the lcnl a.g.m. 13th april 2014lcnl.org/enews/agm-2014.pdf · report by the president ... for the...

The LCNL A.G.M. 13th April 2014

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This AGM issue is about to present to our members what

activities our organisation has been involved in during the

year 2013-2014.

It is also a form of record to pay gratitude & appreciation to

fellow office bearers, committee members & co- workers for

collectively working very hard during the year. In addition it

also contains an account of our financial status together with

reports & accounts of our community centre & trusts etc.

Once again we thank whole heartily to all the sponsors,

donors & advertisers in the Raghuvanshi magazine whose

valuable support did encourage us enormously indeed.

I should thank spot colour Ltd. For printing this AGM issue

in time and Ashokbhai Sodha for the hard work for verifying

and reporting on our financial statements.

Finally I would like to take this opportunity to wish the

incoming President & the new committee a very successful

year.

Dinesh Kotecha, Hon.Secretary

66 Old Church Lane,

Stanmore Middx HA7 2AR

LCNL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2013/2014

PRESIDENT

Deepakbhai Jatania

VICE PRESIDENT

Vinodbhai Thakrar

HON. SECRETARY

Dinesh Kotecha

HON. ASSISTANT SECRETARY

Deenesh Thakerar

HON. TREASURER

Pravinbhai Khangram

HON. ASSISTANT TREASURER

Yatin Dawada

SOCIAL SECRETARY

Pratapbhai Khagram

ASSISTANT SOCIAL SECRETARY

Pushpaben Karia

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY

Kiritbhai Vithlani

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Dinesh Shonchhatra

Ashok Dattani

Jeet Ashvin Rughani

Rajnikant Sawjani

Rashmi Karia

Madhuben Popat

Sandeep Ruparelia

Vishal Sodha

Urmilaben Thakkar - MBE

Kantibhai Kakkad

BUILDING CHAIRPERSON

Amratlalbhai Radia

LCNL REPRESENTATIVES RCT TRUSTEES

Mansukhbhai Raichura

Dhirubhai Savani

LCNL REPRESENTATIVES LCF TRUSTEES

Manishbhai Sangani

Pratibhaben Lakhani

IMM. PAST PRESIDENT

Janubhai Kotecha

IMM. PAST SECRETARY

Vinodbhai Thakrar

REPRESENTATIVES OF LCNL MAHILA MANDAL

Sandhyaben Gandecha

Nutanben Jobanputra

Seemaben Devani

REPRESENTATIVE OF RCT

Ravi Tanna

Kamaleshbhai Kantaria

REPRESENTATIVES OF YLS

Reena Popat

Pooja Chotai

HON. AUDITORS

Ashokbhai M Sodha

Who will take my work! - Asked the setting sun.

“None” has the answer - In the whole world

An earthen lamp says humbly from a corner:

“I will my Lord, As best as I can”

Ravindranath Tagore

In that spirit of service and humility this bulletin has been

edited and compiled to provide the up to date reports

information and conclusion for the 2013/14 period

Mansukh Raichura


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Lohana Community north London

annuaL GeneraL meetinG 2014

notice

13th april 2014

Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Community will be held on Sunday, 13th April

2014 at 3.00pm at GD Kantaria Hall, RCT Sports Ground, Headstone Lane, Harrow, Middlesex HA2 6NG.

aGenda1. Welcome by the President

2. Approval of the Minutes of the A.G.M. held on 28th March 2013.

3. Matters arising from the last A.G.M. 28th March 2013.

4. Report by the President

5. Report by the Hon. Secretary.

6. Report by the Treasurer – Presentation and approval of the Annual Accounts 2013/2014.

7. Report by the Social Secretary

8. Report by the Membership Secretary

9. Building Report 9b. Lohana Charitable Foundation

10. Reports by the Chairpersons / Convenors of sub-committees :

a) Affiliation b) Bereavement c) Business & Profession

d) Constitution e) Raghuvanshi Magazine f) Navratri

g) News & Events H) Family guidance i) Sports j) Website & E-news

11. Report by LCNL Mahila Chairperson

12. Report by RCT Chairperson

13. Report by Chairperson of Lohana Social Centre (Men & Women)

14. Report by YLS

15. The present committee to retire

16. Election of Office bearers and Executive Committee 2014/2015

17. Appointment of the Election Office / Reporting Accountant for the year 2014/2015

18. Any other business with the permission of the chair

dinesh Kotecha

Hon. Secretary (2013-14)

PLeaSe note:

As per the constitution nomination forms for the post of the President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer

must be filed not less than five (5) days before the date of the AGM and therefore must reach the Election Officer

by 3.00pm on 8th April 2014.

Nomination forms for all other officers, committee members and representative trustees can be directly submitted

to the Election Officer by Thursday 10th April 2014. Electronic transmission of the Nomination Form will be

acceptable to the Election Officer.

As per the constitution voting will be restricted to subscribing members only. Only paid members are eligible to

stand for elections.

Nomination forms are available from Hon. Secretary email : [email protected] or can be downloaded

from the website : www.lcnl.org


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Lohana Community north Londonminutes of the annual General meeting

held on Sunday 14th april 2013 at 3.00pm

at Gd Kantaria hall, headstone Lane,

harrow, middlesex, ha2 6nG

The meeting commenced at 3.40pm after the membership secretary confirmed that there was a quorum. The

meeting started with the prayers and a minute’s silence was observed for the departed souls during the year.

The Secretary, Bharatbhai Sodha, welcomed all the members at the AGM and announced that no further

nomination forms will be accepted by the election officer.

1 Welcome by the President

LCNL President, Deepakbhai Jatania formally welcomed the members to the AGM and requested the Secretary

to continue with the Agenda.

2 minutes approval

Before the previous AGM’s minutes were discussed the Secretary pointed out correction on page 1 of the 2013

AGM issue to read 2012/2013 and not 2011/2012. The previous AGM’s minutes were approved, proposed by

Chandubhai Rughani and seconded by Prabhudasbhai Thakrar .

3 matters arising

Dhanjibhai Tanna asked about the constitution amendment of LCNL as per last AGM’s minutes. Amratlalbhai

Radia commented that LCNL can recommend to the Trustees of LCF from LCNL, but cannot change the

constitution and will be amended as part of the review of the LCNL constitution to reflect all recent changes.

Dhanjibhai Tanna referred to page 7 and asked whether Nitinbhai Saujani was approached in respect of review

of the constitution and Amratlalbhai Radia replied in the negative.

4 President’s report

President’s report is on pages 11 & 12. Deepakbhai added that the last events, Natak and the music program were

both well organised and very successful and thanked Dineshbhai Sonchattra, Pratibhaben Lakhani and

Pratapbhai Khagram.

Senior ladies group, which was headed by Kokilaben Wasani has been taken over by Urmilaben Thakkar in July

2012 and with hard work has increased attendance quite a bit with the last function attracting between 200 and

300 ladies. The President praised Urmilaben & her team. Golf was one sport missing from the sports calendar.

Dhirubhai Savani and team did well at Golf and we now have Golf on the calendar. The bereavement committee

under Vinubhai Kotecha has continued to work hard and would like to thank them all. This year the Raghuvanshi

magazine reached record revenues compared with all the functions. Navratri at Chiswick went well with help

from youngsters like Ronak & team, mahilas and senior ladies. Business & Profession dinner was held in January

but with bad weather there was slightly lower attendance, however Barclays, our main sponsor, were pleased with

the function. Deepakbhai was pleased to inform that another bank had approached us with a view to sponsoring

a future event.


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The building project work has started and we do need more money to finance the refurbishment. The fund raising

team has already made more than 900 telephone calls to members requesting financial assistance. Deepakbhai

requested all the fellow community members to be generous with full support and be part of this project. Manubhai

Radia and Dineshbhai Kotecha are heading up the fund raising team and I’m glad to say that the building was

purchased without any loans, therefore is fully paid for. I thank all committee members for working as a team

throughout the year.

Incoming LCNL committee will work hard with few new young members to form a new youth body under the

umbrella of LCNL.

Lastly the Mahila Mandal had their AGM yesterday and Sandhyaben Gandecha is the new Chairperson with

Nutanben Jobanputra continuing as secretary and Seemaben Devani continuing as treasurer.

