Category: News and Events

Venue: Virginia Water, Surrey GU25 4QF
Date and Time: Saturday 30th June 2018, 10.30 AM to 6 PM

Our annual summer trip happened on 30th June 2018 at Virginia Waters, Surrey. Virginia waters is part of Windsor Great Park. It was the inspired creation of William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, and Ranger of Windsor Great Park from 1746 until 1765.

In 1753 the Duke dammed the eastern end of Virginia Brook to create the largest manmade lake then in Britain. The lake and its surrounding landscape have been a favoured retreat for royalty for over two hundred years.

It was a lovely spot to spend the day – the lake was shallow enough for wading, there were numerous paths for strolling, and plenty of places to picnic or just sit and watch the world go by.

The committee team started reaching the venue from 10:30 AM and the members started arriving from 11:30 AM. The team occupied a few benches in the well shaded entrance area. Our chettiars and the children started playing a gentle game of cricket and our achi’s enjoyed a game of cards. It was a lovely sunny day.

Once all the members arrived, our lovely nagarathar ladies started organizing the delicious home cooked food to serve to the members. Children had their food, followed by chettiars and then the achi’s. Seemed like everyone relished their food, chatting and having a laugh. Some members also had an opportunity to nap after lunch.

After lunch, members had a nice, pleasant stroll alongside the river stream, where we found a nice stretch of area to play some more cricket in the woods. The senior members sat under the trees and spectated the match.

Sachin and Varun were the captains of the two teams. As it was on the same day as the France Vs Argentina match, the teams were names Paris (Varun’s team) and Buenos Aires (Sachin’s team). Buenos Aires scores 34 runs in 6 overs. Paris successfully chased the score with a few balls to spare.

While this interesting cricket match was going on, the ladies and girls had their own time of joy with a game of Kho Kho.

After tiring ourselves out with having great fun, we had some wonderful home made halwas and vadas before wrapping up for the day.

We called it a day and walked back to the car park. The event ended at around 6pm.

Special thanks to the achi’s (and chettiars) for the delicious food:

• Chicken Briyani – Meena Ashok
• Veg Briyani – Kaveri Lakshmanan
• Sambar rice – Unna Muthiah
• Potato Masala – Lakshmi Laks Alagappan
• Curd Rice – Sharmila Mohan
• Chapathi – Nachammai Manikandan and Uma Venkatesh
• Paneer Curry – Geetha Vijay
• Veg Kurma – Saraswathi Annamalai
• Medu Vada – Uma Valliappan
• Carrot Halwa – Swarnam Nachiappan

Our next event is the Deepavali celebration which is scheduled for Saturday November 10th. Please save the date.

We need our sangam children to come out and participate in the event with passion. Get them ready to exhibit their skills on the day!

Photos

Thank you,
Laks Alagappan
Secretary on behalf of LNS Committee 2018/19

Venue: Temple Hill Community Centre,Temple Hill Square,
Littlebrook Manor Way, Dartford DA1 5HY
Date and Time: April 14th, 2018, 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM

The LNS Tamil New Year Function was held at the Temple Hill Community Centre, Dartford. LNS members started arriving at the venue from 1:30 pm onwards and the event lasted until 5:00 pm. The meeting was attended by approx. 150 members including adults and children, an amazing turnout.

Our Sangam president Mr. Lakshmanan Somasundaram welcomed all the members to the event from time to time, encouraging attendees to register for the event who had not registered earlier.

The traditional lighting of the kuththu villakku was done by Mrs Annapoorani Achi and Mrs Vasantha Achi.

The event started with a prayer song beautifully sung by our Sangam children followed by light music entertainment from DJ Majuran and singers, which was interspersed with the Sangam events.

As per tradition, our Sangam members volunteered to serve the lunch consisting of vegetable dishes, chicken biryani and accompaniments. Members helped themselves to soft drinks, tea and coffee which was available throughout the event. Our sincere apologies for those few families who came later for the shortage of lunch (this was due to the unexpected number of members who turned up after registration).

