FORTHCOMING

10 Feb 1.00pm Young London Goans Social - Free Membership (21-40+). Thai Restaurant, St John's Wood NW6. Prices - £5.00/£7.50. Email: Marie.Pereira@talk21.com or mobile 07958373076 (after 7.30pm).

17 Feb. Goan, Mauritian & Trinidadian Valentine's Disco and Blind Date. White Hart Lane School, Wood Green. Band: Silver Stardust + Disco. £8 advance; <13, £4. Ricky Rebello 020 8361 4577 (ev.) or 07941 514333. E-mail: anrickco@onetel.net.uk If anyone is interested in being a contestant in the Blind Date, please get in touch. There are great prizes to be won.

24 Feb. 7 p.m. Goan Association UK "VIVA CARNIVAL" at Bishop Thomas Grant School, Streatham. Disco Say One Do One. NOT TO BE MISSED: SPECTACULAR SHOW BY RIO LATINO. Dance to exotic Latin beat, plus cabaret. Fancy Dress optional. Tickets: Members and dependants over 12, £4; Guests £6; Children under 12 free. Available from Bernie Gracias 020-8723 1322 berniegracias@aol.com or Norma Menezes-Rahim, 020-8771 4457 menezrahim@aol.com.

16 Apr. 12 noon - 10 p.m. Goan Community Millennium Celebration on Easter Monday at the Goan Community Centre, Keston Road, London N15. Opening Ceremony by the Mayor of Haringey at 12 noon. Stalls. Performance Football nearby in Downhills Park. Entertainment in Keston Centre from 2-6 p.m. followed by dancing to live band. Disco for the youth will be in the Goan Community Centre. Event to accommodate 2000 people covering the areas of the Park & the two Halls so everyone is welcome. Ample car parking. If you wish to put up a stall or participate in the entertainment contact Nina Pinto on 020 8767 0663 or Candy on 020 8245 4513:e-mail candyrose2000@hotmail

6 May. 5 p.m. The Goan Cultural Society UK proudly presents a modern comedy Konkani play, " FARICPON" written and directed by Larryboy. St Monica's Church Hall, Green Lanes, Palmers Green, London N13. Tickets: Adults £ 6, OAPs £ 5 and children under 14 years £ 5. Contact: Rosy 020 8352 9450, Bella 020 8352 0373, Ida 020 8881 2921 or visit our website: www.goanculturalsociety.com

27 May. 12:00-20:00 Cortalim Union. Feast of St.Phillip & St. James at White Hart Lane School Hall. Wood Green. London N22. For further details contact Luis Fernandes 020 8889 2278 luisf@lineone.net, Maria Alfonso 020 8803 5146, or Melvyn Fernandes 020 8809 1128

COMMUNITY NEWS

Goan Community Association. Free courses available for those who live in N15, N17, N22 and G.C.A. Members. These are GCSE, Key Stage 1,2,3, Konkanim, Keep Fit-Health Related, Line Dancing and I.T. all held at the G.C.A. Centre. For details contact Candy on 0958 355 784 or Edward on 020 8889 9771.

From David Futers david@f-w-a.demon.co.uk Teacher Exchange Project Update. We have been very surprised by the response of the teachers in Goa who have applied to take part in the next teachers' exchange to the UK during May 2001. 51 teachers from as many schools have applied. We have places for three teachers, but the funds collected so far can pay for a little more than one. We really need your help once again. We have received several contributions, one from Germany (USD 300) Two from the UK (GBP 200) one from Canada ($100) and three from Goa (INR 3200). Details will be updated on the website as soon as possible. To see this and more detail about the exchange look up www.f-w-a.demon.co.uk/gonas We still need more. Wouldn't you want to be a part of the solution to Goa's Educational problems? I really count on you.

The Video recording of the International Goan Convention, Dec. 2000, is at
http://www.goacom.com/news/news2001/feb/

DEATHS

26 Jan. Socorro, Goa: IGNATIUS FRANCIS SEQUEIRA, husband of late Lily, father of Romaldo/Tessie (Canada), Nelson/Lulu (Canada), Cecilia/Nicholas (Dubai) and Cypriana/William.