5 Secretary’s report Bharatbhai Sodha thanked the last AGM for his election and the executive committee for all the assistance

provided during the year. Secretary’s report is printed on page 13. Bharatbhai mentioned that because of work

commitments he will not be continuing as secretary in the New Year. Secretary’s report was approved, proposed

by Urmilaben Thakrar and seconded by Kiritbhai Karia

6 treasurer’s report Treasurer, Rohitbhai Morjaria, mentioned that his report was on page 37. Rohitbhai reviewed the events and the

amounts for each event, with page 38 showing the social events. Page 36 shows the debtors and creditors, with

virtually all debtors collected after year end like-wise with creditors mostly settled after year end.

£6,000 was proposed as contribution to RCT, this was duly approved, proposed by Chandubhai Rughani and

seconded by Dhirendrabhai Raja. The accounts were approved as presented, proposed by Shashibhai

Panchmatia and seconded by Dhirubhai Pau.

Dhanjibhai Tanna asked where the charity money was spent. Manishbhai Sangani explained that the amount has

been accrued for the last 5 years and normally the practice has been to donate to a Gaushala. This time we

should leave it for our own Trusts. Rohitbhai thanked Ashokbhai Sodha, the auditor, for his efforts. The president

thanked Rohitbhai Morjaria and team for their efforts during the year.

7 Social Secretary’s report Report is printed on page 14. Pratapbhai Khagram thanked everyone present and also the Executive committee

for all the help he received during the year.

8 membership Secretary Kiritbhai Vithlani informed all that during the year there were 38 new members as per his report and a further 4

members since then making a total of 42. Kiritbhai requested all to encourage the younger generation to become

life members.

9 Building Project

Manishbhai Sangani explained that we had received the planning permission and the refurbishment work would

take part is stages. Demolition works had started, the car park was resurfaced and the builders were going to be

there from 29th April. Stage 1 is expected to finish by end of July 2013 and is expected to cost £400,000.

Investigating if there was a way to recover the VAT on the cost and the accounts were being audited by KLSA

Accountants. Manishbhai stressed that the building was acquired without any debt and currently the fund raising

team was offering various schemes for donations. We hope to complete the refurbishment work in about 1 year’s

time.


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Affiliation Report

Mansukhbhi Raichura referred to his report on page 19. No questions asked. Mansukhbhai gave a brief summary

of his report and explained what affiliation means for LCNL.

11 Bereavement Report

Manubhai Radia thanked all the volunteers in the team for their dedicated service.

12 Business & Profession

Deepakbhai Jatania referred to the report on page 20 and mentioned that the team is now working on the next

B&P event.

13 Raghuvanshi Magazine

Vinodbhai Thakrar referred to his report on page 20. Vinodbhai stressed that this was the highest revenue project

for the community with revenue of about £50,000 and net income of about £35,000. He also received positive

comments from both sponsors and advertisers. Dhanjibhai Tanna congratulated the convenor and said that the

magazine should also contain good articles and not be just a fund raising project. The convenor expressed his

appreciation of all those who assisted him. And on News & Events the convenor asked for anyone who wants to

send articles to him for publication.

14 Navratri Report

Report is on page 21. Manubhai Radia raised a query as to why Navratri had become a loss making event. The

convenor, Janubhai Kotecha, explained that Navratri made a loss for the first time, Convenor explained that

community members attend navratri at other venues and not the one organised by LCNL, additionally costs have

gone up.

Janubhai Kotecha asked the AGM about what should be done for the next navratri. There were comments from

the floor to review where things were going wrong and how it could be improved. A number of members

commented that Navratri is a cultural event and should never be stopped, in fact should be encouraged to

continue. Chiswick navratri is talked about a lot, but seems that a lot of people who do attend are from outside

the community, a question raised was how do we increase Lohana participation?

There was talk of reducing the number of days to just the weekends to save costs, but the overall view was that

LCNL should host the Navratri for its full duration. Amratlalbhai Radia commented that the EC starts work on the

Navratri 5 to 6 weeks before the event whereas other communities start early. He recommended that we should

start work on the Navratri 3 to 4 months in advance. Dhanjibhai Tanna commented that Navratri is a religious

and social event and we should always keep it open. If the hall rent is high and this is a problem then maybe we

should work through Hindu Council and try and get a hall at subsidised rates. Dhanjibhai Tanna offered his help

to locate suitable venue for Navratri. Another suggestion was to organise Navratri in Harrow where a large part

of the community is based, there was a comment that Navratri should be kept under the social secretary.

The convenor explained that the idea of sharing profit and loss in joint sponsorship was explored in some detail,

however ultimately it was concluded that we did not want to share the community name with others and therefore

the idea was abandoned. Janubhai Kotecha said that the incoming committee will review the Navratri situation

bearing in mind the suggestions put forward in the AGM. Janubhai also commented that LCNL should keep the

booking at Chiswick while looking for other possible halls.


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15 News & events

Report is on page 21

16 Family Guidance

The convenor, Dineshbhai Kotecha, said the report was on page 32, he emphasized that organising a joint

program with other communities’ works well with the last event attracting 300 to 400 candidates. The next event

is on 9th June. An observation was made by a member that it would be good if we would organise a Lohana only

program for the candidates.

A question was asked on what the success rate was, Dineshbhai commented that it was difficult to say but

candidates have given positive comments. Prabhudasbhai Thakrar asked as to how many Lohana girls are

registered as candidates. Mansukhbhai Raichura replied that we maintain a list and have good records, in total

have about 600 candidates and there are more girls than boys.

17 Sports Report

Sports report is presented on pages 22 & 23

One of the members commented that in addition to other sports we should look into encouraging Bridge and

Chess at community level. Dhirubhai Savani, the convenor, said that the incoming committee will look into it.

Dhirubhai also pointed out the great progress our under-10 cricket team had made. Golf as an event was a big

success. On the cricket front Dhirubhai pointed out that our cricket club was affiliated with the ECB who were

organising classes for youngsters. Dhirubhai thanked Raghuvanshi Charitable Trust for the use of RCT grounds.

18 Website & E-News

The website has been overhauled and looks new, this was done with a new programmer who is assisting in

maintaining the website. We introduced E-News this year, this is LCNL news by email to members. This service

is only for members and I would urge all members to register one email address with the membership secretary.

Currently we have about 800 email addresses out of a membership of about 2,000. Some members indicated

that they had not received E-News email, so it was suggested that they check whether their email address has

been registered with the membership secretary. Ashokbhai Sodha suggested that when sending out emails it

would be good if standard email was used instead of personal email address, that is email should go out from

the LCNL domain.

19 Mahila Mandal Report

Mahila Chairperson, Sukeshiben Thakkar said her report was on pages 25 & 26. Sukeshiben thanked Janubhai

Kotecha and Deepakbhai Jatania for working with her during her time in Mahilas. However she was disappointed

that Nataks, which were the domain of Mahilas were now being organised by LCNL. This was discussed during

the EC meetings in the past and was confirmed that Nataks is one function that Mahilas should organise. But this

year LCNL has been organising them. There was some discussion on a particular Natak that was initially offered

to Mahilas by the promoter and it appears that the promoter might have played Mahila against LCNL for this

Natak. Deepakbhai Jatania said that LCNL & Mahilas are both working for the benefit of the community and

should work in a cooperative spirit.

20 Senior Men’s Social Centre Report

Chandubhai Rughani who heads the Senior Men’s Social Centre said his report was on page 30. Chandubhai

further added that their Christmas evening program was a big success, members’ spouse’s were invited and all

those who participated had an enjoyable evening. Social centre is providing a valuable venue for the community’s

elders. The general feeling is that senior members are in a happy mood after attending RCT Social Centre.

Chandubhai thanked Kantibhai Kakad, Kantibhai Hindocha and the management committee.


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21 Senior Ladies Group ReportUrmilaben Thakkar leads the senior ladies group, Urmilaben took over in July 2012 after Kokilaben Wasani & team

retired. Urmilaben clarified that the group charges a small fee to the ladies and this is taken as a contribution

towards expenses. If required to then Urmilaben is willing to provide full account of the charges and how they have

been utilised. The funds are used towards costs such as music bands, catering during events etc. The group is

working smoothly with 287+ ladies as members. Deepakbhai Jatania added that he has attended 3 functions

organised by the group and was impressed and thanked Urmilaben and her team for their efforts.