The Sangam children performed the following activities. Well done all:

• Aishwarya Kannammai Chidambaram – Prayer song
• Anishwar Ashok – Prayer song
• Muthu Palaniappan Ramanathan (Ajay) – Prayer song
• Sanjana Subramanian Bharatanatyam and Folk dance
• Nithyashri Annamalai – Bharatanatyam
• Vishan Senthil – Speech – Why to learn Tamil
• Nithyashree Alagappan – Dance – Kannukkul Pthi Vaithen

President Mr. Lakshmanan requested new members to introduce themselves and asked all members to collect the new LNS directories for 2018-19. LNS welcomes the new members.

The external sponsor for the event (Mr Nitin Trivedi representing Wealth Max Financial Advisers) introduced himself and encouraged Sangam members to come and enquire about investment opportunities and suggestions. Members can still contact him, his details are: , Nitin Trivedi, M- +44 7761508422, E- nitin.t@wealthmax.co.uk

Thiagarajan annan awarded mementos to all the Sangam children who had performed at the event.

This was followed by the hand over to the new committee. The outgoing committee shared their thoughts/experiences and welcomed the new committee. A small token of appreciation (personalised photo placemat / display) was provided on behalf of our President Mr. Lakshmanan by Thiagarajan Annan to the outgoing committee: Mr Annamalai Chockalingam (Secretary), Mrs Uma Rajeswari Valliappan (Treasurer), Mr Ashok Chellappan (Webmaster), Miss Kavitha Shanmugam (Committee) & Mr Siva Chockalingam (Committee), well done all and thank you for your efforts and hard work. The outgoing committee presented a box of chocolates as their thanks to President Lakshmanan for his valued dedication and hard work during this past one year.

Before the new committee was introduced, President Lakshmanan and Mrs Uma detailed the costs and income incurred by the Sangam for the year 2017/18. Our President requested explained the importance of the Sangam members registering in advance for our Sangam events, as this helps with the event planning. It was noted that everyone cannot commit to attendance as last-minute changes to schedules affects the number of members able to attend, advance registering was encouraged to help avoid this.

The new committee for 2018-19 is as follows:
President – Mr. Lakshmanan Somasundaram
Secretary – Mr. Lakshmanan Alagappan
Treasurer – Mrs. Sharmila Mohan
Committee member – Mrs. Vijay Narayanan
Committee member – Miss. Kavitha Shanmugam
Webmaster – Mr. Ashok Chellappan

This concluded the Tamil New Year celebrations which was followed by Thiagarajan Annan’s 80th Birthday celebrations. More guests arrived making the birthday celebrations truly enjoyable. The birthday celebrations included friends and guests of Thiagarajan Annan whom praised him and shared poems, anecdotes and their experiences.

The LNS committee would like to thank all members who voluntarily helped to set up, co-ordinate, served food and clean up the hall throughout the event, we appreciate your assistance.

We thank our sponsors:

• Mrs Vasantha Achi for the flowers
• Mr Nitin Trivedi (Wealth Max Financial Advisers) for his generous contribution towards the costs for the event

Thanks to all those who took and shared their photos:

Photo link:
Video link:

Our next LNS event: Summer Trip, tentative period in mind – Late June 2018. Further details to follow.

Thank you
Regards,
LNS Committee 2018/19

Venue: Bromley Parish Church, Church Road, Bromley, Kent, BR2 0EG
Time: 5:00 PM to 10:30 PM Dec 30th 2017

The LNS Pillayar Nombu was held as per the LNS tradition at Bromley Parish Church, Church Road, Bromley, Kent, BR2 0EG. Members started arriving from 4:30 pm onwards and the event lasted until 10.30 pm. The meeting was attended by 66 families (nearly 130 adults and 60 children), which was an amazing turnout.

