“Bolton Hindu Forum is the platform for all of the Hindu places of

worship, Samaj’s, community groups, and Hindu individuals within Bolton to

work together in supporting the needs of the Hindu community.”

Newsletter 2016-2017

Namaste and welcome to Bolton Hindu Forum’s annual newsletter update. We hope you enjoy

reading about our work, none of which would be possible without your help and support. We aim to

be open to everyone and if you would like to get involved please get in touch!

Manoranjan – this year again the audience was wowed with our local talent showcasing Bharatanatyam,

Kathak, Bollywood, traditional Tamil dance and culture, Bhangra, and more! This is the second year of our

partnership working with Octagon Theatre. They are keen to strengthen our close working relationship

with them and also include us in the main stream programme going forward. This is a great opportunity to

showcase our culture to a main stream audience. Our next theatre event will take place on Wednesday

4th October 2017, please get in touch if you’d like to get involved!

Hate Crime – we were profiled by the Council, CVS,

GMP, and the Bolton News as one of the groups

which successfully raised awareness of Hate Crime

in Bolton. We will be working alongside these

groups to ensure that awareness is continued to be

raised. We are working on a dual language Gujarati

and English video to increase further awareness

Sports Development – this year our aim was to

introduce sports activities for the community as a

whole. We are very proud to say that we now li-

aise with various sporting organisations to hold

sports sessions. We are starting football, cricket,

netball, rounders, boxercise, tennis, and table ten-

nis sessions in the near future.

‘Sports Mela’ which attracted over 500

participants last year will take place on Sunday

23rd July 2017 at St Catherine's Academy. Please

contact us if you’d like to take part!

Youth Activities - we have a Youth Network which

enables us to promote, help, direct and organise

youth activities with the existing youth groups and

young people in the community. We have devel-

oped a great partnership with the

University of Bolton and held our first ‘careers

advice and professional development’ event this

year. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive

and we are aiming to have further advice and

development sessions throughout the year.

Contact us to join our youth network!

Developing Projects

Annual Events

Sharad Purnima Garba – over 500 people attended our Garba event held at Bolton College. We have

developed a great partnership with the college and they are keen to support and work with us in the

future. The event raised £438 for Bolton Hospitals Breast Unit. This years event will take place on

Saturday 7th October 2017.

Women Together – we held our annual women’s empowerment event where talks and workshops on

Hate Crime, Breast Care, Wills, and Diabetes care were delivered. Our women’s group exists throughout

the year and will be holding regular social and informative events.

Dusshera – over 1000 people attended the annual

Dusshera festival at Bolton Indian Sports Club. We

were very proud of this event for getting all our Hindu

Youth Groups involved. The children dressed as Hindu

Gods were from different organisations; Ram was from

Veda Mandir Gujarati School, Sita from Bolton

Mandhata Youth, Lakshman from Bolton Shakha, and

Hanuman from SKSST Bal Mandal.

This is a great achievement and a

wonderful message of unity.

Bhajan Mela – our second

annual Bhajan Mela took place at

Peter Kay Theatre. We are very

proud to have so many musically

gifted groups & individuals in Bolton.

Bhajan Mela is a great platform for

people young and old to perform

their devotional songs.

Other Work

Interfaith Activities – Community cohesion and

cultural awareness is a part of our remit, and although

all our events are open to everyone, we have official

interfaith events which we help organise with other

faith partners. These include school visits, sports

activities, community litter picks, and all activities

which take place during National Interfaith Week.

Community Representation at Public Events – Bolton Hindu Forum represents the Bolton Hindu

community at all public events, including Remembrance Sunday, holocaust memorial day, and all Council

and Mayoral functions. Bolton Hindu Forum is also the representative body for any groups that may

require information about the Hindu community or a voice at a local, regional, and national level.

Sewa Day Activities – Bolton Hindu Forum is the local group which supports and

promotes all Sewa Day activities in Bolton. Sewa Day recently held a National

Blood Donation to encourage people from ethnic minority communities to donate

blood. BAME communities make up 14% of the population but only 3% of blood

donors. We are aiming to change this, and are very proud to announce the largest

Sewa Day campaign in the country was held in Bolton. We will be working on a

number of activities with Sewa Day throughout the year.

Future Activities and Projects— Get Involved!

All the subgroups we have introduced are running successfully, and we are looking to introduce even more

in the coming year.

Performing Arts Groups – we have successfully delivered two Manoranjan events in the past year, and we

will be holding another new event at the theatre in October. Unique events such as this are

wonderful, but we want to support our budding artists and performers throughout the year, to help them

develop their talents and to give them a platform to meet, discuss and perform. If you are interested in

any arts, whether it’s theatre, dance, drama, acting, scriptwriting, music, etc, and would like to get

involved, please get in touch.

Sewa Team – we have found that a number of people in the community are looking to do charitable work

in some shape or form. We are thinking of introducing a ‘Sewa Team’, a group which can support at any

community events, and also work together to provide Sewa activities, whether its food donations,

community gardening, litter picking, etc. This is a wonderful opportunity for like-minded people who are

interested in Sewa work to come together for the benefit of all.

Health Forum – we support the Diabetes UK Community Champions project, and are aiming to create a

health forum in which health professionals can network and work together to address the health needs of

the community.

Over 50’s Projects— we will be holding consultation sessions for anyone aged over 50 to address their

needs and start up projects based on these requirements.

Bolton Hindu Forum is the whole community being able to come together and work

together, there's something for everyone and we couldn't do any of our work without

you, so please contact us and get involved!