Upcoming events

april 2023

2023sun23apr12:00 pmsun5:00 pmUKHCA Annual General MeetingAnnual General Meeting12:00 pm – 5:00 pm The Olympic, Beechenlea Lane, Swanley BR8 8DR

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Holi, the festival of colour was celebrated by the UKHCA on 4th March at the Amar Hall, Dartford with lots of avidity. The well-organized event was a true symbolic representation of welcoming the spring by spreading love, peace, and happiness in a most colourful way. All the participants buried their hatchets with a warm embrace and threw their worries to the wind to make the event memorable.  The hall was beautifully decorated with the “HOLI” theme. Every nook and corner presented a colourful sight.

The delectable “Thandai” gave a warm welcome to the guests and inaugurated the event of unadulterated fun and enjoyment. The “Holi” songs built up the ambience and brought everyone on the dance floor. As people started to unfold themselves by mingling up with each other the resplendent veg and non-veg starters along with the main course Indian delicacies allured everyone. The Chicken 65, Chili paneer, Tandoori chicken, Gobi 65 and Veg Manchurian ignited the mood of celebration while the mouth-watering biryani captivated the audience.

The Gulab Jamun competition revived the memory of traditional Bengali food events. But admittedly the “Musical Chair” created real excitement. There were three rounds of it, dedicated for the children, women, and men separately and there was no divergence of elation among the groups.

The event reached the climax, when everyone indulged in the spirit of celebration of colour with social merriment. People put colour on each other by maintaining their dignities in a most organized way.

The graceful celebration remained a wonderful attempt from the UKHCA to give an opportunity to its participants to declutter their minds and to rejuvenate themselves by sprinkling the colour of happiness in their lives.

UKHCA sincerely conveys its gratitude to all its volunteers, patrons and participants for their wholehearted support and cooperation to make this event successful.

UKHCA Saraswati Puja Sunday 29 January 2023

II ওম সরস্বতী মহাভাগে বিদ্যে কমলোলোচনে।
বিদ্যারূপে বিশালাক্ষ্মী বিদ্যাং দেবী নমোস্তুতে II
🪔🪔🪔🙏🙏🙏
The UK Hindu Cultural Association (UKHCA) celebrated the Saraswati Puja on 29th January 2023 in the Olympic Hall, Swanley with fervour and in the most propitious manner to mark the arrival of spring by worshipping the goddess of knowledge, language, music, and all arts. The graceful celebration was an attempt to preserve Indian culture, to impart a sense of respect towards long established traditions while allowing everyone across the community to offer their worship to the goddess.

The event successfully recreated the charm of Saraswati Puja celebration of Bengal by following the yellow dress code, allowing the children to participate actively by offering their books to the deity, and by decorating the venue with beautiful yellow marigolds. The puja started early in the morning and all the rituals were performed by the priest with solemnity and devotion. The “Devi Vandana” and “Aarti” were spectacular.

The major attraction of the event remained the “Hate Khori”, where many toddlers sought the blessing of the goddess and started their academic journey by writing their first letter in front of the deity.

The delicious bhog made the devotees delighted. The authentic and conventional Bengali food stalls added a special flavour to the event, particularly the traditional Bengali sweet stall allured the visitors. At the end a beautiful rendition from the children transcended the ambience. All the performances were hugely acclaimed by the audience. The Saraswati Vandana and the recital of Tagore’s poem” “Where the mind is without fear” left the spectators speechless. The coalescence of gaiety and piety left an indelible impression in the mind of the attendees of the event.

UKHCA sincerely conveys its gratitude to all the volunteers, patrons and participants for their unconditional support and cooperation to make this event successful.

UKHCA Christmas Party Sunday 11th December 2022

The true meaning of Christmas is the celebration of God’s ultimate gift: the birth of Jesus! The spirit of Christmas brings a joyous time of celebration and showing our love for each other and to rejoice together!

Father Christmas came early to UKHCA on 11th December 2022. We held our annual Christmas celebration event this year at Basecamp, a quirky restaurant serving authentic Indian and South Asian cuisine.
Donned in Christmas jumpers and Santa hats, we jazzed, sparkled and shimmered, we celebrated the ushering of the festive season in style!! With a sumptuous 3 course menu accompanied by drinks, it was a party to remember! The event started early afternoon, with families from our community arriving in style, excited and looking forward to a wonderful afternoon with all other extended UKHCA family members.