As new a initiative, our Sangam children were involved in doing the “Nadu Veetu Kollam”. Kudos to the team for for drawing such beautiful kollam. Mr Lakshmanan Somasundaram welcomed all the LNS members for coming. The LNS children were given the opportunity to talk about our Nagarathar temples and traditions. Thereafter the event was initiated by lighting the kuthu vilakku by Mrs Annapoorani Achi along with Mrs Vasantha Achi and Mrs Sivagami Achi. This was followed by a prayer song by our children. Following the prayer song, Pillaiyar Nonbu ellais’ were given by Mr Thiagarajan, Mr Shanmugam and Dr Manibabu.

After all the members had the ellai, our traditional yellam was conducted by Mr Karuppiah ,Mr S. Senthilnathan and Mr Sendhil Ramanathan. This year our yellam amount reached a new target of £4653. Details of yellam items is as follows:

• Nattu chakkarai – Mr & Mrs. Thenappan, £101
• Karkandu – Mrs. Sivakami Achi, £201
• Rock salt – Mr & Mrs. Kumar Muthalagappan, £501
• Table salt – Mr & Mrs. Karthik Swaminathan, £101
• Manjal – Mr & Mrs. Kumar Muthalagappan, £1001
• Coconut – Mr & Mrs. Lakshmanan Somasundaram, £101
• Lime – Mrs. and Mr C.Nachiappan, £101
• Pattu Saree and Vesti – Mr & Mrs. Valliappan Ramanathan, £101
• Kamatchi vilakku – Mr & Mrs. Sendhil Ramanathan, £101
• Silver tumbler – Mr & Mrs. Manikandan Chidhambaram, £181
• Silver house – Mr & Mrs. Senthil Panayappan, £241
• Silver Tulasi Madam – Mr & Mrs. Muthiah Muthukumar, £75
• Silver Pillayar – Mr & Mrs. Karthik Swaminathan, £401
• Silver Kukumachimil – Mr & Mrs. PL.Ramanathan, £201
• Silver Kukumachimil – Mr & Mrs. N.Palaniappan , £151
• Silver Kulavalam Pillai – Mr & Mrs. Karthik Swaminathan, £351
• Silver Cow & Calf – Mr & Mrs. Saravanan, £271
• Gold Coin (1gm) – Mr & Mrs. Senthil Solayappan, £251
• Gold Coin (1gm) – Mr & Mrs. Venkatachalam Subbiah, £221

The committee would like to thank all the members who won the yellam items and raising money for noble causes to be donated through the Sangam. Members who obtained the yellam items are requested to kindly make their payment by the 20th January to the LNS account (once payment has been made, please advise the LNS Treasurer, Mrs Uma Valliappan), thank you. The Sangam account details are:

Bank: HSBC A/C
Name: London Nagarathar Sangam
Sort Code: 40-06-21
A/C No: 41561847

This year our LNS achi’s had arranged to wear a common saree (coordinated by Mrs. Kaveri Lakshmanan). Nearly two thirds of our Sangam ladies who purchased these sarees (48 sarees) asked to retain the balance amount of £3.50 per saree contributing this to our Charity fund. Thanks to all those members, this resulted in additional charity collection of £168 (apart from yellam collection amount).

The new members introduced themselves. LNS welcomed:

• Mr. Chellappan & Mrs. Usha – Devakottai
• Mr. Somasundaram – Aravayal
• Mr. Muthuraman Alagappan
• Mr. Balaji & Mrs. Meena – Sirukudalpatti
• Mr. Chellappan – Arimalam
• Mr. Karupaiah – Karaikudi
• Mr. Muthaiah & Mrs. Unnamalai – Devakottai
• Mr. Sriram Chokkalingam – Panayapatti
• Mrs. Maruvoor Umaiyarasi – Karungulam

Congratulations to all the children who participated in the Pillaiyar Nonbu events. As a token of appreciation, all the children who participated were awarded with a certificate and gifts.

