Watford Celebration, Tenth Anniversary, Raising Funds for the Victims of Nepalese Earthquake: "Watford Celebration had its tenth anniversary this year on Bank Holiday Monday 25th May. It was a very successful and inspirational event! Some said it was the best of all the Celebrations we did over the last ten years.
Hundreds and hundreds of people streamed through the doors of the Multi Cultural Community Centre and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of entertainment featuring the various ethnic groups and talents of Watford. We were honoured by the visit of Lady Verulam, Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire who said a few words at the start of the event and cut our anniversary cake in the presence of the Chairman of the Watford Borough Council, the area Commander of Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Services and Judge Brass vice Chair of the Board of British Jews. This year it was decided that the money raised through the raffle would go towards the victims of the earthquake in Nepal.
Accordion background music uplifted the atmosphere from the start and people lined up to sample food from around the world. On one plate you could enjoy the dishes of Pakistan, China, Poland, Japan, England, India and more. The performances went through the afternoon with contributions from the Ukulele Sunshine Band; a demonstration of the Japanese martial art, Kendo; Victoria Sponge, a most typical English character and Watford Chinese Association with traditional songs and dances including a fan dance as well as a Tibetan dance. There was also a choir from a local infant’s school, folk singers, the Polish children’s choir with their colourful traditional dress, Vicky Rainbow and a magnificent Gospel choir. In two adjacent buildings other activities were taking place. The Littlebury Hall was holding activities for children as well as face painting and a bouncy castle outside kept the children happy and bouncy. In St Michael and All Angels Church, a model railway of Thomas Town attracted small and big children.
In the vestry of the church, the Sacred Space, there were serious discussions on with the topic of: ‘Freedom of Speech, how far should it go?’ Brahma Kumaris, Christian, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, Sikh, Unificationist and Humanist representatives sat together and shared their opinions on the topic to an attentive audience.
Lady Verulam who was planning to stay 45 minutes ended up staying over 3 hours listening with interest to all the conversations and enjoying it all. Through the raffle, we were able to raise £520 for the victims of the Nepal earthquake which will be donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee.
We thought Watford Celebration 2015, our tenth anniversary, would be our last Celebration. But those who attended the event told us not to give up and many offered to help next year. One participant said: ‘We look forward to next year and please let us know how we can help so that this wonderful event will continue to happen every year.”
Thanks to our generous sponsors and all the volunteers who gave their time and heart to make this event a great success!
Françoise Murphy www.watfordcelebration.com Watford"