This was a perfect way to let our hair down and relax, a time to say thank our volunteers and community members! Some short speeches were made in appreciation for our outgoing President Dr Tapon Halder and a warm welcome was extended to our new President Mrs Krishna Baruah. We received presents from children of Jharna Sil Verma in celebration of Christmas and started the afternoon with welcome drinks! We were all in a wild party spirit, dancing to Christmas tunes and singing along merrily together! Mingling dancing and chatting with photoshoots, we moved into an Indian themed meal, enjoyed by young and old alike. Our youngest party-goer was all of 2, and was seen to be really enjoying himself, cradled in his family’s arms!

All in all, time well spent with friends and family, an unforgettable experience indeed! We are already looking forward to next year’s celebrations!!

Please stay tuned to our social media platforms and website for all the news on our upcoming events. https://ukhca.community/

UKHCA Kali Puja and Diwali celebrations Sunday 23rd October 2022

UK Hindu Cultural Association (UKHCA) celebrated Kali puja and Diwali on Sunday 23rd October 2022 at the Swanley Town Hall with ardour and piousness. The celebration brought the entire community together to spread and enjoy the true spirit of the festival by sharing love, respect, and togetherness. 

The puja rituals were performed with austerity and complete devotion by offering everyone an equal opportunity to worship Goddess Kali. The magnificent decoration made of diyas, rangoli and flowers helped the event to retain its spiritual essence throughout the evening. It also witnessed the spectacular fireworks conducted by the children under their parental supervision to symbolize the “victory of light over darkness”. The puja prasad was distributed in a most organized manner among the devotees. The delicious dinner served at the end gave it a perfect finish.
The active participation, enthusiasm and the team spirit of the volunteers made the event impeccable.

On behalf of UKHCA, we would like to convey our heartfelt gratitude to all the patrons, volunteers, and the participants to make this event a great success and will look forward to having your continuous support and cooperation in our upcoming events as well.

10th Sharodiya Durga Puja
UKHCA proudly celebrated its 10th Sharodiya Durga Puja at Swanley Town Hall between 1st and 5th October 2022.
At the UK Hindu Cultural Association (UKHCA), we celebrated our 10th Sharodiya Durga Puja this year. At the puja this year, we have seen a confluence of old and new, modern and traditional and we are proud to have brought our Bengali and Indian community together, whilst also supporting local businesses.
 
Over the last few days, we have seen wonderful camaraderie amongst friends, old and new, everyone joining hands to celebrate Ma Durga’s visit to our mortal earth. Our puja rituals were performed by our priests with devotion, joy and pride, all at the same time. They not only led the puja with enthusiasm and fervour, but also brought our community to celebrate our wonderful puja together. Our volunteer community were actively involved in all aspects of the puja, making it a resounding success! Every day, we served our delicious Puja ‘prasad’ and ‘bhog’ twice a day, making the joy of the Puja even more fulfilling. Our local advertisers and businesses put up their stalls and banners, offering delectable food and gorgeous lifestyle items for sale, bringing a mini-shopping bonanza to the local community. On Shashti and Saptami, we saw lovely performances from our community members and on Bijoya Dashami, our celebrations culminated with a magnificent performance from Sayani Palit followed by our Bijoya Sammilani dinner.
 
Our heartfelt ‘thank you’ to our dear volunteers, patrons, donors and advertisers. Thank you for your support, your presence, your participation and your generous donations. We are overwhelmed with your love.
 

You can see some glimpses of our puja here: https://ukhca.community/2022-durga-puja/

We are hoping to see you again at our Kali Puja celebrations on Sunday 23rd October 2022 between 5PM and 8PM at Swanley Town Hall.

2022 Annual Brochure
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Account Name: United Kingdom Hindu Cultural Association

Sort code: 20-06-72

Account No: 50740896

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United Kingdom Hindu Cultural Association
(Registered UK Charity No: 1069932)
121 Elsa Road, Welling, Kent DA16 1JX

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