22 YLAThe YLA report is on page 31. Dineshbhai Shonchattra commented on the closure of YLA saying that one Sunday

he came to RCT premises and was impressed to see 80 to 90 youths coming for Soul Sounds bhajans. Ronak

Paw informed that Soul Sounds was started by YLANL, when it was started about 90% of the youth were Lohanas

and now the NEW Soul Sounds has about 25% Lohanas. Ronak went on to say that disagreement with some

individuals within Soul Sounds has made it difficult for YLANL. Ronak explained that YLANL organised Kids Club

which was very popular with about 60 kids participating, over the last 7 years YLA has donated a little over

£20,000 to charities but unfortunately no youth have come forward to take YLA over. Ronak raised the point that

New Soul Sounds is not associated with YLA however still seem to be using RCT hall at no charge, however there

was indication from the RCT that a charge was being made to Soul Sounds. Manubhai Radia insisted that YLA

should not close down. Janubhai Kotecha said that at the last AGM a request was made to all youngsters to

support and join YLA, it’s sad to see YLA ceasing. Janubhai said that we need to keep YLA alive and bring it under

LCNL as a youth wing. Ronak mentioned that he was there to help in any way possible. Rajnibhai Radia

commented that YLA was totally separate from LCNL, so does LCNL want to bring an autonomous body under

it ? That move does not sound right.

Dhanjbhai said that YLA’s report raises serious points such as lack of support from community and the E.C.,

YLA is a long standing institution with lots of potential. Dhanjibhai suggested that the EC should look into their

grievances and support them.

Shantibhai Davda asked why Ronak should be allowed to resign, if YLA is not currently functioning then should

we not ask Ronak to continue. Ronak indicated that YLANL had already closed down. Ronak also indicated that

he walked away from YLA because of difficulties with Soul Sounds and when it was decided to close down YLA

then Soul Sounds being part of YLA should have closed as well. Amratlalbhai Radia commented that Soul

Sounds is separate and if they are using RCT premises free of charge then it should stop, youth is very important.

Sukeshiben Thakkar commented that YLANL has been terrific and always supported Mahilas. Deepakbhai

Jatania said that YLA has provided good service over the last 7 years, the community needs the youth, and

Deepakbhai also mentioned that he will always support functions to do with the youth. The general view of the

AGM was that the new incoming committee should look into the matter. Dinesh Thakrar commented that as YLA

has closed down then LCNL should look into establishing a youth wing.

23 Before Existing Committee RetiringSecretary mentioned that the election officer had raised an issue on the notice period for nominations, the point

being that 3 days notice was not enough time for the election officer to prepare all ballot papers and organise

elections especially when all posts were being contested. The suggestion was to increase the notice period from

3 days to 5 days for the position of President, Secretary, Vice President & Treasurer. Members agreed for 5 days’

notice but also queried why only the 4 positions, after further discussion it was unanimously agreed that the 5 days’

notice should apply to all positions in the EC including committee members and with immediate effect. It was also

clarified that immediate effect means that that for elections at the next AGM the new rules will apply.


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Dhanjibhai Tanna raised the point that over time a number of amendments to the constitution have been agreed

at various AGMs, however not all have been reflected in the constitution. Additionally there needs to be clarity

on the framework covering LCNL, RCT & LCF and need for a proper constitution that reflects this. Should look

at the possibility of bringing the different bodies under one umbrella and work together. Dhanjbhai proposed that

LCNL should have a team starting from the drawing board and come up with a report and suggestions on how

this can be achieved. Dhanjibhai went on to propose some names for this team, however it was agreed that the

incoming Executive Committee will appoint a team to look into this. The proposal was unanimously agreed,

proposed by Dhanjibhai Tanna and seconded by Amratlalbhai Radia.

24 Existing Committee retiring

A vote of thanks was proposed to the retiring committee members with a standing ovation for all their efforts in

serving the community during the past year. The President formally dissolved the Executive Committee and

requested Ashokbhai Sodha as election officer to take control of the AGM and conduct the elections.

25 Election of the Office Bearers

The election officer, Ashokbhai Sodha, mentioned that he had received only 1 nomination form for each post

except for the post of Assistant Secretary for which there were 2 nominations, namely Madhuben Popat and

Dineshbhai Thakrar and therefore balloting will happen for that one position only. Dineshbhai Thakrar was

announced as the winner of that ballot.

The election officer read out the names of the following elected members :

Committee Members

President Deepak Jatania Ashok Dattani

Vice President Vinod Thakrar Dinesh Shonchhatra

Secretary Dinesh Kotecha Jeet Rughani

Asst Secretary Dinesh Thakrar Kantibhai Kakad

Treasurer Pravin Khagram Rajnikant Sawjani

Asst Treasurer Yatin Dawada Rashmi Karia

Social Secretary Pratap Khagram Sandip Ruparelia

Asst Social Secretary Pushpaben Karia Vishal Sodha

Membership Secretary Kirit Vithlani Urmailaben Thakkar

RCT Trustee Mansukhbhai Raichura

RCT Trustee Dhiru Savani

The election officer welcomed the newly elected President, Deepakbhai Jatania to take the chair and conduct the

meeting. As there are 10 positions for committee members and only 9 individuals elected there was 1 position

vacant. After some discussion Amratlalbhai Radia and Manishbhai Sangani suggested that the vacant place

should be offered to Madhuben Popat, she accepted and became the 10th committee member.

Appointment of the Hon. Auditor

Deepakbhai Jatania proposed and Janubhai Kotecha seconded the appointment of Ashokbhai Sodha as the

auditor for the year 2013-14. Ashokbhai Sodha was duly appointed.

Any Other Business

None.

There being no other business the meeting was concluded at 6.30pm

Minutes prepared by : Reviewed and agreed by :

Bharat Sodha Deepak Jatania

Hon. Secretary 2012-13 President 2012-13


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PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Jai Jalaram

As we bid farewell to this current term I am pleased to report that the past year has been a busy and fruitful year,

compact with various religious, cultural and entertainment programs such as Hanuman Jayanti, the Hanuman

Charitra Katha, Krishna Janmashtmi, Navratri, Chopdapoojan, Jalaram Jayanti, the Gujarati drama, the Muktar

Shah and soon we will complete the year with Ramnavami. All the events were well attended and I thank all those

involved with organising and sponsoring these events for their dedication and hard work.

The Mahila Mandal have worked very closely with LCNL over the past year, and in particular held a Gujarati

natak together for the second year running. I offer my sincere thanks to the Chairperson Sandhyaben Gandecha

and her team for their efforts.

The bereavement committee through the chairmanship of Vinubhai Kotecha is as always doing an integral service

by helping and guiding people in their hours of need. Thank you to the team.

Lohana Social Centre continues to gather three times per week headed up by Chandubhai Rughani and we

thank them for their recent donation to the new Community Hall.

The LSC ladies meet once per month and provide an excellent service to elderly ladies. Thanks to Urmilaben

Thakkar MBE for her leadership.

The LCNL Annual Golf event has proved to be a great success over the last two years. The sponsors and players

have taken a keen interest and are looking to continue this event going forwards. I would like to offer a hearty

congratulations to its Chairman and the working committee for making it into such a success.

Despite it being their first official year, I am particularly proud of our newly formed Young Lohana Society (YLS)

for achieving so much in such little time. Amongst other events they hosted a Hanuman Chalisa and a Family

Fortunes quiz night at the RCT Hall. For me, it is very touching to see youngsters respecting and upholding our

culture and values. I would like to thank the Chairperson Reena Popat and her team for all their hard work and

enthusiasm. Being an integral part of LCNL they are also the key to our future and a wonderful platform for the

next generation of the community.

There has been a great focus on the membership portfolio of LCNL over the past year. The Lohana Community

North London membership increased from 1955 to 2020 families and this reflects the momentum in our

Community today. I give sincere thanks to Kiritibhai Vithlani who was responsible for monitoring this work and

regretfully announce his retirement after serving our community for so long. We thank him for all his hard work

and commitment.

One of our key successes this year is updating our Constitution in order to reflect today’s current working

mechanism of LCNL and to provide guidelines for the Committee going forwards. The entire Committee has

worked very hard indeed and in particular, I would like to thank Chairperson Deenesh Thakerar and his team who

spent innumerable hours to complete a first draft for our SGM meeting.

Our greatest achievement is of course our new Community Building. This has been a mammoth task and could

not have been completed without Pradip Dhamecha, Bhavesh Radia and Vimal Pau. The time, effort and

resources they have dedicated to this project and to the Community has been astounding, and I am truly grateful.

I would also like to thank Manish Sanghani, the LCF Chairman, and Amratlal Radia, the Building Chairman, for

their continued support and guidance throughout.


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I am extremely pleased to announce the building is approximately 80% complete, and we are expecting full

completion by July 2014. We have managed to collect in excess of £2.8 million from 400 community members

and I am grateful to each and every one of you. Of course, we still have to work hard to raise the remainder

£700,000 to achieve our goal of having a new Community Building absolutely debt free and we still welcome any

donations.

