback comments i received, are as follows.Truptiben Joshi"Enjoyable and interesting trip to see the Halls of power...Thank you for organising."Neha Dave"it was very good. Next time with kids...."Kunal" We had good time and enjoyed the tour. Hopefully it was inspirational for younger members of the group. Thank youBSNL."Veena Subramaniam" Thank you for a last minute chance to come and visit the Houses of parliament today. I rally enjoyed the tour. I would rec-ommend it to those who have not been already."Aman Vyas"an amazing trip.So much history behind all  the architecture and the rooms. Simply wonderful to see the surroundings, Gar-dens, and statues.  it was amusing to learn that some rooms are used by the Queen only ones a year...!! Thank you BSNL fororganising.Simran Vyas"It was fun and interesting to see parliament and learn what everyone does there and what the rooms are used for. Also theHistory of it was very interesting. Thank you BSNL for giving me the opportunity.No name"we enjoyed our tour to the parliament thoroughly. it provided lots of information. Please try toarrange next time whilethe debates are on. Thanks."

Havan on Saturday 31st October 2015

We had a very enjoyable Navchandi Havan held at the SKLP Community Centre, West End Road, Northolt, Middlesex UB56RE

on 31st October2015 from 9am - 5pm. Mahaprashad was served thereafter. We had a very good attendance this year.Our sincere thanks to Yajman Mr Nileshbhai and Hema Pandya and Familyand also to Main Priest Mr Kiranbhai Upadhya for conducting an excellent Havan ceremony.Thank you to all the volunteers and trustees who helped in Making Ladus and Mahaprashad and helping during the Havanday. Thank you to all the cash and food donors. Your support is greatly appreciated.Thank you also to Mrs Parul Jani the convenor of this function.

Letter From The YajmanDear BSNL CommitteeOn Saturday 31st October, we had the good fortune to be Yajman for this year's BSNL Navchandi Havan. We cannot expresshow lucky we feel to have had the chance. As a daughter of a past BSNL committee member, I have grown up with the Ha-van and used to come every year with my parents. To actually be sitting in it this year, well it was a real honour and privilegefor us and our families.

From the second our bid was accepted on Aatham, we were looked after by the committee members with help, advice andsupport, on hand day or night. The very next night, Committee representatives came to visit us at home to talk us throughthe event. We did have a lot of questions, and each one was answered with patience and love, as if we were family.

The day of the Havan was incredibly special, one that we will never forget. The Maharaj carried out the vidhi with such careand attention; the shloks recited by the Brahmins seemed to resonate around the hall; most of all the feeling that Mataji her-self had come. We feel blessed to have been part of it.

None of it would have been possible without the wonderful BSNL committee and volunteers. The amount of organisation thatmust have taken place over many months to successfully pull together an event of this scale is incredible, and only possiblebecause of the commitment and dedication we have within BSNL. From organising the donations, shopping, food preparationand cooking at BSNL house, preparing all the items for the Pooja, setting up the night before and on the day and everythingelse that went on that we do not know about, the BSNL committee and volunteers all worked so hard to ensure the eventpassed without a hitch, and always with a smile on their faces. Without such commitment and devotion from you all, we, ourfamilies and the Brahmin community really would not have the chance to experience and be blessed in such a unique event.

This letter is really just to say thank you – to everyone that made the day for us and our families. We will always be gratefulfor all that you did. We are fortunate to have so many wonderful, devoted, hard-working and giving people in our Brahmincommunity. You have all inspired us to become more involved, so that others can have the same opportunity that we havebeen so fortunate to have.

With best wishesNilesh and Hema Pandya

Our BSNL eGroup was launched on 27th May 2009 under the dedicated chairmanship of Mr NavalshankerbhaiVyas. It ran for about one and a half years – until 24th October 2010 - and then due to various reasons it becamedormant for almost 2 years. BSNL re-launched our elders group again on 18th September 2012 under the chair-manship of Mr Vinodbhai Mehta and thanks to the enthusiasm of our elderly members it has flourished with de-mand for membership outstripping our accommodation capacity. This problem became acute in the porta-cabinbut has been solved by our move from the porta-cabin to our larger new beautiful upstairs hall. We can now offermembership to BSNL elders on our waiting list plus offer membership to new applicants. We therefore urge oursenior BSNL members over the age of 60 to apply to join our eGroup asap if they wish to join because once weare houseful we will not be able to take any more members. Please contact our eGroup Membership Manager: MrHarshadraybhai Shukla for an application form on 020 8907 9406 or email: harshadray@talktalk.net

Our eGroup aim and ethos is to give our members a wonderful day out to enjoy bhajan, bhojan and manoranjanamongst friends in a feel good atmosphere and to celebrate our Hindu festivals in style as well as help memberscelebrate their own private celebrations.

My special thanks to our eGroup subcommittee members comprising Mrs Nirmalaben Rawal (eYoga), Mr Har-shadraybhai Shukla (Membership and Health & Safety), Mr Kailashbhai Thaker (Dining and Catering), Mrs Prafula-ben Purohit (Administration), Mr Shashikantbhai Mehta (Manoranjan) and Dr Mukundbhai Mehta (DeputyChairman and Special Events) and Bhartiben Vyas (Special Advisor) and to all our volunteers and to our BSNLBoard of Trustees for their support.

Jai Mataji

Mr Vinod MehtaBSNL Trustee & Chairman of BSNL eGroup07770730202mr.vinod.mehta@gmail.com

Elder’s Group

Culture Club (CC) is a fun club for all BSNL children aged between 5 and 18.We meet every Saturday (10 sessions per school term), between 2 and4:30 pm at BSNL house.

During our sessions, our children learn about Hindu and Gujarati culture, history, religion, lan-guage, music (singing bhajans, garbas, aartis, etc.) and dance (traditional and folk styles) in arelaxed, friendly environment.As well as learning, children gain friends within their own community and have fun.Do encourage your children to join us!For more information on the club, to enrol your child or to offer your services, please contactTrupti (07947 807147) or Nutan (07963 796748)…we look forward to hearing from you!

Culture Club