Singers for Prayer songs

•  Vijay Somu Lakshmanan
• Krithiga Arumugam
• Meenakshi Valliappan
• Manimegalai Rama Chellappan
• Nikitha Palaniappan
• Nagalakshmi Valliappan & Nandhini Sethuraman
• Vignesh Karunamoorthy
• Nithyashree Alagappan
• Janani Shanmugam
• Sanjana Meenakshi SubramaniyamNadu Veetu Kollam
• Varsha – Manikandan Chidambaram
• Nikitha – Palaniappan (Senthi) Ramaswamy
• Nachammai – Manikandan Ramanathan
• Shalini – Sharmila Subbiah
• Nagalakshmi – Valliappan Ramanathan
• Nithya – Chockalingam Natarajan
• Meenakshi – Venkatesh.K
• Veena – Selvaganesan Ramanathan
• Priya – Muthiah M
• Lakshmi – Lakshmanan Somasundaram
• Nachammai – Venkatachalam Subbiah
• Nandhini – Sethuraman

Nagarathar Kovil & Traditions – Young Speakers

•  Veena – Selva Ganesan
•  Nivedha – Manikandan Ramanathan
• Akshay – Lakshmanan Alagappan
• Dakshin – Karunamoorthy Karunanithi
• Ram charan- Chockalingam Natarajan
• Jothi – Kavitha Shanmugam
• Ajay – Raam Palaniappan
• Vijay – Lakshmanan Somasundaram

Thiagarajan annan thanked the existing committee for all their work during the events taking place in this running year of 2017/18. Annan then selected the new committee for next year (year 2018/19) with consensus from all LNS members present at the event. Congratulations to the new committee and we wish them all success:

President Lakshmanan Somasundaram
Secretary Lakshmanan Alagappan
Treasurer Sharmila Subbiah
Committee member Vijay Narayanan
Committee member Kavitha Shanmugam
Webmaster Ashok Chellappan

After this, dinner was served. There was a variety of food items (which included some traditional Nagarathar dishes like vellai paniyaram, karupati paniayaram, masala seeyam, vadai etc) that was a relish. Following dinner, we had group photographs – for children, ladies (great to see with common saree) and gents.

LNS Committee would like to sincerely thank:

• The achi’s (and chettiars) who prepared the delicious food in sufficient quantity
• Mrs Sivagami achi’s effort in preparing the tasty ellai maavu, very much appreciated
• The chettiars who helped to make the elai piddithal on the day and also the volunteers who helped with distributing the ellais’
• The support of Mrs Annapoorani achi for bringing swami pictures and poojai items
• Mr Venkatesh Kanagasabai for helping us bring over the calendars from India
• Mrs Uma Valliappan in purchasing the yellam items
• Mrs Saraswathi Annamalai & Mrs Meenatchi Ashok for coordinating the Nadu Veetu Kollam
• Mr Ashok Chellappan and Miss Kavitha Shanmugam for coordinating the young speakers for the Nagarathar Kovil and Traditions speeches
• Mrs Kaveri Lakshmanan and Mrs Uma Valliappan for helping the kids with the prayer songs
• Mr Annamalai Chockalingam for event registration
• Mr Ashok Chellappan for Photography
• Mr Valliappan on overall help on event registration, ellai pidithal and yellam
• Also a BIG thank you to all members who voluntarily helped to clean up the hall, thank you so much _/\_

Tamil monthly calendars for 2018 were distributed to all the members. We had a calendar voluntary donation of £15 from the members at the event.

Special thanks to our sponsors:

• Mrs Vasantha Shanmugam for the Flowers (Malligai)
• Dr Mani Babu for contributing towards the children’s gifts
• Dr Manickam and Mrs Meena Manickam for the Calendars

Our LNS Pillaiyar Nonbu concluded at 10.30 pm

Our NEXT LNS EVENT – Tamil New Year will be on the 14th April, (Saturday)
Venue and other details will be announced soon.

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Photos2

Youtube: https://youtu.be/x1re5bNRGLc

Signing off for the final meeting minutes from the current LNS Committee.

Annamalai Chockalingam
LNS Secretary on behalf of LNS Committee 2017-18

Venue: Adeyfield Community Centre, The Queen’s Square, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 4EW
Date/Time: 21st October 2017/2:00PM to 9:30PM

The LNS Deepavali event 2017 was a great celebration in Adeyfield Community Centre. Members started arriving from 2:00pm onwards and the event concluded around 9:30 pm. The event was hosted by our Nagarathar children Nachammai Sekkappan, Lakshmi Lakshmanan, Nagalakshmi Valliappan & Meeakshi Venkatesh with a Live DJ, Magic Show and Caricature artist along with Nagarathar Performances. Around 145 members from across the UK attended this function and made it a grand success.

