Towards 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
