New Office Bearers

An exciting 2009-10! May be because we were all eternal optimists! Spare a thought - 2009-10 was indeed eventful compared to previous years!  We celebrated Onam, Deepawali, Christmas.  We were invited to a visit to Bangor Police Station; couple of our children meritoriously passed out in the ‘Dealing with Difference’ project run by the Down and Castleregah PSNI.  We had a Cultural Integration day with Kilcoly Pensioners’ Forum and had organised Saree Demonstration in February.  Our organisation became affiliated to UUKMA!  Our Childrens’ group, run for few months was a fairly successful programme, till everyone tired out.  Barring the summer months, our Badminton Club was a roaring success. We also had our opportunity to empathise by private Fund-Raisers when disaster struck Sachin Jolly (Whiteabbey), Sreekanth (Londonderry) and Martin Joseph (Belfast). 

On the other hand some of our key players have since left us on account of higher studies or migration, their presence is still immensely felt and are hard to replace! While some of our members were forthcoming with ideas and plans to better our association, only few had had the time to spare. For most our association remains an alien entity.

Fortunate that we are in a new era now! A new committee having a positive outlook took over in the recently held Annual General Meeting. Of course, the outgoing committee members had all contributed their maximum in making our previous year memorable and momentous. And I thank the erstwhile office bearers on behalf of all members of BMA. That their efforts were not negated is amply attested by the appreciation shown by North Down Borough Council. We stand commented by the Council on three counts: (1) Raising more than one third of our annual expenses from amongst our own members and well wishers. (2) Brilliant event management skills exhibited by our members prior to and during the events, and (3) staging the best community programme amongst all ethnic communities programmes in the North Down & Ards Council area – our Onam 2009 was adjudged the best!!. Your efforts deserve all the Kudos and the new Committee salute all of you!!!

Here is the list of new office bearers.

1. Chairperson………….…... Varkey Abraham
2. Secretary. ……………….. Joseph Lookka (Sojan)
3. Treasurer. ……………….. Aji K. Joseph
4. Committee Member………Antony Thomas (Lalichan)
5. Committee Member………Job Joseph (Raju)
6. Committee Member………Joby George
7. Committee Member………Matthew Johannan

Opportunities are aplenty to join hands and make your presence felt. Share your opinion – negative or positive, or ideas however trivial it might sound, may we can implement some of your ideas in this year. We need your support and well wishes to make the forthcoming year equally eventful! Without you, nothing can happen!


Varkey Abraham
Chairperson.

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