As I come to the end of my term as President I would like to share a few personal reflections with you all; I have

had the pleasure of getting to know and working along side such talented, humble and dedicated individuals and

it was due to these individuals and their hard work that enabled us to focus on and achieve such heights.

Projects such as our new Community Building, the formation of a new YLS and refreshing our constitution, will

all benefit our Community for future generations.

For these achievements and so many more, I would like to thank all my committee members, convenors and

friends for their continued support over the last two years. On a personal note, I would like to add that my strength

and inspiration was derived from my late father Dayalji Ramji Jatania and my late brother in law Vrajlal

Gordhandas Pau. Finally I would like to thank my family members my mother, my wife Premila and my children

for their understanding and support.

Deepak Jatania

President 2013-14


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SECRETARY’S REPORT

As the 2013/14 term fades away I reflect on the way this year ended and admittedly this is on high note

and that it happened fairly quickly.

I take this opportunity to thank the President and the entire Executive Committee team for their

confidence in me to carry out the Secretarial duties. The support from them has made my job easy and

interesting. Equally I would also like to have it registered that all the respective officers have carried out

their duties zealously and have worked hard to take LCNL to a very high standards.

Needless to say that the work on the Building has progressed very well as it can be seen from the LCF

report. I am quietly confident that it won’t be long for us all to celebrate the opening of the Building and

move into our OWN larger community hall to be proud of.

You will also of course notice from the reports that all our social events have gone very well and well

attended. In some cases it was also pleasing to note that fairly large sums have end collected and

dedicated to the building project. So, well done to the respective convenors.

As usual under the leadership our capable vice-President Vinod Thakrar the Raghuvanshi Magazine

once again was produced to a very high standard generating almost the same Income as last year.

Albeit, we could use some useful and good articles as suggested by Vinod.

I must truly record my gratitude and appreciation to Deenesh Thakerar my assistant who has undertaken

a lot of this work on my behalf and was also engaged in updating and revising the constitution. After

so many years of waiting we have finally seen “the proof of the pudding”. Equally in the same vein I must

also thank Mansukhbhai Raichura who has wholeheartedly and without any self-interest assisted me

throughout the year.

The Mahilas have also worked hard and efficiently. They are invariably always at the fore-front of all

requirements and produce timely reports and provide feedback to the main committee. Therefore, I

would like to thank them for working with us jointly at all times.

Navratri was well celebrated and the credit for this goes to the convenor and the team. Most importantly

not forgetting that there are many (particularly some ladies -whose names I cannot take in the fear that

I may miss out someone) who are the true unsung heroes as they work day and night selflessly to

honour the event and its objectives.

I also express my thanks to the newly formed YLS who have shown a tremendous cooperation and a

will to work together at all times including at Navratri and Sathi Samelan. (Speed dating programme).

The have excelled and have made a very good progress.

Finally, a note of thanks you to my wife Usha for her continued support and help.

Dinesh Kotecha

Hon. Secretary, LCNL – 2013/14


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SOCIAL SECRETARY REPORT 2013/14

It has been an honour serving our community over the past two years as Social Secretary. This year, we

challenged ourselves to surpass the great work we had done last year and make all the events this year bigger

and better. It makes me extremely proud to know that with the support of our President Deepakbhai Jatania and

the executive committee members I have been able to successfully carry out my duties. My two years in the role

of Social Secretary have been extremely rewarding.

This year has been another exciting and eventful year and I’m pleased to announce we’ve excelled in organising

our social events. Although all 8 events have been referenced regularly in our News & Events, I provide a

summary of these successes in this report.

RAMNAVMI UTSAV – 19th April 2013

Amitbhai Kansara and group who are regular invitees to the LCNL events sang many harmonious bhajans with

Bhaava (feeling), Raaga (melody), and Thaala (rhythm) that immersed all those who were present. The event

ended with Aarti to Shree Ram and prashad of fresh fruits and dry fruits. My sincere gratitude to our main

manorathi Shree Arvindbhai Thakkar and Smt Induben Thakkar for sponsoring this event.

HANUMAN JAYANT – 28th April 2013

The event was attended by respectable Ram bappa and it was indeed amazing to see Ram bappa full of zeal

and energy constantly reciting Shree Hanuman Chalisa, which inspired all of those present to join in and recite

it loudly. The encouraging part of the event was to see lots of children and youngsters who were amongst the

active members participating in the utsav.

With the recitation of each Shree Hanuman Chalisa and more people joining in the chorus, the atmosphere within

the hall immediately turned divine and this electrifying experience lasted for more than 6 hours. The event ended

with an Aarti and delicious prashad. I sincerely thank Smt Hansaben Pau and family (our main manorathi family)

and our regular lohana well-wisher families for sponsoring this successful event. I also thank Bhartiben Kantaria

and Jignyasu Satsang Mandal that led the reciting of Shree Hanuman Chalisa along with music.

NATAK – “TWO IDIOTS” – 5th May 2013

This event was completely sold out. The award winning Natak with brand new, hilarious comedy, packed with fun

and laughter has all the audience rolling in stitches.

HANUMAN CHARITRA & SUNDER KAND NA PATH – 10th & 11th August 2013

Hanuman Charitra entailed seva of Hanumanji and helps us to towards bhakti/enlightenment. Hanumanji teaches

us how to overcome obstacles in our lives. The Sunder Kand which is a chapter in the 'Ram-Charit-Maanas' or

Tulsi Ramayana penned by Goswami Tulsidas is considered to be as auspicious to read, as it is to recite the

'Hanuman Chaalisa'. It is awarded as much importance as the Bhagavad Gita in the Mahabharata. A special

thanks goes to our sponsors Late Mr Jagdishbhai Tanna, Mrs Jyotiben, Dr Neha & Dr Nikhil Tanna.

NATAK – CHALTIKA NAAM GADI – 25th Aug 2013

This Natak was a hilarious comedy which reflected our daily lives in a light hearted manner. The event included

dinner in aid of LCNL building project and was completely sold out.


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JANMASHTAMI – 28th Aug 2013

The Krishna Janmashtami festival which is also known as Gokul asthami marks the birth of Krishna, one of the

most popular Gods in the Hindu pantheon. The volunteers of LCNL had transformed the event hall into VRAJ with

many devotes in traditional dressing resembled like gopas and gopis. This was a record year where 1000+

vaishnavs joined in the celebration. I would sincerely like to thank to our kind sponsors Sachin, Daram, Shreemati

Ditiben and Shree Ketanbhai R Kotecha.

NAVRATRI – 5th October – 13th October 2013

Navaratri (nine nights) the traditional hindu religious festival is one of the greatest Hindu festivals. It symbolises

the triumph of good over evil. LCNL has been celebrating this event since the inception of LCNL community

organization – 1976. Events include celebration of Sharad Poonam and 108 Aarti on the eighth day.

DIWALI CHOPDA POOJAN – 3rd November 2013

Diwali is a festival of Hindus, on this day people with businesses will do Puja of their accounting books. This is

called the "Chopda Pujan”. Pujan is followed by a special prayer and worship before the idols of Lord Ganesha

and Goddess Lakshmi to earn their blessings.

JALARAM JAYANTI – 9th November 2013

Jalaram jayanti is the birth day of a famous and most known saint – Jalaram Bapa. Bapa was the great devotee

of lord Rama. Each of the years LCNL celebrates Jalaram Jayanti with sound of melodious music and bhjan’s

followed by delicious Bapa’s Prasadi and sweets. Our special thanks goes to Smt. Numuben Kotecha & Parivar

for sponsoring the event.

MUSICAL EVENING – MUKHTAR SHAH – 1st March 2014

This event was hugely successful with Mukhtar Shah portraying the voice of Mukesh. The evening was enjoyed

by all attendees who reminisced about the good old days. The event included dinner and soft drinks and was

completely sold out on the night.

My special thanks once again to our President Deepakbhai Jatania, to my assistant social secretary Pushpaben

Karia, and fellow committee members Pratibha Lakhani, Vishal Sodha, Pravinbhai Khagram, VinodThakrar,

Janubhai Kotecha, Dhirubhai Savani, Vinubhai Kotecha, Madhuben Popat, Urmilaben Thakkar, Kantibhai Kakad,

Yatin Dawada, Rajnikant Sawjani and Dineshbhai Shonchhatra. I would also like to extend my thanks to E.C

members, Mahilas, YLANL, RCT members, all the volunteers and senior ladies, all the donors and sponsors for

their kind support throughout the year.

