Our Society
Our Guests Have a Great Time at Eid Al-Adha Party
It goes without saying that Eid Al-Adha is an immensely important feature in the Muslim Calendar. But apart from the religious significance, those of us who grew up back home have fond memories of the Eid activities that we used to participate in as children..
We, at Syrian Friends in Britain, believe that celebrating Eid must focus primarily on children. We wanted to make sure that our kids, many of whom have never had first-hand experience of Eid back home, are directly involved in our Eid Party...
With that in mind, we started planning for our Eid Al-Adha Party several weeks ago... We enlisted the help of a few brave and loyal Members, who were tasked with the difficult job of identifying and training youngsters to perform at the Party.. We also picked on some of the many talented young Members that we are blessed to have amongst our ranks, to help us put together an interesting, diverse, and enjoyable programme!..
Slowly, (sometimes painfully so!..), the programme started taking shape... A few young children, skillfully and patiently coached by Dina Kabbani, learnt to sing 'طلع البدر علينا', while older youths trained enthusiastically to perform some 'Dabkeh' steps, under the masterful tutelage of Mounir Hakmi, with help from Nahed Raslan and Dina Kabbani...
Meanwhile, over in Nottingham, Birmingham, Bradford and elsewhere, Members and Council Officers were busy training their children on many other acts and performances, from reciting poems, to singing songs.. The talented Tasneem Albarazi was not only working hard on her own two acts, but was also using her infectious enthusiasm and boundless energy to inspire the large group of youths and youngsters to master their thrilling performance, which was going to be the 'Grand Finale' of the show...
At the same time, individual performances by Marya Malas, Nahla Salkini, Sami Harb were being slowly perfected and fine-tuned.. Samera, being in overall charge of the proceedings, worked very hard to co-ordinate the fantastic efforts of all the youngsters, and the trainers, to ensure the smooth running of the rehearsals, and eventually, the show itself...
As we expected, our Members, friends, and supporters clamoured to book their places at the Party, and two weeks before the actual date, the venue was completely sold out... much to the disappointment of those who did not heed our advice to book early!..
So, on Saturday, the Council Offciers, along with a few faithful Members and friends, arrived early at the Hallmark Hotel in Wilmslow, and started preparing the Hall for the arrival of our guests.
As the guests began to gather, greetings and good wishes were being exchanged, and people started mixing, meeting old friends and making new ones. Shortly afterwords, and at the previously set time, the buffet was opened, and our guests enjoyed the delicious and varied menu.
After the sweets and the coffee, our guests started settling down to allow the performance to begin. In a short speech, Ayman welcomed the guests and explained that SFiB, as part of its ongoing plans to adopt a different charity every year, will be collecting money this year for the Child Care Society in Homs. He urged the guests to give generously, and reminded them of the magnificent achievement of last year's charity efforts. Samera, then, gave an outline of the programme, and handed over the proceedings to our two presenters, Leila Haffar and Omar Jundi. Omar and Leila introduced the various acts, and skillfully ran the show with confidence and precision, ensuring that the programme ran as much to plan as possible, considering the colossal logistical difficulties that would be expected when dealing with a bunch of very excited and nervous youngsters!..
The entertainment started with Sara Tayara reciting a poem she had written about the strife of our People in Gaza, which was met by loud applause. This was followed by a nice rendition of Sami Yusuf's 'I am a Muslim', beautifully performed by Noor Hakim, Nazih Atassi, Heba Amsha, and Abdallah Atassi, who, despite some technical difficulties with the backing music, managed to remain composed and calm, producing an excellent performance.
Tasneem Albarazi then took centre-stage, and gave a highly enjoyable and very polished performance, when she played a scene from the play 'Wicked', with help from Dana Kahale.. After that, it was the turn of Marya Malas, who entertained the audience with her delivery of Majeda Al-Roumy's 'Kalemat'...
After that serene performance, it was time for some action, which was aptly provided by Sami Harb, who gave a lively performance, dancing vibrantly to the tunes of Michael Jackson's 'Billy Jean', bringing the audience to their feet!..
