UK News & Events

Evening of Classical Indian Dance and Music

The recent fundraising dance and music event in Shrewsbury was a great success. The turn out, quality of performance and general feel good factor exceeded all expectations, raising £875 to go to Friends of Amma.

More than 100 people came, and all had a very enjoyable time. Shrewsbury has never seen anything quite like it before and it felt like quite a significant event for the town.

Our Bharata Nattyam Dancer, Mrs Aparna Kaustubh Dighe, gave a scintillating and very moving performance. Click here for full report and more photos, as well as tips on holding a fundraising event.

Her Brother, Mr Tushar Gupte, is a professional tabla player and performer, had been having trouble getting his visa sorted in time. And it ended up that he arrived in the UK from India on the day before the event. He must have been jet lagged but gave a mesmerizing exhibition of tabla skill and speed was electrifying.

The seva offering of their performances was especially moving as Tushar and Aparna have never met Amma and have their own guru. They gave of their time, energy and expertise because they, in Mrs Dighe's words, "admire tremendously the work Amma is doing for the upliftment of mankind" so their gift is very kind indeed.

Our local Amma satsang group also gave a performance of six bhajans which were very well received. Jo Day played harmonium, Allan Day, vocalist and shaker, Matthew Bragg on guitar, Sarah Jane Luck on manjira and vocals, and Tom Stacey on tabla and djembe. Tushar also joined us for some of the bhajans on both djembe and tabla.

.We took the risk of buying 180 samosas and 3kg of Indian sweets which sold well, as well as providing chai and other hot drinks.

Advice was taken from Kamal who also attended the event. Her expertise in this area was really helpful. She helped us on various points such as publicity and raffle. All local papers and radio stations were sent press releases. Leaflets were distributed widely thru internal mailing via the Shropshire libraries (about 20 in all) and loads of leaflets were put out in shops, coffee bars and a few pubs. Most of the work was done from Sarasvati Yoga Crafts, Shrewsbury, which is run by Sarah Jane and me. We used all our email contact lists and also asked friends to sent out to their mailing lists as well. Leaflets were put in every receptive customer's bag.

Mary and Huw also helped a lot and sent two very large batches of Amma promotional Literature including several A3 poster on Amma's humanitarian work, as well as, most importantly, a huge, laminated photo of Amma which took centre stage above the performers, beaming down love and bliss on all the audience.

We also sold raffle tickets from the shop and asked customers and friends on the healing and spiritual networks that we have developed over the years of running a "New Age Shop"; these contacts certainly helped and we were inundated with offers of raffle prizes from local therapists and supportive friends and businesses.

So all this accounts for the success of the event . So thanks to Kamal and Kamaljit, and also to Mary and Huw for their efforts in supporting this event.

We were able to create some very professional flyer and tickets via www.vistaprint.co.uk who frequently offer give away deals where you only pay postage on 100 flyers /tickets, etc. We can recommend them if you are planning a fundraising event and want to minimize outlay. Another option in to get a local print firm to sponsor the tickets, flyers and posters.