Harrow United Deaf Club was in a full swing with a huge gathering joining the festive season of Christmas Celebration, a last event of the year 2014 before we greet the New Year 2015.
The event was welcomed by Councillor Manji Kara, HUDC Ambassador and Hannah David, Parliamentary Candidate. It was a fantastic opportunity for many to meet new people, getting to the spirit of Christmas. The venue was cosy and beautifully decorated with Christmas tree, crackers, festive lights and tinsels.
The event was opened by Hannah David, Parliamentary Candidate, much to the surprise of the audience; Hannah introduced herself in British Sign Language (BSL): ‘Welcome to Christmas celebration, my name Hannah David and I am a Conservative Candidate’. There was a huge round of applause as Hannah learnt BSL briefly earlier in the evening and delivered it really well! Hannah added: “I was honoured to be invited to be the guest host at this year’s Harrow United Deaf Club Christmas Party. The HUDC does such valuable work in our community, bringing the deaf and hearing communities together to promote better understanding and to fight for equal access for the deaf community within every aspect of Harrow Life. I am proud to support such an important organisation, and was thrilled to be able to celebrate the Christmas season with such a warm and friendly group of people.”
The evening kicked off with some Christmas Carols with aid of video clips and lyrics to enable everyone to follow and the room were filled with everyone signing away with ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’ to get everyone in a festive mood.
Then we had a special guest Sam Gardner, a drumming teacher of Harrow Art Centre who wowed us with African Drumming, using his skills on various drums (over 20 different size drums were in the room in addition to a full drum kit) and invited some of our members to join in a workshop and learnt how to generate some beats and working in harmony. Everyone felt the vibrating beats of the drums. Feedback from members found this a fantastic opportunity to learn something new. One deaf member with additional needs found this fascinating as it was so visual and engaging; he was pleased that he participated in the workshop too.
In appreciation of Sam’s time, he was presented with a bottle of Champagne together with a certificate of thanks.
Meanwhile, there was some laughter in the other room as members tried out some funny props for the photo booth, where children and adults had their photos taken. This was a new idea by one of the Committee member who transformed a room into a photographic studio and wowed them with fantastic photos.
Children were entertained with children activities of art & craft, including drawing pictures onto white mugs for them to take home; face painting and were in a special treat with a further drumming workshop by Sam Gardner, who taught the children about different sounds and vibration beats, making some music.
Asif Iqbal MBE, President of HUDC summed up the evening: “It was a good turnout, everyone got together in a festive community spirit. Many people said how much they enjoyed the whole event including socialising, children activities – art & craft, having face painting and learning about drumming. I also wanted to say thanks to Harrow Art Centre’s Music Services for donating the drumming session with Sam for our Christmas event. This is our last event of the year and it is amazing to look back at how much we have achieved in the last 12 months – special thanks should go to all of our speakers and committee members who worked hard to make all of our events in 2014 a great success. As we look into the New Year 2015 with many more exciting events (www.hudc.org.uk/events) including our new Youth Club opening in January 2015. From everyone at Harrow United Deaf Club, we wish you all a festive seasons and a Happy New Year.”
