Hello to everyone in the community,
We hope you are all in good health and enjoying the run up to Christmas.
It’s been a busy 2023 for the JKSM Committee with us hitting the 50-year milestone! Without all of your support no matter how big or small this would not have been possible; we would not be here to write this so we thank you all for having faith and trust in us all these years.
With this in mind, we are planning to make 2024 a year where we engage you all a lot more, provide a variety of different experiences / events to keep you all excited. At present we are finalising a few events in addition to our annual Diwali event and will release more information via the website once we have these confirmed. Watch this space!
Now that the website has had its first phase of release, we are looking to incorporate more features such as:
- A calendar to check when religious occasions are happening
- Regular updates via the new News Page
- A section that explains what the religious occasions are and why we do these certain ceremonies. Nived,
- As discussed in the Diwali Meet & Greet this year, a place for community members to advertise their business (We are still planning on the functionality and pricing of this so will update you all when we can).
- A survey will be sent out in the new year to ask for your opinions on what matters most to you and what you would like to see happen from JKSM. Would you be interested in seeing a Navratri evening and Lalabapa Tithi happen again?
As you are aware, the JKSM organisation is a charity and thus relies purely on the rental income from its property along with your donations each year. In order to visually see our funding levels, there is now a barometer on the homepage and this article to show where we are in terms of finances. It’s a bit of an eye opener and as always, we are grateful for any donation no matter how big or small. You can donate at the annual Diwali Meet & greet as per norm or at any time via the website through the donate button in the header and in the finance section. If we were to have the target level of funding, not only could we offer a lot more events and experiences, but all of these would be free.
As we move well into the festive period, we would like to take this opportunity to wish your loved ones and yourselves a safe, healthy and happy Christmas and fantastic new year ahead. It may not be a festival we celebrate for its religious meaning but it’s one of the main opportunities we have every year to all get together with our family and friends to have a catchup and a few days away from work. On that note, here are some fun facts for you to quote at the dinner table…..
- It’s been calculated that in order to successfully visit every home in the world on Christmas Eve, Santa, Rudolph and the gang would need a sleigh that could travel at approximately 2,340,000 mph and the sleigh would weigh around 354,430 tonnes to carry all the gifts!
- There’s a staggering £21 billion that will be spent this year on Christmas gifts for family and friends!
- There are a massive 300,000,000 Christmas crackers pulled over the holidays.
- Amazon received 41 orders per second on its busiest day last Christmas!
- Apparently, most of us will pour ourselves a first glass of something special at 11:07am….cue that Sharaabi soundtrack!
- Amazingly, with all of the wrapping paper that we throw away at Christmas, you could reach the moon
- ‘Last Christmas’, ‘Fairytale of New York’ and ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ — will be aired 404,000,000 times across UK radio over the festive period.
- 17,000,000 hours will be spent online shopping on Boxing Day
- A whopping 17,500 homes could be powered for an entire year with the electricity we would save if everyone switched to using LED lights at Christmas!
Keeping on the festive note, for those not aware, our very own Dipak, Nilesh and Vishal Parmar featured on the hit BBC show “The Repair Shop” Christmas Edition in 2021 and was repeated again on Wednesday 13th December. It’s an amazing back story as you may all be aware of Dipak’s condition with Motor Neurone Disease, he has attended the Diwali meet and greet several times and given superb information on the condition and the impact it has on him and his family. Nilesh and Vishal attended the Repair Shop to have Dipak and Nilesh’s old electric train set they have had since the 1960’s in Kenya, restored and functional again. It made for fascinating viewing and is very heartwarming, perfect for this time of year.
We have collated all the footage of the Parmar’s on the programme and created a video of it:
Alternatively, you can watch the full episode via BBC iPlayer
It seems as though a few in our community have had a moment of fame on the BBC! Our committee member, Devin Chawda, has also appeared on Frontline Fightback which aired earlier this year. It’s a show about how technology is being used to beat everyday crime – “The smart technology and specialist tactics that are transforming policing – and bringing offenders to justice.” We have collated the footage of Devin on the programme and created a video of it:
Alternatively, you can watch the full episode via BBC iPlayer
There was also a news article on this subject which he featured in that you can read on BBC news.
High-tech security battling theft
In addition to this, committee member Hasmita Chauhan’s daughter, Aneeka Chauhan, was on the Everyday Hustle podcast to discuss her pioneering haircare brand which has garnered attention from major publications such as British Vogue and OK Magazine. Aneeka was also invited to share her journey on the BBC Asian Network, shedding light on how she successfully continues to grow the business.
A VERY well done and congratulations to all those involved in doing what they do and showing what remarkable talent we have within our very own community. You make us proud and we wish you continued success in your own stories. If any of you have similar stories please do get in touch!
As a final note, our JKS President Mr. Nilesh Nagar has this message for you all:
“I send you my very best wishes for success, happiness, and good health. We extend our warm wishes to our community and wish you fun-filled celebrations with your family and friends. Wishing you glory and prosperity this Christmas! May your newfound energy, dreams, and future hopes be infused by the Christmas season”
Have a wonderful time over the next coming days and we look forward to engaging with you all in the new year.