28th Jan. Orpington, Kent. ALEX ALVARES (Ex Alvares Hotel Nairobi). Husband of Trifina (Ex Mombasa) and Father of Hycinth/Francis Lobo, Lilly/Martin Lobo, Violet/Levy Da Costa and Brother of John, Cyprian, Delpine (Leicester), Amanda, Anthony, Anne, Phylis (Canada), Eddie and late Mario. Funeral: 7th Feb. (Wednesday) Church: at 1 pm St Michaels & All Angels church, 370 Crofton Rd. Orpington Kent. Cemetary: All Saint Church, Baskhart Road, Orpington Kent.

LOOKING FOR

Bone Marrow donor for Leukaemia patient, John Colaco (Paschao) still required. Donors must be aged 18-40. Call Candy, 0958355784 or Christine 020 8493 9179.

NEWS HEADLINES
( mainly from Joel D'Souza in Goa, courtesy of GOACOM, e-mail: goanow@sancharnet.in )

The Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation has proposed an ultra modern market complex to be built at the old GMC hospital site in Panjim.

GRAF (Goan Review Art Foundation) announces 2nd. Mando Competition Cum Festival to be held on 4th. Feb. in Bandra, Mumbai. Seven Mando Groups from all over Mumbai have been short-listed. Entry at the Competition will be by donation. Coupons available with GRAF members and GRAF office, Contact : 265 4974. E-mail: fausto@mantraonline.com

Goa experienced the tremors of the earthquake which devastated parts of Gujarat. No damage was reported in Goa.

Prayers were offered in Catholic churches all over Goa at the Sunday (Jan 28) masses, for the earthquake victims in Gujarat. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has announced Rs.25 lakh as immediate relief. Governor of Goa, Mohd Fazal, has urged Goans to contribute generously to the mammoth rescue and rehabilitation operations in Gujarat. Goa is sending a 20-member team of paramedics and doctors to Gujarat, to help in the mammoth rescue and rehabilitation operations.

Over 1200 terms are listed in the first Konkani medical dictionary of its kind, edited by Dr Bicaji Ganecar. It offers a translation of terms from English into both Roman-script and Devnagri-script Konkani.

Temperature on Feb.1: 32.3 C max and 19.0 C deg min, with relative humidity at 54 per cent.

IN THE NEWS
(e-mail eddie@fernandes.u-net.com for the full text of items marked *) .

20 Jan. The Times. Grafton Manor in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. (01527579007). Chef Simon Morris will be showing off the results of his latest trip to India. A Goan-inspired menu will be available from Jan. 26 to Feb. 4 and Morris will be hosting cookery demonstrations on the two Sundays. The £27.85 set-price dinner includes Kashmiri wild mushroom soup, crab, mussel and prawn curry and pheasant kebab.

*28 Jan. Sunday Telegraph. Headline: Mrs Vaz wrote a guide to visas. Text: The wife of Keith Vaz is a leading expert on immigration law and has written a guide book on how to obtain British visas. Maria Fernandez, a barrister, also runs a profitable communications company with Mr Vaz's mother, Merlyn, who is a fellow director. Their company, Mapesbury Communications, published her 1995 do-it-yourself guide to the visa system, called A guide to Visitor Visas. Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, wrote a foreword to it in which he said: "I am delighted to commend this pamphlet by Maria Fernandez." Ms Fernandez was born in Kenya and came to Britain in 1974. She set up a law firm, Fernandez Vaz, in London and now specialises in immigration law. Ms Fernandez has served on the solicitors' governing body, the Council of the Law Society, and its sub-committee on immigration. 225 words

29 Jan. Yahoo News. Davos Commentary: What do Goa, Cancun, Phuket and Ibiza have in common? They're the centres of a new global culture of fun, now just a flight away from the great cities of the world…. Text at http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ec/20010129/wl/davos_commentary_the_private_lif

*30 Jan. International Herald Tribune. 'Captain Crunch' Starts Internet Security Firm. Article on Silicon Valley's John Draper, popularly known as 'Captain Crunch', the pioneer telephone and computer hacker. It is disclosed that "he wandered the world, working where he could as a high-tech hobo - including the Goa coast in India, where in 1999 he spent six months coding Web sites for an Indian entrepreneur".

30 Jan. The Times of India. CM Manohar Parrikar has asked the Union Home Ministry to transfer Chief Secretary Ashok Nath.

31 Jan. Evening Standard. Ma Goa, 244 Upper Richmond Road, London SW15 -020 8780 1767 is on the shortlist of 60 restaurants nominated for the Evening Standard Londoners' Award.