Last but not least my sincere thanks and appreciation goes my wife Pravina and my family. Without the support

I’ve received from them, none of this would have been possible.

PRATAP KHAGRAM

LCNL SOCIAL SECRETARY


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YOUNG LOHANA SOCIETY NORTH LONDON - YLS

The Young Lohana Society North London (YLS) is a youth organisation that LCNL was specially launched to

capture and cater for the younger generation. The YLS team aim to bring the Lohana youth together as well as

preserve and strengthen our sense of belonging within the community by promoting and encouraging the

participation of our youth to actively integrate and partake in community events.

Since our formation in July 2013, we have held four events to cater for a wide range of our community. In October

2013 we had the first YLS event, the Launch Networking Event, over 300 people attended a great night of catching

up with old friends and making new ones!

Our second event was a Speed Dating event, our first joint effort with LCNL and this was a real success. In

December we held a 108 Hanuman Chalisa at our RCT hall. This occasion was one that all attendees found

inspiring. it was refreshing to see so many youngsters at this event.

Our latest event was in fact a double event, the Family Fortunes Quiz followed by the Dessert Lounge and was

an amazing night. We received so much positive feedback. It is the first time we’ve had an event like this and

were glad to see the community having such a good time.

In the coming year we hope to capitalise on the success of our first four events by holding more community

based programmes including sports days, summer ball, mehfil night, parties and much more.

Our presence on social media is very strong, news of the YLS can be seen at www.ylsnl.com or

www.facebook.com/younglohanasociety and you can also follow us on Twitter @YLSNL.

The committee has a wide range of professions and so it makes sense to offer careers advice to our younger

members. Our committee is happy to help and if we can’t, we will surely put you in touch with someone within

the community who can. Details of the team can be found on our website along with contact details.

The LCNL motto is “we move forward together”, for the YLS it is simply a case of us all “growing up together”.

Whether you’re a young Lohana or whether you’ve been part of the LCNL for years we hope you’ll take an active

part in our future.

Reena Popat

Chairperson, YLS

BEREAVEMENT COMMITTEE REPORT

LCNL bereavement subcommittee is continuing assist members to ensure that all the last religious rites are

gracefully organised for any Lohana bereaved family residing within the greater London but also occasionally far

beyond & within all parts of UK.

This selfless honorary service with sympathetic attitude particularly at such critical time and sad happening can

be real help to any community member.

The members of this subcommittee are always available on our S.O.S. call with prompt and cordial reply. I must

thank Rameshbhai Devani, Manubhai Radia, Kantibhai Chandarana, Rangdasbhai Unadkat, Pradipbhai Barai,

Rajnibhai Saujani, Dhirubhai Jobanputra, Girishbhai Morjaria,Natubhai Nathwani, Rameshbhai Modi, Dhirubhai

Pau, Rajnibhai Raichura, Ashwinbhai Raithatha,and Narenbhai Hathi for their help and to continue to do so in the

future. We also have 2 ladies Rashhmitaben Thakrar and Jyotiben Morjaria to help us on regular basis.


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MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY’S REPORT

20 March 2014

Dear Committee Colleagues and Respected Members

We are approaching LCNL 2013/2014 year-end AGM fast and as customary a few words of update for the benefit

of the Committee and Members at large.

Since joining LCNL Committee in 2005, the moment has arrived to say farewell to you all after very challenging,

interesting, exciting and enjoyable nine years as a Committee Member to spend time with the family, friends and

explore the new horizons.

I had the privilege to work under various Presidents starting from Shree Amratlalbhai Radia, Dineshbhai Kotecha,

Sudhirbhai Karia, Pratibhaben Lakhani, Janubhai Kotecha and Deepakbhai Jatania. With their vast experience,

conviction and willingness to inspire, motivate and encourage novice like me made it possible to deliver the tasks

they delegated to me such as starting from Annual Mela, Gujarati School, Rejuvenating and Editing News &

Events, Launching of E-News and finally Membership Secretary.

I am extremely grateful to them and the Committee for showing belief in me when mine was starting to falter and

I hope I served you to your expectations and did justice to the Community at large.

Committee colleagues have been very supportive to me and since taking the task of Membership Secretary in

2009, collectively we have recruited 227 Life Members to date and the hard work continues. My deepest gratitude

to you all for the support, respect and wisdom shown to me at all times.

Last but not the least, I remain indebted to you all- the members for your eternal inspiration, good wishes,

guidance and reassurance. It was a pleasure, sheer delight and honour to serve you, to work with you and for

you.

Whilst writing, may I wish the incoming team every success in serving and enriching the Community.

I remain, ever yours-obedient Lohana Sevak.

Kirit Vithlani

Membership Secretary

[email protected]

We also transmit sad new to registered members from [email protected]

Some members occasionally do not receive the transmission.

This is because of the following:

• Your Service provider sometimes blocks it

• Sometimes the mail goes in to the SPAM or Deleted box

• You need to validated our e-mail as safe mail

• Members unsubscribing by mistake. Once you unsubscribe ,it automatically stops transmissions

(Legal requirement)

• Your Antivirus programme blocks the mail

Members are requested to check all above and if you do not receive the mail then write to us at

[email protected]

I would like to thank LCNL President and E.C members for their support during the past year to

enable us to serve our community members.

LCNL Bereavement Convenor - Vinu Kotecha


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LOHANA CENTRE BUILDING AND LCF REPORT

The year has been full of activity and the challenge was to complete our building project with the funds from the

membership. Our desire has been to complete the building without any external funding

We sent out an e-shot to the members in February 2014 showing our current financial position and our target

requirements. Reports are also posted on our website www.lcnl.org. We are publishing extract of our independent

audited final accounts in this bulletin.

We have always maintained that this is community project and we wish to have all community members to join

hands in donations and contributions to make this centre, a true community centre, whereby all Lohana members

can benefit. This will be a legacy we leave for our future generation

This year many members have joined hands with their donations for which we are very grateful. We wish to

highlight two areas of donations. Firstly from our Social Centre for men who made an appeal to their members

in March 2014 and with the unanimous support from around 100 members’ family, they collected around £12,000

excluding any gift aid benefit. In addition donation of £300,000 was secured from Dr Rasikbhai Kantaria and his

family members from Nairobi. This demonstrates that there is a strong support from the members on this project

both within UK and Overseas. We are thankful to everybody for their support. Dr Rasikbhai Kantaria and

Rameshbhai Kantaria have now become permanent trustees of LCF

Once our building is operational, we foresee our member’s activities increasing for many uses including

conferences, seminars, weddings, receptions, prayers, cultural programmes, social centres activities, yoga

classes, educational classes, music, language, spiritual classes, religious seminars, bhajans, youth activities,

training and much more

Our building project has progressed substantially this year and now we can see the horizon, we expect the

building to be completed in summer months, midyear. We however still need funding We have managed to raise

80% of the funds from 20% of the membership and now we appeal to the 80% of the members to join hands to

contribute remaining 20% of the requirement, around £700K

Please remember that this is community building and together we can achieve a lot. It is now the time for each

one of us to seriously think of the betterment of the community and what we as individually can do to support the

community. This can be financially, morally or in professional expertise

We have various donation schemes and are happy to discuss the project. We can arrange site visits so, please

contact any member of the Executive Committee or LCF Trustees.

Jai Shree Krishna

Manish Sangani Amratlal Radia

LCF Chairperson Building Chairperson


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Charity Registration No. 1140408


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AFFILLIATION COORDINATOR’S REPORT 2013-14We have continued to maintain our link with voluntary/community & statutory organisations for our mutual benefit.

We nominate, appoint or encourage the executive committee members to represent our community to various

bodies. We have also been affiliated to and have a working relationship with Brent Indian Association (BIA),

NCGO, Hindu council (Brent &Harrow), Hindu Forum UK.

At the UK level Pannaben Raja continued as the I.P.P. with Kiritbhai & Dhirubhai Pau as trustees of Lohana

Community United Kingdom. At the local level we continue engaging with NHS organisations (Brent &Harrow)

& Brent &Harrows’ local authorities meetings. I have continued as a member of Brent Health watch and take an

interest in matters relating to Health & social care services.

I would like to share some relevant information with our members.

