Tuesday, January 15, 2008

BNWLA Fundraising Concert in Wales

Jules and her family organised a concert to raise funds for the BNWLA shelter home on Saturday January 12th. All 120 tickets were sold and the turnout was good, considering it was cold and rainy and everyone thought that the hall would be empty!

The evening kicked off with some children from the local primary school singing Food Glorious Food from the musical Oliver! Then Lorraine Barrett, Cardiff South Member of the Welsh Assembly, spoke about her work with the Bangladeshi community in Cardiff, most recently supporting them in their efforts to raise money for the victims of Cyclone Sidr.

Jules' nieces - Clara and Freya with their friend Clare - then recited a poem entitled Let's Help (which they had written specially for the event) about disadvantaged children all over the world. The first half continued with performances from Sound Women - a community singing group of which Jules' mum is a committed member! The interval was a time to sample chicken bhuna, vegetable bhaji, pilau rice and naan - provided by Penarth's own Bangladeshi restaurant, Jaflon.

In the second half Sound Women presented more songs from a diverse range of countries such as Mozambique, France and Bulgaria and got the audience participating too. The evening finished with a speech given by the Mayor of Penarth who stressed the fact that though Bangladesh might seem very far away, it was events like these that reminded us that we were one world and all connected.

After paying for the hire of the hall, food and decoration the event raised 1000.52GBP for the fund.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

New Age Article


The appeal and its connection with music was mentioned again in the press this week - all valuable exposure. Here's the link...

http://www.newagebd.com/2007/nov/02/nov02/xtra_also2.html

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Day trip to Gazipur

The BAG went to Gazipur this weekend, along with some of the kids from the current hostel to see the site for the new one. An article on the trip will follow soon in the Star Weekend Magazine. In the meantime, enjoy the photos! Click on the image below...

BNWLA Gazipur

Monday, October 22, 2007

Poster Boys


Signed posters were auctioned at the most recent of Andrew's gigs with Arnob - raising another 50 pounds for the cause! What price autographs?

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Third BAG meeting













The BAG met again on Friday 28th Sept following our visit to the hostel. Lots of ideas for fundraising and awareness-raising for the campaign came out of this.

Members of the group have opted for various ways of supporting the appeal: by volunteering time to visit the hostel and carry out creative workshops; arranging for groups of students to go on an awareness-raising trip, and through developing a campaign short film. The appeal is also to be featured on Bangladesh's premier music website. Lots of energy and enthusiasm - we're expecting great things!

Also, BNWLA's own VSO volunteer Jenny (pictured, standing) is now part of the group, providing vital expertise and a key link to the organisation.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

BAG visits the hostel!













The BNWLA Action Group (Oniket, Don, Anika, Lemo, Jules and Andrew) met again last Saturday to go on a visit to the hostel, so that everyone could be in the picture. We are meeting again on on Friday to discuss our impressions, think of ways forward and consider how we can strengthen our ties with BNWLA itself as we seek to build on the 7600 pounds we have already collected.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Success!

The gig was a huge success, and got rave reviews, and not only from us. We raised the profile of the appeal and made over 1100 pounds for the appeal. Already there are more dates lined up for Dhaka, as well as London and New York next year.

Click on the image below for a superb collection of photoagraphs from our good friend Arif Hafiz...

East Meets West