Then it was the turn of the young Members, singing 'طلع البدر علينا'... The group of four boys (Fuad Kanaa, Omar Hatahet, Omar Harb, and Akram Salkini) and four girls (Nahla Salkini, Samar Issa, Tamara Harb, and Maya Abdulrazzak), captured the hearts of our audience, with their delightful performance... This was followed by another lively and rousing performance from the Dabkeh group, when a group of young SFiB Members brought the Hall to life with their delightful display.. and the long hours of training certainly seemed to have paid off!...
Then it was time for the surprise of the evening: A professional 'Aradha and Dabkeh' display, presented by 'Bab Al-Hara Aradha Group', who have very kindly agreed to join us to present some of their skills and talent.. They performed a scene from a Damascene 'Aradha', and another from a Palestinian 'Aradha' and 'Dabkeh', both of which were met with great excitement and thrill on the part of everybody in attendance!...
To follow that, Nahla Kabbani, along with Samar Issa, gave Nancy Ajram a run for her money, when they gave a lovely rendition of شاطر ...شاطر... That was followed by a joint performance, led by Tasneem Albarazi, supported by Abdallah Al-Mohammad, and involved all the guests, singing Fairuz's نسم علينا الهوا ...
Then was the moment that everybody has worked so hard for.. The Grand Finale..
All our young performers joined forces, and came into the hall chanting along the tunes of K'naan's World Cup theme, 'Wavin' Flag'... There was no-one left seated, once the tune was in full swing... Everybody were dancing, waving the flags, or simply waving their arms in the air, as the children and youngsters were singing their little hearts out to the exciting tempo...
And then, when we thought that this was the end, it started all over again.. Totally unplanned and completely spontaneous, Mounir played a track containing extracts form a medley of traditional patriotic songs, and everybody joined in, almost literally raising the roof!...Our guests simply did not want the music to stop, and they kept on dancing!..
However, like all good things, our Party had to come to an end...
I tell you what, though.. The sounds of those children, and the chants of the crowd, are still ringing in my ears.. and what a sweet sound that is!..
Our Eid Party was, admittedly, a noisy and boisterous affair.. but it was thoroughly enjoyable, and all the hard work that went into the preparation was most definitely worth it... Seeing those young people working so hard and with so much commitment and enthusiasm was certainly a most rewarding experience. An experience that we will cherish, as much as those youngsters will, when they think back and remember the day they stood in that hall, Wavin' the Flag...
To relive some of that experience, please click here to view the photos from that delightful event.
Comments
Best wishes for the future and keep up the hard work
Our evening would have only been complete had you had the opportunity to be with us!..
We sincerely hope that you will be able to join us in forthcoming events...
Thanks again...
This is a fantastic efforts and success. We praise all of you on the excellent success and wished to be with you.
The south-North Division!!
Kindest regards
Atef HAKMI
I would like to thank you all for the great efforts you all put in to produce such an enjoyable event. However, I feel that splitting tables into those with and without young children was not necessary or to say the least was not done appropriately. I say that for several reasons; Firstly, the majority of our community are made of families with young children and the split resulted in some tables remaining with empty seats whereas other tables were short of chairs. This gave the impression that there were more people than the venue could accommodate. Secondly, people should have been informed of this arrangement as they entered the hall and were shown where they could or could not be seated rather than been asked to change their table after they settled down with their kids. Thirdly, the split led to some families feel that they were treated differently just because they have young children especially that, after all, eid parties are for children as much as they are for adults (unlike gala dinners).It may be better, if you still felt that splitting seating in this way is the appropriate action, to split the venue into right and left parts rather than back and front. I think this would be a fairer way of doing it. Best regards
Thank you very much indeed for your kind words, and for the useful comments that you have made on the SFiB Eid Party.
As you will appreciate, our aim is always to provide the best atmosphere for our guests and Members. It was never our intention to make families with children feel that they were treated unfairly or differently. In fact, a number of Council Officers with young children were seated to the rear of the Hall, along with other Members and guests with young children... If that was the impression that some families got, then I, on behalf of the Council, offer everyone our unreserved apology. We wholeheartedly agree with you that the Eid Party is as much for the children (if not more so), as it is for the adults..