The event started off with Sivagami Achi & Vasantha Achi lighting the kuththu vilakku followed by a prayer song by our achi’s (Mrs Nithiyakalyani, Mrs Geetha, Mrs Sujatha, Mrs Sivagami and Mrs S. Geetha). This was followed by a welcome speech from the President, Mr. S. Lakshmanan. President introduced the Magician Mr. Steven Brown and the Tamil Live DJ/Singer Mr. Majuran. The Magician started to mingle with our members in small groups, surprising us all with his tricks. Live music and singing by Mr. Majuran and his co-singer entertained the group with lots of melodious songs and Raaja hits from the 80’s/90’s.

Around 4 pm, there was a selection of Vada’s and bhaji’s with masala tea/coffee for snacks. After the snacks break, the Raffle draw started and it continued every half hour, announcing the winners whom won some exciting prizes, those lucky winners were:
• Selva Muthalagappan and family
• Sekkappan and family
• Ashok and family
• Saravanan and family
• Valli Chockalingam and family
• Palaniappan and family
• Dinesh and family

LNS Sangam children showcased their talents and performed beautifully, well done all:

• Dance performance by Nikitha Palaniappan & Priya Muthiah
• Dance performance by Anishvar Ashok & Adharsh Lakshmanan.
• Rubix Cubes performance by Krishnan Selva Muthalagappan
• Violin/Recorder performance by Damayanti Selva Muthalagappan
• Music medley by Lakshmi Lakshmanan (Keyboard), Nagalakshmi Valliappan (Violin) & Meenakshi Venkatesh (Vocal)
• Song Instrument music by Lakshmi Lakshmanan (Veenai) and Vijay Somu Lakshmanan (Miruthangam)
• Solo dance performance by Veena Selvaganesh
• Solo dance performance by Hari Subramaniyan

As a way of encouraging our children to do more performances and participate more in the forthcoming events, the LNS Committee awarded certificates for all those who performed and anchor team. The certificates were handed out by our chettiars and achi’s.

Whilst the Live DJ and children were performing, the Caricaturist Mr. Mick Wright started drawing/sketching for adults and kids, this was a fun experience.

LNS happily welcomed our new Nagarathars’:
• Mr. Sundar – Nerkuppai
• Mr. & Mrs. Ramasamy – Pullankurchi
• Mr. & Mrs. Solai Arumugam – Kothamangalam
• Mr. & Mrs. Kasi Viswanathan – Devakottai

On behalf of all the Nagarathars’, the LNS Committee wished Mr. Lakshmanan Alagappan a very Happy Birthday.

The Deepavali feast arrived and was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Food menu included: Gobi Manchurian, Chilli Chicken, Vegetarian Briyani, Mutton Briyani, Panner Curry, Chicken Chettinadu Curry, Chapatti, Katrikai Curry, Curd Rice and Gulab Jamun.

The DJ team performed with our LNS super-singers Mr. Venkatesh, Mrs. Sivagami Muthiah and Mrs. Meenakshi Ashok, this was a wonderful treat.

LNS event participants lit the night sky with bright fireworks display in the park next to the hall; all children including the very little ones had fun with sparklers.

The event ended around 9:30pm with all the members helping to clean and tidy up the hall, a big thank you to you all.

Special thanks: to Mr. Kumar Muthalagappan for sponsoring £500 towards the event; Mrs. Vasantha Achi for sponsoring for the jasmine flowers and Mrs. Meenakshi for sponsoring £30 with setting up a ladies’ garment stall at the venue.

Members can still sponsor the event, we welcome any contribution towards the food, fireworks, entertainment & drinks/snacks – please contact us. These sponsors will be mentioned in the next event.

