Harrow Asian Deaf Club and Harrow Council at New Year London’s Parade that wows the world: “PARADE SPECTACULAR GOES GLOBAL”
London gave the World a lift today (January 1st 2013) as its New Year’s Day Parade went global.
The 27th street spectacular – now a turn of year tradition – was televised across the continents to more than 500 TV stations. Over 500,000 spectators packed the 2.2 mile route through the West End of London under blue skies and the return of a bright yellow orb – which some remembered is called the Sun!
Six thousand performers from numerous nations – including entries from more than 18 London boroughs of which Harrow Asian Deaf Club (HADC) and Harrow Council participated – produced more than three hours of stunning entertainment.
The climax of the parade featured a mass band grand finale featuring 400 bandsmen and women. Deaf members of HADC was at the forefront of Harrow Council’s No.15 bus, standing behind the lookalike Queen, signing the song in British Sign Language (BSL) to the theme of Oliver Twist’s ‘Be Back Soon’ and ended with Hats off to Harrow. Everyone cheered and waved at HADC and copied their BSL whilst signing the song. Asif Iqbal, President of HADC exclaimed: “It was a fantastic experience to go on the Parade, reminding me of the Olympic tour where Olympians won their medals and going through London with full crowd. It was just like that – the atmosphere was absolutely amazing and we were shocked to see so many people turning up for the event! We were told that we were the first Deaf group in history to go onto the Parade so it was fantastic achievement to bring out the diversity and BSL out to the mass audience!
London New Year Day Parade’s Executive Director Bob Bone hailed the event as the best in its history. “I think in all honesty it was the best parade since we began 27 years ago. Some of the entries were simply stunning.” said Bob