The Parliament Week Partners’ Conference is an Annual event (the last one was in February 2014) and the

next one will be held between 14th -20th November 2014. It is an initiative of activities that inspire, engage &

connect with citizens to build greater awareness of Parliamentary democracy. There are currently over two

hundred partners across the country who support the week running events & activities to empower people to take

part in parliamentary democracy. New partners are welcome. The members of House of Commons & House of

Lords also take active part in this process. It was an ideal opportunity to interact with many voluntary/community

representatives attending these events. To date this year so far over hundred and fifty events have taken place

across the country.

HEALTH: Shaping a healthier Future is a clinically led programme to develop a vision for how health services

can be improved in N.W. London. Increasing care delivered closer to home will better coordinated services

&improves quality. Concentrating major emergency services on to fewer sites will ensure consistent senior

clinician support. SHF includes collaborative partnership of the whole system integrated care programme to

improve the quality of care for individual, careers &families, empowering, supporting , care coordinated around

individual with joined up health &social care. Multidisciplinary home team, with GPs will be at the centre of

organising &coordinating people’s care. Integrated system will be in stages to be fully implemented by 2018.

This means gradually ensuring to deliver better care for all 2 million people in NW London.

On 24 September 2013 a conference marked “New Era of Health and social care was held at City University

London. The aim of the seminar was to encourage debate & discussion on the opportunity & challenges on health

& Social care lead by leaders in the field health & social care with regulators & providers airing their views in to

new health & social care. The chair of Health & care council explained the role of the council as to set the

standards of care to safe guard the health 7 wellbeing of person using or needing these services. HCPC- Holding

to account 31,490 members registered from 6 professions.

The director of nursing Health education of England emphasised the right care, right time &right place with

integrated care of health &social care is absolute necessary. The issue of capacity & capability relating to

availability of resources (money) with what good quality care should be Health education director indicated the

whole care system needs to improve and may take 3to 5 or 10 years, multidiscipline or specialist clinicians to meet

future challenges.

Mansukh Raichura

Affilliation Coordinator


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RAGHUVANSHI DIWALI MAGAzINE 2013

Once again this year the task of publishing our annual Raghuvanshi Diwali Magazine was entrusted on me by

our President Deepakbhai Jatania and the Executive committee

I am happy to report that with the assistance of experienced sub-committee members , Deepakbhai Jatania,

Amratlalbhai Radia, Janubhai Kotecha, Pratibhaben Lakhani , Mansukhbhai Raichura, Deeneshbhai Thakerar and

Dineshbhai Kotecha, we managed to surpass last year’s high quality and standard.

We were encouraged by many positive comments received from the members This magazine is traditionally a

high revenue contributor for LCNL. I am happy to report a net revenue of nearly £35,000 which is similar to that

of last year. The task of replacing advertising support is always challenging but through hard work of the team,

we managed to fulfil our objectives. The other positive side is that our treasurer, Pravinbhai Khagram has

managed to collect most of the monies and the remaining balance will be finalised soon

Our aim is to produce this magazine to a very high standard which includes informative articles both in English

and Gujrati. We also have blessing messages from Sant’s and Diwali greeting messages from our sponsors. We

have also enlisted many activities of all our operating bodies throughout the year. We will look at including

additional articles and informative material next year. I would encourage members to submit interesting material

for future publications

Postage and publication costs have gone up a lot. Therefore it will become more of a challenge to balance the

revenue streams but I am hopeful that we may be able to distribute this magazine by hand to the members from

our new building next year

I would like to acknowledge my sincere thanks to all the advertisers and contributors of various articles for this

Diwali bulletin .I would also like to thank the management and staff at Spot Colour, our printing press for their full

cooperation

Vinod thakrarChairperson of the Raghuvanshi Diwali Bulletin

2013-14

electronic media: e-news Letter

[email protected]

E-News transmission is predominantly sent only to registered life members of LCNL. This media is quick, cost

effective and environmentally friendly and it is complementary to our News and Events magazine publication. The

number of registered members has grown this year by 50% to 1200 members.

Please remember that this database is only for the members and is separate from the bereavement database

that is transmitted to anybody upon request. Both of these LCNL databases are used to communicate with the

membership from time to time. All the members who have submitted their registration form for the LCNL Directory

will be recorded on the E-NEWS database.

I would like to thank Madhuben Popat, Ashokbhai Dattani, Kiritbhai Vithlani, President Deepakbhai Jatania and

Amit Chandarana of Net Creator for assisting me in transmission of the E-News.

Vinod thakrarE-News Officer

LCNL 2013-14

[email protected]


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Website Report

WWW.LCNL.ORG

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our President Deepakbhai Jatania and the Executive Committee for

entrusting me with the website resposiblty.I am particularly thankful to Yatin Dawada,our Assistant Tresurer who

together with our external web designer Amit Chandarana has assisted me in maintaining and updating the site

as required.

Last year our website was redesigned and it gave us a facility to promote current events of LCNL and it’s

operating committees on the front page of the website. We have also uploaded Raghuvanshi Magazine,News

and Events Magazine and Building Report on the front screen which can be read in flip book format. Our

members have found this useful as a reference guide also as it is on the front screen at all times

Technology is forever changing rapidly and electronic media has become very important in our daily lives.

Therefore it is important for us to keep this under constant review. Our YLS team members have some new

fresh ideas on their website, i.e facebook, twitter, and user friendly website for Android phones. We intend to adopt

these for LCNL in the coming years.

The following key activity areas are tabulated for a quick reference point.

• Membership forms and information

• Operating Committee activities and information

Lcnl Executive Committee -Mahila Mandal - Social Centre Senior Men

Social Centre Senior Ladies -RCT - YLS

• Services

E News - News and Events - Marriage Introduction

Bereavement - Members Views - Business & Professional

Sports - Affiliation -

• Events Dairy

• Photo Gallery

• Contact Details

I would enclourage members to visit our website on a regular basis for referencing and for information on new

current programs. I am happy to welcome any constructive suggestions and members view points

Vinod Thakrar

Convenor 2013-14

[email protected]


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FAMILY GUIDANCE REPORTLCNL hit a milestone on the 7th of December, Overseeing the scenic Wembley Stadium,120 young Lohana’sgathered (60 Boys & 60 Girls), chatted, ate starters and commenced the speed date evening. The significanceof such an event is that the numbers, if permitted would have gone on to 200 plus, declaring the appetite for sucha localised community schedule.

An event like this needs planning, teamwork and energy; thus the involvement of the YLS (Young Lohana Society)with LCNL team was a great achievement. Due to the centralised ages of the candidates it was decided to allowall participants to speak to each other. This served mixed reactions initially, and then feedback suggested that itwas the best way to carry the evening. The speed date finished and then the dinner and networking commenced.Testimony to any event is when the crowd are still conversing away at midnight. We are currently looking atmaking this a regular event in the LCNL calendar. I would like to say thanks to some individuals to ensure thesuccess of the evening.

Jeet Rughani, Vinod Thakrar, Deepak Jatania Sheetal Popat, Tejas Kotecha (YLS), Seema Chande (YLS),Pratibhaben Lakhani (LCNL).Sandhyaben Gandecha (Mahila) & the YLS team that helped on the day We alsohad a Joint Speed Date Programme on 23rd February with Navnat Council of Vanik Association. We had about38 Lohana Boys & Girls. We are planning a joint event with 3 communities and this time Lohana Community willbe eading the event and will be under the banner of LCNL. The date and Venue is being looked for une//July2014 and also a Lohana only event jointly with YLS for November/ December.

We also maintain a database of the prospective matches; containing candidate details. This is updated regularlyby Mansukhbhai Raichure. Male and Female list are mailed to registered candidates on request. The familyguidance team members are Dinesh Kotecha, Dipak Jatania, Vinod Thakrar, Mansukhbhai Raichutre & PratibhaLakhani.

We look forward to your continued support.

Dinesh Kotecha - Family Guidance Chairperson

LCNL SPORTS REPORT

The annual LNCL golf tournament was held at the Essendon Country Club in Hatfield on Wednesday 3 July

2013. The event proved to be more successful than last year with 89 golfers who took part on the day and we

were forced to turn away over 20 late applicants. The whole day proved to be an immense success with all

participants enjoying not only the golf but also the BBQ in the evening. Can I start by thanking all of the

participants without who there would have been no golf day and also a thank you to those that attended the BBQ

in the evening. Can I also Club 2000 who provided the food for the BBQ in the evening. Judging by the feedback

that we have received, everyone who attended loved the venue and the food.

