Following on from last years Diwali event Govind once agin put his hand up to run a repeat. The fact that we ended up with such a well attended and enjoyable event is a testament to Govan's energy and commitment.While it would have been good to have had more of our own members there the final group of over 100 enjoyed a celebration of food, culture and friendship.
Festivities opened with a parade of saree modelled by members partners, family and friends. Getting set up in a saree is no quick matter and "saree draping" started at 4.00 with the parade starting at 6.00.
Govind and Sandhya had clearly spent a lot of time engaging a series of very professional entertainers that ranged from an electric violinist through to a demonstration of yoga.
Mike Collins once again was auctioneer and did a great job extracting money from attendees.
That income plus the surplus from the ticket price meant that Govind was able to present Richie Barnett [past captain of the NZ league team] with a cheque for $4500 for I am Hope. Members will be aware that, that charity has recently received a sizeable Government contribution but its worth noting that Richie pointed out that the money is not provided for the running of the charity so they continue to rely on public support for that.