UK Konkans Summer Day Out 2013 at Richmond Park, West London

Media Release

London, 24 Jul 2013: UK Konkans , one of the premier associations of Mangaloreans in the UK held its annual picnic in the wild and beautiful location of Richmond park on 20th July 2013. After a long and cold winter one eagerly waited for summer and what an Indian summer it has been!. The UK Konkans family of friends gathered in the scenic Richmond park in South West London. It was a glorious day with the sun shinning throughout and temperatures were perfect. There was overwhelming response from the members and their families and friends who attended the picnic with a huge turn up.

 

Esthela Vaz, President of UK Konkans welcomed the gathering and thanked everyone for making it to the park to participate in the picnic. Attendees were divided into fours teams and team members democratically lected leaders to the lead their respective teams on various games to be held during the day.

 

Mrs Beena D’Souza conducted a short prayer for the day.  A traditional Mangalorean snack “pow” made of beaten rice, jaggery and onion was distributed which everyone enjoyed. Then began the games of the picnic.

 

 

The first game was the potato kicking which the kids participated enthusiastically. This was followed with the Dog and Bone game for teenagers. Then there was  team relay which consisted of sack race, lemon and spoon, three-legged race, and potato balancing. There was great competitive spirit between the teams and it was always close finish.  These games were a fun-loving and thrilling to watch and  the onlookers supported their teams.

 

Tug of war was something that got the spirits up for all involved. This being the most exiting and the teams fought each other like bulls. There was the men’s tug of war followed by the ladies tug of war. Each team bought their best, skilled and strongest members forward to win the tug of war.

 

It was so exciting that the kids wanted to have a go and we had an impromptu kid’s tug of war which was well pulled by all the kids. Each and every one took active participation in the games.

 

The men had a wonderful day of cricket in the beautiful English weather while others sang traditional Konkani songs.

 

The organizers did their very best to keep everyone satisfied with food and drinks. Biryani and raitha was served as lunch. There was plenty of food and drink for everyone.

 

The horse racing game was very interesting and people wanted their betted horse to win. It was a close victory for the red horse with all the other horses and a gray elephant close on its heels.