Redbridge Mayor thanks BPCA for effort during Queens Jubilee celebrations

Redbridge Mayor and Queens Jubilee Party organizers share a toast to the borough!

Dorah Mayah (BPCA Treasurer) and Juliet Chowdhry (Co-Chairperson for the BPCA) with Redbridge Mayor Cllr Javed.

Juliet Chowdhry, Sania Satwat,Chairperson for the (East Ilford Betterment Partnership), Lubna Mahmood (EIBP volunteer) and Dorah Mayah recived thanks for their commitment to the Borough.

Last night the Mayor of Redbridge invited Queens Jubilee street party organizers from across our borough to a private lunch.   The event was a thank you for the valuable contributions to the Redbridge Community that these groups had made.

Mayor Cllr Javed described the huge diversity and scale of the parties as terrific.  Food and drink was provided to the attendees, who had a chance to share stories and ideas with one another in a relaxed and fun atmosphere.  

Wilson Chowdhry Co-Chairman of the BPCA said; 

"It was such a privilege to be invited to receive thanks from the Mayor of Redbridge.   We organised this years Carnival event for our first time and had to bring it four months forward.  We also brought it to the pedestrian area in Ilford Town Centre which has never been done before.  We felt that holding the event during the Queens Jubilee was important and were grateful to Awards for All who funded the majority of the associated costs.  We are simply glad that our hard work resulted in a very successful event that drew 1000's to the town centre in a spirit of unity and friendship. Without a doubt, the contributions made by the various street party holders in the Borough made Redbridge a very colourful place to be!"

In total over 15,000 people attended this years Queens Jubilee festival and parade, which was the largest celebration for the Jubilee in Redbridge.  Live Punjabi music from former lead vocalist for Cobra who were a massively popular London band in the 80's, Albanian dancing by Shpresa, Gymnastics displays and workshops by Redbridge School of Gymnastics and a similar provision by Spartans Basketball club made the day very entertaining - amongst a total of 56 different acts!  The event also had spray paint workshops, clay workshops, henna tattoos, face-painting, the fire service, Army vehicles and much more.  It was the biggest Carnival event in the Borough since the 1960's and was great opportunity to highlight the existence of Pakistani Christians in our Borough.  Our partner group "Redbridge Carnival Association" were delighted with the event and have agreed to work with us for next years event too.

Sania Satwat (also a Pakistani Christian) Chairperson for the East Ilford Betterment Partnership said;

"Our Street party on the 2nd June was the first in the borough attended by the Mayor of Redbridge.  Over 3000 visitors enjoyed sports music and great food.  Our thanks go to the Area 6 Committee who funded £400 towards our event and Redbridge Highways team for applying for a traffic management order free of charge.  Our community really enjoyed this years event and plans are already afoot for a similar event next year. This invite is just the icing on the cake for those who participated in the planning."

The BPCA were a senior partner group in the organizing of this event and used the opportunity to raise funds by holding a face-painting stall.  We raised £96 for the group.  The EIBP said that without us the evnet simply would not have been able to succeed.