LNS committee is thankful to all members who came forward voluntarily to help in serving food, helping with fireworks, setting up the Hall and cleaning venue at the end – it would not have been possible to run such a big event without the kind support from the Sangam members, our family…. ”Thank you _/\_”

Overall, it was a great, successful event and the Committee is extremely happy to have received positive feedback from the members who attended and from those who couldn’t attend.

The next LNS event: Pillaiyar Nombu – to be held on the 30th December 2017 from 5pm to 10pm. Venue – Bromley Parish Church Hall.

Photos1

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Youtube: https://youtu.be/GoFsWZRjN2g

Thank you.
LNS Committee 2017/18

PS: A polite request – Last minute cancellations after event registration impacts overall event planning, logistics and finances, therefore we kindly request you to please be more considerate whilst cancelling participation on the last day, thanks.

Venue: Valentines Park, Ilford
Time : 1:30 PM to 6:00 PM Sep 23rd 2017

Sports / fun day event started with delicious Lunch prepared from home by all Aachi’s. Thanks to all who did bring food for the event.Late afternoon was all fun / laughter with playing cricket, Women’s and children enjoyed playing kho-kho, duck duck goose game, children at Park Kids play area.

Following the fun games everyone relaxed with evening snacks.Later evening all members headed back home with the cheerful memory and joy.

Click for Photos and Videos

Date: Saturday/Sunday, 8th/9th July 2017,
Venue: Academy Newland Park, Buckinghamshire

Our annual Summer Trip – Aatam Paatam Kondattam – was a grand success!

The committee team started reaching the venue from 14:30 on Saturday 8th July, with the members coming to the venue from 16:00. The pre-dinner  events were held in the Space Room, which was located in LC Building. This room was very large, large enough for the younger members of our Sangam to cycle and scoot around having plenty fun.

The evening started off with lovely Chettinad snacks (ைக க், மணேகாலம், ேதன்ழல், ப்
ைட) followed by samosas, mutton rolls, kesari along with tea, coffee and soft drinks.

A welcome speech was given by our LNS President Mr Lakshmanan Somasundaram. The members were given paper to state facts about them. At around 17:30, a fun round of introducing ourselves were done as a game based on the facts given by the participants. The game was to identify true and false facts about participants by family members including children and other sangam members. Before heading off for dinner, Mr Lakshmanan Somasundaram announced the Bingo game will follow after dinner (stating rules, tickets and prizes) and he requested the participants to purchase the tickets at registration.

At 19:00, dinner was awaiting at the dining hall in main building. Along with venue provided food, there was delicious home-prepared food made by the committee team (Puliyogare,Potato Poriyal, Vegetable Fried Rice, Vegetable Briyani with Kurma). After dinner members headed back to the LC Building.

The Bingo game commenced with the help of Mrs Kaveri Lakshmanan, Mr Valliappan, Mr Chidambaram, Master Vijay and Mr Lakshmanan Somasundaram. The following members won the game (prize amount given next to the names):

1. Miss Nandhini Sekkappan and Mrs Uma Sekkappan – £5 giftcard
2. Mrs Sharadha Meenakshisundaram – £10 giftcard
3. Shanmugan Annan – £20 giftcard

Thiagarajan Annan distributed the prizes for the winners, well done all.

As the members had so much fun, we didn’t have time to change for the Disco. We started setting up the Disco with everyone helping with connecting the audio player to the speakers, thanks to Mr Senthil Panayappan and Mr Sekkappan. Lets’ go party Disco started off with a kuththu pattu, the young kids were on dance floor immediately showing off their steps. Even when time was going beyond 22:00, all the members wanted to stay back, enjoy the music and have more fun games: Musical chairs. Pass the ball and Chinese whispers.

Thiagarajan Annan made a touching speech, he said: ”He really loves this trip, very well organised, the venue is very nice and the members being altogether like this reminded him of the olden days, i.e. a family gathering”, he thanked the current committee for putting this trip together – thank you annan.

