Ganesh Utsav 2022

Ganesh Utsav Newsletter

We would like to ask budding editors, journalists and writers to step forward and join the team that will create and publish the first ever Newsletter.

The topics that the newsletter can cover are wide and varied. Few examples below:
- Stories by community members about their experience and memories of celebrating Ganesh Utsav in India, UK, Africa or anywhere in the world.
- Pictures and write up of the AHTT GU 2022 celebrations.
- Children sending in articles or pictures of Ganesh Bhagwan ji.
- Families sending in pictures of the decorations they did at home while celebrating Ganesh Utsav.

Don’t be shy. Please come forward and be a trail blazer for AHTT’s Newsletter. Get in touch with a member of the Steering Committee if you would like to be part of the team.

Ladoo Auction

This is a popular event at Ganesh Utsav where people bid for a large ladoo as part of their devotion towards Ganesh Bhagwan ji and the festival celebrations.

We would like to thank all the families who have won the ladoo auction in past Ganesh Utsav’s. Their generosity is very much appreciated by the whole Hindu community.

We look forward to the laughter, enjoyment and prompting by the community for this forthcoming ladoo auction.

Fund Raising Target

We are hoping that with Ganesh Bhagwan ji’s blessings and your engagement we can raise a lot of money for the temple fund. Please spread the message to your friends and families; even if they don’t live locally, so that we can at least reach the target if not surpass it.

Amount to host event Approx. £ 1,500 Fund Raising Target £ 5,000 Amount Raised So Far £ 202 Note: All excess funds raised go toward the temple fund.

RSVP

AHT would like people who are coming to GU 2022, to fill in the RSVP form as it will allow us to plan and cater for you better.

One of the main benefits of devotees filling in the RSVP form is that it will give us an indication as to how much food to order, thus avoiding unnecessary wastage.

RSVP form can be found here.

Murti

Ganesh Bhagwan ji’s murti has been sponsored by Govind Managoli and his family.

A special mention needs to go to Govind’s father-in-law; Shree Anil Mantri, who did a lot of running around in India in order to secure the murti, got it packaged for transportation from India to the UK and brought it personally with him on his flight to UK.

AHT would like to thank the Managoli family for this sponsorship.

Jhadoo Brigade

This is the cleaning team who will clear up the hall after the event finishes.

Please get in touch with Rajeev Bakshi or Sanjay Sabnis if you would like to do this seva. They can be contacted via the AHTT Community WG.

Seva Team

This is a generic pool of sevaks who may be called upon on the day to help with various duties such as :

- Setting up the hall
- Managing queues
- Directing devotees to car park to avoid impacting local residents
- Etc

We are looking for sevaks to come forward. Please get in touch with a member of the steering committee if you would like to be part of this team.

Children’s Engagement Team

We would like to arrange some events for children as part of AHT’s engagement drive. Examples that come to mind are face painting, a painting competition or …… please lets have some ideas from the community.

If you can do face painting and are willing to offer your seva, it would be greatly appreciated.

Please get in touch with a member of the steering committee if you would like to be part of this team or have any ideas or suggestions.

Food Team

This team will be responsible for coordinating all the food items at the event. Thus it will be good to have a few people who have Food Hygiene certificates in this group.

The main areas this team will be responsible for is :

- Coordinating the acquisition of Fruit and Mithai for the prasad.
- Getting quotes from outside caterers and selecting the winning quote after consultation with steering committee.
- Coordinating the acquisition of food from outside caterer.
- Serving of the food to devotees and dignitaries.

We are looking for sevaks to come forward. Please get in touch with a member of the steering committee if you would like to be part of this team.

Decoration Team

This team will do the decoration of the hall to welcome Ganesh Bhagwan ji. The format, theme and presentation are decided by them. There normally tends to be quite a lot of traditional themes such as rangoli etc.

Please get in touch with Alka Pandey or Vinod Menon If you would like to become part of this team, or have some ideas or suggestions. They can be contacted via the AHTT Community WG.

Cultural Team

This team will coordinate the cultural activities at the festival consisting of bhajans and dances. These will be devotional pieces, Indian traditional and folk pieces, as well as Bollywood dharmic songs.

Messages have been sent in various WhatsApp groups (WG) asking people to come forward if they would like to participate.

Please get in touch with Deepa Varadhan Sarvanan or Manoj Siva, if you would like to take part or have some ideas or suggestions. They can be contacted via the AHTT Community WG.

Sponsorship and Donations

It is only through the generosity, support and engagement of the Hindu community that we can host these festivals.

1. We would like a couple to come forward to act as Yajman’s during the Dampatya Puja ceremony. As part of raising money for the Temple Fund, we would suggest a minimum donation of £101.

2. Below are the main items we would like sponsorship for:

3. If you have any celebration coming up like Birthdays, Marriage Anniversary, your child getting good grades, starting university, it is an ideal opportunity to use that event to make a donation to GU 2022.

If enough people are willing to have their name published, we will look to setup a GU 2022 page where we list and wish the people Happy Birthdays / Marriage Anniversary / etc. However no donation amounts will be listed.

Please Note: All excess funds are put towards the Temple Building Fund towards our collective vision of having a Hindu Temple in Aylesbury.

Fund Raising Team

We would like to invite volunteers who would be willing to engage with the general Hindu community, the Business community and High Net Worth individuals with a view to canvassing for donations. Please contact a member of the steering group via the AHTT WG.

We would like the wider community to provide information about potential patrons and donors they feel might be willing to donate to AHT’s Temple Building Fund.

Please Note : If you are aware of individuals who have made it known that they do not wish to be canvassed for donations, please do not put their details forward. We do not wish to cause any nuisance to the people we contact.

Steering Committee

This is the coordinating team whose purpose is to plan and deliver GU 2022 on behalf of Aylesbury Hindu Temple Trust (AHTT), for Hindu’s and the wider community in Aylesbury and surrounding areas.

Please feel free to engage with any of the people listed below if you wish to participate, sponsor, donate or just have a question of feedback about Ganesh Utsav 2022.