Our main sponsor for the event this year was Metro Bank to whom we are very grateful for their support and for

providing various goods to the participants. Again, Ramesh Radia sponsored the floating trophy which was

awarded to the winner of the event. Special thanks also to HT & Co Drinks for their generous sponsorship. Again,

we were able to acquire a number of sponsors for the event and can I thank them all for the generosity that they

showed in sponsoring our event. The sponsors for the holes were: igerHolidays.com, Sterling Accountants, Harold

Benjamin, Santok Group (who sponsored 2 holes), Harrow Service Centre, Kamsons Pharmacy, Newland Manor,

Maurya, SPEDAG INTERFREIGHT AG, Handsdale Limited and Westminster Homes.

Can I say a special thank you to the following team members for helping to organise the event and also for

ensuring that everything ran so smoothly on the day and without who the event would not have been possible;

Mahendra Ganatra, Ashok Sodha, Vinod Thakrar, Deepak Jatania, Janu Kotecha, Prakash Radia and Kantibhai

Kakad. All of these people played a major role in ensuring that the event was a success. Lastly, the Lohana

Cricket Club has gone from strength to strength. We have attracted more members and all the adult teams had

good seasons. In addition, the colts section has continued to grow with the high point of the season being the

under 13’s winning the Middlesex Indoor Championship. They now progress to the District Championship and we

have high hopes for them winning this – congratulations to all the boys!

Regards

Dhiru Savani - Conveyor


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TREASURER’S REPORT

I would like to thank the President, the Executive Committee and the Lohana Community North London for

entrusting me with the finances and giving me the opportunity to serve the Community.

The Navratri function was held at our usual venue - Brentford Leisure Centre in Chiswick - and was well attended

during the week-ends but, as in previous years, we were well under capacity on the weekdays. With the generous

contributions of the donors and Yajmaans we were able to deliver a small profit on the event and I would like to

thank them for their generosity. I would also like to say a special thanks to the members of the Young Lohana

Society for their active involvement in the event.

The Golf Day’s popularity continues to grow and has good support which I hope will continue. Owing to the hard

work of Dhirubhai Savani and his team, the event produced a good net income.

The popular Raghuvanshi Diwali Magazine continues to be well received within the community. Once again it

produced very good income for the year and the majority of the outstanding amounts have been received with

no bad debts. I would like to thank all the advertisers for their continued support.

The News and Events magazine was also well produced and advertising revenue helped to subsidise the cost

and reduce the loss.

The two Gujarati plays were very successful and well attended and made a good contribution to the Community

funds.

The social functions included Chopda Pujan, Hanuman Chalisa, Ram Navami, Janmashtami and Jalaram Jayanti

and were well attended and well planned by the Social Secretary, Pratapbhai Khagram, and his team with the

support of the Committee members and community well-wishers.

As it did last year, the Executive Committee approved a contribution of £6,000 to Raghuvanshi Charitable Trust.

The loan to the Lohana Charitable Foundation was increased by a further £50,000 to £87,500. The Committee

also approved a donation from the General Charity Fund of £1,500 for a Gaushala and a further £1,500 to a UK

charitable organisation.

The support and co-operation of the President, Vice President and the Committee and the event organisers

assisted me to carry out my duty as Treasurer. I would like to say a special thank you to Yatin Dawda, the

Assistant Treasurer, for his help.

I would also like to express my gratitude to Ashokbhai Sodha and his team for their work as Independent

Accountants.

Pravin Khagram

Hon Treasurer


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LOHANA COMMUNITY NORTH LONDON

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JANUARY 2014

PRESIDENT: MR DEEPAKBHAI JATANIA

TREASURER: MR PRAVINBHAI KHAGRAM

ASHMANS

Chartered Accountants

Zone G Salamander Quay West, Park Lane Harefield Middlesex UB9 6NZ

CONTENTS

Statement of Executive Committee’s Responsibilities

Honorary Accountants Report

Statement of Affairs

Income & Expenditure Account

Notes to the accounts


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LCNL MAHILA MANDAL CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT

Humbled, Proud and Grateful

I welcome you to this end of year Report. I am personally filled with awe and gratitude that the year has flown so

swiftly. This is with the collective efforts of all our Mahila Committee members, the President and the Executive

Committee of the LCNL, YLS and all the volunteers throughout the year. I am proud of the unwavering

commitment towards excellence from our sponsors and am thankful that despite the turns and blocks in the road,

we completed the year with the following successful events:

(1) Coach Trip to Birmingham to visit:

Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) & Ek Niwas mandirs; indulgence at the Cadbury World.

(2) Laughter Therapy Yoga (laughter exercises with yogic breathing)

(3) Rudri Pujan (Shravan Monday Lord Shiv puja in Rudra form)

(4) Navratri Ladies Afternoon Garbas with Mela style Stalls, highlight was 108 Aartis as it was Aatham.

(5) Tulsi Vivah Celebrations (the Divine wedding of Lord Krishna and Mata Tulsi Vranda celebrated with great

splendor with a genuine marriage-like atmosphere).

(6) Christmas Party for People with Disabilities with their Carers and Parents. Children from Harrow Mencap

and Ashiana Charitable Trust invited. Our Chief Guest the Deputy Worshipful Mayor of Harrow, Councillor

Camilla Bath and other dignitaries honoured the event.

Charities Supported: Saheli Gramya Vikas (welfare of two children) and Gauree Gai in Porbandar,

St Lukes Hospice in Kenton, The Mayor’s Charity, Ashiana Charitable Trust and Harrow Mencap. Surplus to

Lohana Charitable Foundation for the new Building Project.

On behalf of Mahila Parivar, I thank you all for your continued support. Be assured that your perennial

encouragement and generosity in Mahila’s future endeavours, is welcomed most appreciatively. May Lord Krishna

bless you and your families now and in the many happy years we spend together in the LCNL.

Jai Shree Krishna, Jai Jalarambapa.

Sandhya Gandecha

Mahila Chairperson 2013-2014


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REPORT OF THE CONSTITUTION COMMITTEE

This Committee was established to carry out the task of the long overdue overhaul of the Constitution which I

believe was first approved on or around 20th February 1983 (some 31 years ago). The principal objective was

to update the document in such a manner as to make it more user-friendly, comprehensive and practical.

As part of this process I collated a lot of information which included the background, earlier documentation,

sample constitutions/governing instruments and the views of many of those who have been closely associated

with the constitution and general operation of the community. Following this I began compiling the draft and my

team has been very helpful and cooperative in making all the necessary inputs and variations that we believed

were necessary.

A draft working instrument was placed before the Executive Committee in early February of this year and we

received some very helpful and constructive amendments/suggestions. Subject to that the draft was approved.

The changes and suggestions were adopted and further variations were made. Consequently, an SGM was

called on 5th April 2014 for the Community’s approval.

I have no doubt that by now you have all received the document and that you will note the changes that have

been made. In that context I would request you to bear in mind the following handicaps:

1. Although by profession I am a lawyer my speciality is more corporate/litigation rather than constitutional

work. It therefore took me a little longer than usual to make the changes;

2. The basis of our task was the update/revision of the current document and not a complete re-write (although

substantially it appears so);

3. We had no specific secretarial backup and most of the typing, administrative work and the like was

undertaken by Myself, Vinod Thakrar and Mansukhbhai Raichura (I am extremely grateful to both these

gentlemen for their continual input in all respects);

4. I also undertook some duties as an assistant Secretary of LCNL and therefore at the same time was involved

in writing minutes, letters and other attendances etc.

Having said that I must also balance it by admitting that it was a great pleasure and honour to work with my

whole team especially people like Amratlal Radia, Janubhai Kotecha, Manish Sangani and our president Deepak

Jatania.

It remains for me to thank our President for having the faith in me and the support of the whole Executive

committee both in my capacity as the Constitution Chairperson and Assistant Secretary, not forgetting Dinesh

Kotecha for giving me a freehand on the secretarial reigns.

I would be failing in my duty if I forgot to acknowledge with gratitude the support and encouragement given to me

by my dear wife Varsha.

Jai Sri Krishna

Deenesh Thakerar

Convenor, Constitution Committee, LCNL


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LOHANA SENIOR LADIES CENTRE’S ACTIVITY REPORT


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LOHANA SOCIAL CENTRE (MEN) ANNUAL REPORT

I have pleasure once again in submitting our Centre report for the year 2013/14. We held our AGM(Annual

Panchayat) on Wednesday the 24 July 2013. The President of LCNL Deepakbhai Jatania and two LCNL

representatives, Janubhai Kotecha and Vinodbhai Thakrar attended. The election was very effectively carried

out by the LCNL President Deepakbhai Jatania and he following were elected to run the affairs of the Centre.

