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Festival of Lights 2019 - Diwali published their Delivery Report!4 years ago
Delivered 18 October 2019
Impact data and claims within this report are provided by the project creator and have not been independently verified by Spacehive.
By Poonam Gupta
The project is to celebrate life, and how light and life go hand in hand, the importance of community, being active to make the most of this life and to remember every day is a new beginning.
Light creates life, makes things grow, many world cultures celebrate light, and the celebration of light is an affirmation of life and human experience. In winter when days are short, cultures across the world have a festival related to light such as Diwali aka Festival of Lights. Regardless of an individual’s faith, light is the source of their life. We plan to have holistic, wellness and mindful vendors demonstrating how to live your lightest life in the most fun way possible. We also plan to have performances from dancers, bands, buskers, the highly praised shadow theatre and many, many more. Local business owners have been invited to sell holistic products and traditional cuisine for you to enjoy.
What we'll deliver:
Why it's a great idea:
We know from last years experience that the event was well-received, encouraging participation from over 2500 visitors from the wider community who came together and celebrated and learnt about the Indian culture. We have plans to improve on last year, with the extra space and finish the afternoon with a Light parade, where we have invited various groups to take part, including schools, charity groups, and we welcome anyone wishing to take part.
Steps to get it done:
The project aims to be inclusive of all, in particular we work closely with BUDS who guide/advise us on making the event Fair4All encouraging independence for individuals with disabilities
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To all our pledgers, supporters, volunteers and visitors to 2019 Festival of Lights celebrations: It was a perfect Indian Summer's day on that October afternoon which made for a perfect festival full of vibrant colour, music, food, dance and drama and activities for the whole family. I along with my organising team are delighted to share with you a 5 minute video highlights of the day, see link provided below. The festival of light is the perfect event to enrich the mind, body and soul. We are delighted to announce that we made great progress for 2020 crowdfunding campaign. Just before the COVID 19 lockdown we received a large pledge of £5000 from Aylesbury Vale District Council that took us over 80% of funds raised that are needed for the project to go ahead on 10th October, the date of this years Festival of Lights (Diwali). We have "HOPE" that life will be 80% back to normal by then. Please follow our new project for 2020 where you can also get updates of our progress and plans, for ease link to new project is as follows: https://www.spacehive.com/festival-of-lights-2020---diwali?searchText=festival%20of%20lights%20ayles Help keep this community growing stronger day by day. Thank you and stay safe see you on the other side of lockdown in the mean time stay connected digitally Watch highlights from 2019 here: https://youtu.be/BUB4R3n6Ljo Poonam Gupta
Whoop, 30 people have pledged since fundraising began!
Brilliant news, thanks everyone!
Thanks to Aylesbury Garden Town members of the Community, parents and children together enjoyed a wonderful art session of making their lanterns to using sustainable materials. The lanterns were beautifully displayed for a few days at Friars Square Shopping Centre, and the makers are excited to walk with them in Aylesbury’s very first light parade 7pm Kingsbury Square 19th October 2019. Looking forward to seeing you there.
How will the money be spent?Total £26,441
Costs Breakdown
This shows how money raised for the project will be spent. These costs have been confirmed by the project's Delivery Manager and verified.
Overfunding
This project is enabled for overfunding. If the project hits its funding goal before the end of the campaign period, any extra funds raised will be spent (in order of priority) on:
Total £26,441
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VolunteerTowards the end of August 2017, on a whim, Poonam Gupta owner of the much loved Home interirors and gift shop in town centre decided to organise the Festival of Lights as a way to bring communities together and celebrate this festival aka Diwali the Hindu new year.
She aired the idea with a few friends, and key players who organise town events and with a few volunteers a voluntary group was formed called Holy Cow Community Events, whose sole purpose was to organise Diwali - Festival of Lights and invite the wider community to join in. The small scale event was organised in a timeframe of two months. Calling on local businesses for raffle prizes to help with raising funds to cover overheads and with a little help from Aylesbury Town Council and William Harding Grant this was achieved.
Poonam is no stranger to organising community events, when she and her family first moved away from London, to live in the vale of Aylesbury, her family were made to feel very welcome, she very quickly became part of an active and vibrant community. Soon she was involved in fund raising activities for the parish she lived in. She organised a traditional village fete with a twist to raise record breaking funds for the church, and record breaking funds for "auction of promises" through offering how to make an authentic curry lessons, she also organised Diwali celebrations with an aim to raise funds, it was a natural progression to move the celebration to the town.
Please join in, as she invites you to be part of a strong community to create beautiful memories, particpate, share, learn, be active both mindfully and physically so we can make the most of life and hope for a better tomorrow at all times.
In 2021 Poonam has set up a Community Interest Organisation charity registration number 01194665. This year would be the first year Poonam along with her fellow trustees who are also volunteers will deliver the project
Project Owner: Poonam Gupta The Project Owner takes legal responsibility for receiving and spending the funds raised and ensuring the project is delivered.