Past mid-night, we all decided to head to our rooms. All members had individual rooms with an en-suite. All rooms were located in same block for convenience, also each apartment had a communal area. So most of the members grouped together in the communal area to play cards with laughter and such kondattam, it was fun until 02:30, then we fell asleep.

Sunday morning was bright and sunny, all members were ready for breakfast at the venue at 08:00. Some members walked to the dining hall from the accommodation block.

Following breakfast, the members started with outdoor games. Cricket, football, other games were played. LNS Tendulkar, Dhoni, Kohli talents were exhibited. Also Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar talents were shown. There was a refreshing water cum drinks break.

Group photograph was taken.

Thiagarajan Annan gave another small speech, he said “We all thoroughly enjoyed the event. The event was like a kalyana kara veedu with families grouped together. This committee was hosted and organised like a traditional wedding gathering in chettinad, well done to all members and the committee”.

Mr Mohan Subbiah invited all the members for his daughter’s wedding in Kallal, taking place on the 27th August.

Sports continued after a small break. Cricket with ladies, children joining in. Also Indian games Pallanguli, Kho-Kho were played. Around 12 noon, members moved into the indoor sports hall. Here we played basketball, badminton, throw ball. Active participation from children during the all sports.

As time crossed 13:00, the members started walking over to the dining hall for lunch. After lunch, we grouped together in the green landscaped area, under the huge trees where Mr Lakshmanan Somasundaram thanked all members who joined us in the Summer Trip, cooperating and making the entire 2 days a memorable event. Also for active participation in all activities including the Bingo. He gave a special thanks to his committee for good team work and making the event successful. He announced that LNS will organise a day trip for members on Saturday 16th or 23rd September (as many members requested this since they couldn’t join us for the Summer Trip due to a busy July month – Kovil Kumbabishekam, AR Rahman Show, India trip etc). LNS members to watch out for further communication on this.

Summer trip members left venue around 14:45 with cheerful memories and joy.

SPECIAL MENTION & THANKS:

Special thanks to Thiagarajan Annan and Aachi, Dr C. Nachiappan, Shanmugam Annan and Aachi for joining us and spending time until Sunday participating in all the games actively and having fun.

Venue organisation, co-ordination and management: Kavitha Shanmugam, for finding such a great place with individual event spaces, play areas, sports hall, comfortable rooms, all bookings (incl. Event room, Disco room, Playground) purely dedicated for our LNS event alone

Mr Valliappan for updating the contact details for our existing and new members.

For the home-made food items:

Puliyogare rice and potato poriyal – Vasantha aachi
Vegetable fried rice – Uma Valliappan
Vegetable briyani and kurma – Meenakshi Ashok
Kesari – Kaveri Lakshmanan
Chettinad snacks – Saraswathi and Annamalai
Chettinad snacks – Uma and Sekkappan
Samosa and mutton rolls (purchase) – Siva Chockalingam
Cricket set purchase – Ashok Nachiappan
Bingo and Pallanguli purchase – Lakshmanan Somasundaram
Audio master – Annamalai Chockalingam
Registration – Uma Valliappan

Click forPhotos 1  and Videos

For those who missed out, please join us for the next event 🙂
Thank you,
LNS Committee 2017/18

This year the Tamil New year function was celebrated on Saturday 15th April 2017 by the LNS sangam. The new 2017-18 LNS committee took over as office bearers on this occasion. This years function was a fun packed event .Thanks to the members for their presence at this year’s Tamil new year function. With all their help and presence the function was a successful one.

Saturday, 15th April 2017 (2 Chithirai 2048), Methodist Church (IG1 3PP)
The meeting was attended by 70 members (51 adults and 19 children). Function/event started off with the Sangam members gathering at the hall from 1:00 PM.The event kicked off with delicious lunch from Anjappar restaurant.

After lunch, the outgoing Committee President Mr S. Ganesh Kumar started the meeting. As per our Sangam tradition, the event was initiated by lighting of Kuthu Vilakku by Mrs Vasantha Shanmugam. This was followed by a prayer song by Mrs Valli Lakshmanan, Mrs Nithayakalyani, Mrs Sujatha and Mrs Nirmala.