Chairman: Secretary Treasurer

Chandubhai Rughani Kantibhai Hindocha Kantibhai Kakad

Committee Members: Kantibhai Davda,Vinod Morjaria, Kantibhai Karia, Kiran Sachdev, Rameshbhai

Thakkar,Vinod Nathwani

Ex-Officio Members: Ajitbhai Adatia (Immediate Past Chairman – LSC) Deepakbhai Jatania (President - LCNL)

LCNL Representatives to LSC- Vinod Thakrar (Vice President – LCNL) Janubhai Kotecha - Immediate Past

President - LCNL

I am very pleased to report that the current membership of the Centre is 109 people. The regular attendance of

our members three days a week during summer months has remained around 95 and 75 during the winter

months.

The following activities were organised during the year:

- A members social get together with their spouses was arranged on 14th June 2013 and was attended by 140

participants.After lunch a variety of entertainment items including a Bingo was played.As this programme has

become very popular,the spouses of the members hosted a reciprocal event on Friday the 16 August 2013 with

a view to returning the hospitality to the regular Centre members.

- A one-day picnic to Crowley temple and Brighton was arranged on Sunday the 7 July 2013.The weather turned

out to be very favourable and 49 members who participated enjoyed the picnic.

- Our ever popularAnnual Grand Diwali Dinner Celebrations programme was organised on Thursday the 24

October 2013 at Kadwa Patidar Samaj Hall.Once again the event was fully subscribed and the participants were

LSC members with their spouses and friends as well as senior members of our community at large.The event

was also supported by the President,Executive Committee Members and a number of LCNL members.The

trustees of RCT Board Members and members of YLS also attended the programme. In all more than 450

participants enjoyed the Diwali Dinner followed by melodious Music.At the courtesy of Shree Kantibhai Amlani

and family delicious Ice Cream was served to the participants.We are thankful to Amlani family.On Diwali day itself

we did Aarti at the Centre which was followed by Diwali lunch for the LSC regular members.

- The highlight of our event for the year took place on Tuesday the 3 December 2013 when 39 of our members

were given a guided tour of both the Houses Of Parliament on the invitation and arranged by LORD DOLAR

POPAT.After the guided tour we had more than half an hour quality time with Lord Popat in the Committee room

where he enlightened us on various subjects.After the tour ,Lord Popat had made lunch arrangement for the

participants of the tour and their spouses at Meera Village Restaurant.The lunch arrangement was very abley

supervised by our experienced Shree Manubhai Radia.On behalf of all members who took part in the guided tour,I

would like to take the opportunity once more to convey our heartfelt thanks to Lord Popat for such a unique tour

of Houses of Parliament.


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- On 3 March 2014,following the Management Committee's unanimous decision, an appeal was made to our

regular members to contribute our share towards the building of new Lohana Community Hall with a view to

showing our loyalty and solidarity to our mother organisation.The response of the members was very generous

resulting into raising a very handsome collection of £11,645.25p from our 95 regular members However,atleast

7 of our regular members were away on holiday when the appeal was made.I am confident that all of them will

contribute their share to the fund on their return. A social day has been arranged on Friday the 28 March

2014,where in the presence of our regular members' spouses, a cheque made up of the total collection will be

presented to LCNL President Deepakbhai Jatania.I would like to place on record my sincere and heartfelt

appreciation of our members for their very generous contribution.

The main regular Centre activities:

Regular Celebrations of Birthdays,Annivarsaries,Achievments of grand children etc.

Table Tennis and Pools competitions are organised followed by presentation of trophies to the winners and

runner-ups.More than 35 members regularly play both these sports.Playing Cards etc.

LSC members are fully involved in LCNL programmes and activities throughout the year.

It goes without saying that all these activities need every support and help from well wishers,sponsors and

volunteers,without their generosity and co-operation we cannot continue to function and for that I would like to

record my gratitude and thanks to:

All sponsors,well wishers and volunteers.

LCNL President Deepakbhai and the Executive Committee.

RCT Board of Trustees Chairman Ravi Tanna and RCT TRustees.

I would like to thank our Secretary Shree Kantibhai Hindocha,our Treasurer Shree Kantibhai Kakad and all elected

Committee members for their unconditional support and utmost co-operation during the year.I would also like to

thank all our vounteers and members for their suppport and confidence in me to lead the Centre.I sincerely hope

that I have discharged my responsibility and duties diligently and prudently keeping always in mind the

interest,welfare and progress of our Centre.

Finally I extend my sincere thanks to my wife Pushpa Rughani for her continuous support which enables me to

serve our Centre and the Community at large.

Jay Shree Krishna

Chandu Rughani

Chairman - Lohana Social Centre.

21 March 2014


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NEWS AND EVENTS REPORTS I am thankful to Deepakbhai Jatania and the Executive Committee for giving me the opportunity to be the editor

for the News and Events publication

It was a challenge for us to improve the standard and the quality of the publication. I am happy and thankful for

the positive & encouraging comments from the membership. This is a well read magazine because of its useful

contents. It is produced three times a year and contains details of the events, articles and activities of all the

operating bodies of LCNL. If members wish to submit any articles, then they can send it via [email protected]. Latest

magazine is also posted on the front screen of our website in a flipbook format which members have found it useful

The committee members who assisted me are Jeet Rughani, Deenesh Thakerar and Dinesh Shonchhatra

Vinod Thakrar - News and Events magazine editor and officer (LCNL 2013-14)

BUSINESS & PROFESSIONAL REPORT 2014This year we have not had Business Dinner as the advance negotiation with one Institution failed to materialize

at well advance Stage and final answer came very late in Jan / Feb of 2014.

As soon as we knew of the answer from above sponsorer our search started for new sponsorer and Iam pleased

inform you that We are at advance stage with a New institution where verbally confirmed and document

confirmation will be with us shortly.Dates for the Dinner will be 3rd week of septeber 2014. We have propose to

the sponsoer that we use our new hall as the venue for the event, I will be able to confirm the date and venue at

the AGM.

Business and Professional convenor

Deepak Jatania

naVratri rePort

JAI AMBEE MATAJI TO ALL.

I am pleased to give you the following report in respect of our Navratri Festival for the year 2013.

I am pleased that once more our Navratri was held at Brentford Leisure Centre – Chiswick. Our community is

very fortunate to have such a venue for the last 18 years.

You all are fully aware that finance was a major issue after the 2012 Navratri. President and all E.C. Members

were fully aware of the loss of approximately £8,000. I am pleased to confirm that this time we have made small

profit.

Secondly, it is very sad to write that our own LCNL members are very happy to support other third party who

operate their Navratri – who makes money and are not accountable to LCNL. When it comes to LCNL there is

a very small support. LCNL members are urged to support your own Mahajan’s Navratri so that the profit is

retained only for our Mahajan benefit and it is accountable.

I would sincerely like to express my gratitude to all the sponsors of the festival and all the members of the LCNL

for all your whole hearted support. I would also like to thank the President, Pratapbhai Khagram and Madhuben

Popat (who were assistant convenors) and all the E.C. Members, YLS, Mahila, J. B. Security and Strings Music

Group for all their hard efforts and support.

On Behalf of LCNL my very special thanks to all the Yajmans for their generous support, without them our losses

would have been £8,000 or higher. Please kindly continue your support.

This was our last year for LCNL’s Navratri at CHISWICK. Last 18 years I have continually served LCNL for our

Navratri. Now I am happy to say that this year we will have our Navratri in our own Building and predominantly

for LCNL members.

JAI AMBEE MATAJI.

Janu KoteCha,

I.P. PRESIDENT/CONVENOR LCNL 2013 NAVRATRI.


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07956 810 647


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Lohana Community North London

Cordially invite you all to take part in the Recitation of 108 Hanuman Chalisa

For Information please contact:

Deepakbhai Jatania: 020 8950 2484 Dinesh Kotecha: 07816 813 239

Sandhyaben Gandecha: 07656 883 342

HanumanJayanti

On Saturday 19th April 2013

Programme Time:

Hanuman Chalisa

From 10.00am to 05.00pm

Prasad 05.30pm Onwards

Venue: Oakington Manor PrimarySchool (Large Sports Hall)

Oakington Manor Drive,

Middlesex, HA9 6NF

Sponsors

Late Shree Vrajlal Gordhandas Pau

& Family and

Our regular Well Wisher

Rambapa & Members of Jignasu

Mandal will grace the occasion

the lcnl a.g.m. 13th april 2014lcnl.org/enews/agm-2014.pdf · report by the president ... for the...

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