The idea behind splitting the venue was that if families with children were seated to the rear of the hall, then that would allow the children to join the entertainer half way through the evening, with as little disruption as possible to the ongoing show.
I think you have a valid point that guests should be told about the arrangement before they settle down. However, in all honesty, I think the whole idea came up on the day, and although several of us did try to tell guests as they arrived, inevitably, we were distracted by our more pressing concerns relating to the preparations that had to be completed.
Splitting the venue to 'left and right' might have been, indeed, less controversial as you suggest, and it is something that we would certainly consider in future events. I am not sure, however, whether that would necessarily address the problem of facilitating the movement of youngsters to join the children's entertainer!..
Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions. We sincerely hope that you will continue to enjoy our future activities and forthcoming events.
Best wishes and kindest regards
As a member of the Society, I would like to thank you and all the council members for the hard work you have all put to make the party yesterday a real success. There were two distinctive features yesterday:
1. The involvement of the very young people (less than 10 year old), and that was wonderful in enabling them to join in the celebration to improve their confidence and introduce them to the community and the culture of our beloved Syria,
2. The involvement of the young adults who have for the first time participated in the Dabke, and the other activities using both Arabic and English. That was in my opinion by far the best achievement of the day.
Besides, I believe the Syrian and Palestinian Aradha group were an excellent spice added to the distinctive cuisine on offer.
Well done to all of you and to those members of the society who helped you in the past many weeks and in particular Mrs. D Kabbani and Miss T. Barazi.
Finally, I am sure that the decisions by the council to support the charity in Homs and other charitable acts towards our brothers and sisters in Syria, are very welcome and you should be congratulated and praised for them.
Best Regards,
Abdallah Al-Mohammad
Thank you very much indeed for your kind words...
We are all very grateful to you for acknowledging the efforts of the Council Officers and all those who have actively and enthusiasticall y helped us in organizing the Party.. I am sure Dina and Tasneem would be delighted to know that their hard work was duly recognized. Both were absolutely invaluable in the run-up to the Party, and we are deeply indebted to their selfless enthusiasm and unwavering support.
Thank you, once again.. We look forward to seeing you in our forthcoming events, and for your ongoing support for our adopted Charity, the Child Care Society.
وصلكون شي مشاركة مني
لاتواخذونا عل الازعاج
باسم
This is the only contribution we have received from you!..
Welcome to our website!..
I would like to add my voice to the all cheering members and thank you all for the hard work and the efforts you put in to bring such a nice event.
However, I am supporting Dr. Kanaa in his point regarding the split of tables as it was inconvenience for some members, and I can see from the reply by the SFIB Council, the understanding and the willingness to discuss the issues which has risen by the parties concerned.
I would like to point out that this party seems to be focused on the children’s Talent Show more. Personally, my children participated in the show and to watch them was the best thing ever. But I feel that we need to look after the people without children and to make it more interesting for them.
Finally, not to forget that the party has lots of positive sides and supporting the charity in Homs was a great idea.
I would repeat my appreciation for the council members for the time and efforts taken to arranging such a great party and inshalah will have another successful one soon.
Happy New Year to you all, and to all our Community in Britain.
Best regards
Basem & Faten
Thank you very much indeed for the kind words of encouragement, and for your appreciation and understanding. We are immensely delighted to hear that you enjoyed watching those wonderful children performing. For us, the most magnificent reward is to see the joy and pride in the eyes of parents watching their children doing something so special...
We try our level best to cater for all needs and all tastes. We fully appreciate the point you are making about looking after people who do not have young children, but we cannot do everything all the time.. At the end of the day, Eid Parties are primarily for children. We try to cater for adults on other activities, like the Gala Dinner and the various other functions we organize... Furthermore, I am sure you would agree that there were elements in the Eid Party that were aimed at adults, like the 'Aradha' and other similar activities...
Once again, thank you very much indeed for your kind words, and thank you especially for taking the time and trouble to put your valued comments forward...
We assure you that there will be more events in the very near future, and we sincerely hope that they will be just as successful...