Mr Ganesh Kumar gave the welcome speech and thanked his committee for their outstanding efforts over the past year and for making all the events successful and memorable. Next, the outgoing Secretary Dr R. Palaniappan gave a brief summary on all the events they had conducted in their period.

Mr Ganesh Kumar along with Treasurer Mrs Annu Alagappan read the income and expenditure details for the past year including the details for our charity account. The final accounts including the Tamil new year event expenditure will be handed over from the outgoing committee treasurer to the incoming committee treasurer by next week.

The new members were given the opportunity to introduce themselves. LNS happily welcome the following members:

Mr Swaminathan from Koppanapatti
Mr Meenakshi Sundaram from Vendhampatti
New born daughter of Mr K S Somasundaram along with his parents (visit to UK)

Mr Mohan Subbiah and Mrs Sharmila delightfully announced the engagement of their daughter Miss Sheila who will be married in Kalla on August 27th. All LNS members are cordially invited to attend.Invitation and e-Invitation will be send over the summer.

The event also included special performances by the Sangam members’ children. Well done to the kids,it was nice seeing the younger generation perform:

Nithyasri Annamalai – Bharatanatyam
Lakshmi Lakshmanan – Keyboard
Vijay Somu Lakshmanan – Miruthangam

We will like to see more performances in the upcoming events by all the Sangam members.

Mr Ganesh Kumar formally handed over the committee to the incoming President Mr Lakshmanan Somasundram. Mr Lakshmanan Somasundaram gave the inaugural speech as the new President by thanking the previous committee. He introduced the new committee team as follows:

Mr. Annamalai Chockalingam as Secretary
Mrs. Umarajeswari Valliappan as Treasurer
Mr. Sivaraman Chockalingam as Committee member
Miss. Kavitha Shanmugam as Committee member
Mr. Ashok Chellappan Nachiappan as Web Master

Mr Lakshmanan Somasundaram announced the planned events, starting with the Summer Trip at Academy Newland Park on July 8th-9th, inviting all members to participate.He explained the highlights of this Summer Trip:

• Events/Activities includes all sports, leisure and our own dance floor For A ‘Party Til Midnight’Tamil Disco
• Accommodation & Food: Full Board – Overnight stay plus Full Dinner, Breakfast and Lunch
• All this for just…£47 per head (children under 5 years stay and enjoy for FREE!)

The date for the next main event after our Summer Trip, has been tentatively scheduled as:

• Deepavali: 21st October 2017 (Saturday @ Adeyfield Community Hall, Hemel Hempstead)

Mr Lakshmanan Somasundaram briefly mentioned few more ideas that will be considered with the Sangam member’s participation during the year:

• Separate Sports Day for our children (tentative in September 2017)
• Bhakthi trip to Birmingham or Skandavel temple
• Kids involvement (Kolam, Ellai Nool etc) during Pillaiyar Nombu
• Society contributions like blood donation, charity fund raising
• Supporting existing initiatives like Young Nagarathars, IBCN etc
• Appreciation and Motivation of achievements in any fields by Sangam kids or Sangam members (members are requested to share the details with pictures and videos to the Sangam committee so that it can be published widely)

The new committee thanked the outgoing committee by presenting trophies as a memento in appreciation for their hard work over the past year. Mr N. Shanmugam presented these trophies to the outgoing committee for their excellent contributions to LNS 2016-17.

Click here for Photos and videos taken during the event.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/3Rlx-xdTsOQ

Snacks/Tea/Coffee was served to all the members around 4:30 PM.

Towards the end of the meeting, there were interactive games conducted by Mrs Valli Lakshmanan and gifts were given to the winners.

Special thanks Mrs. Vasantha Shanmugam for sponsoring Flowers and the members who helped with serving the food, bringing swami items and other items, cleaning up the hall, etc.

The meeting concluded at 6:00 PM.

Next step: Email regarding the Summer Trip (confirmation of attendance) will be sent out within the next couple of weeks.

Thank you
Annamalai C
LNS Secretary on behalf of the LNS Committee 2017-18