Goan Voice UK: Newsletter. Issue 2008-11. March. 13, 2008

UK: Davinia Monteiro of England’s U20 Rugby squad

1 Mar. Davinia Monteiro, aged 19, has played rugby since the age of 5 for Sutton and Epsom RFC then for Camberley RFC. She went on to play regional rugby at London and the South East Region and for Wasps. Davinia has won awards representing Surrey in Judo, Netball, Rugby and Hockey. She is the daughter of Colin and Delfina ( ex-Nairobi) and was born in London, England and visits Goa frequently to enjoy the culture of her origins.
For a news report and photograph, Davinia Sets High Targets, see click here.

Fr. Timothy Menezes: Harassed by lovestruck female

3 Mar: Daily Mail (UK). Love-struck: Cheryl Burston, 48, fell for Father Timothy Menezes, 37, when she started attending church in 2006 … she gave him chocolates and a teddy bear and it turned to harassment when he rejected her advances … She was convicted by magistrates in Coventry who gave her a 12-month conditional discharge. Text 418 words + comments + photographs. Click here.

Germantown, NY: Henrietta & Paul D'Souza: East by Northeast
4 Mar: Hillsdale Independent, NY (USA). Henrietta D'Souza, owner of Haley's Indian-American Restaurant and Deli in Germantown and her husband, Paul, are two of a growing number of Asian entrepreneurs calling Columbia County home … Both D'Souza and her husband are natives of Goa … D'Souza came to America 19 years ago with her parents and siblings … Her husband came from an entrepreneurial family and had been self-employed in India … He runs the nursery and a landscaping business, she operates Haley's, which is named after the couple's two-year-old daughter. They have two other children, Cameron, 6, and Hayden, eight months … When D'Souza needed help with the running of the restaurant and the cooking, she brought in her cousin, Ricky D'Costa … D'Souza agrees that there is something about Asian culture that encourages self-employment. 965 words. Click here.
For more about the restaurant and for a photo of them click here.

7 Mar: Gulf News. The UAE had its first taste of rock music in the late 1970s with Glenn Perry who arrived from Goa … He opened the Dubai Music School in 1980 … Glenn reached the high note of his career when he recorded his first album in Los Angeles in 1988 where he lived for more than a decade … Perry dedicates his time to aiding various charity drives around the globe … 673 words. Click here.
For the Glenn Perry home page with bio, downloads, photos etc click here

Karachi: In loving memory of Goans Club
8 Mar: Business Recorder. …The Karachi Goans Club s about to die at the hands of people living around it … The Goan girls playing hockey were healthy, slim, trim and stylish in white short frock swaying around the ground, and chasing the white ball would look like swans in ecstasy. Where they all have disappeared? … Each day there is one encroachment on the Goans Club Ground … A few Goans who still live in the city have lost all interest in sports and other cultural activities. Some have joined hotels, as cooking experts and the others whom age has incapacitated, are waiting for respectable funerals … 1022 words. Click here.

Peter Nazareth: A Citizen of the World
9 Mar: Daily Nation (Nairobi). By Wainaina Kimani. Prof Peter Nazareth describes himself as “an African writer” although he holds a British passport and has lived in the US for 35 years … For a review of some of his work, click here.

Get away from it all on Goa’s beaches
7 Mar: Emirates Today. Double page travel feature. 1137 words. Click here.

More foreigners dying of drug abuse in Goa
7 Mar: The Hindu. … According to State police records, 17 deaths of foreigners have been registered with the police so far in the first two months of 2008 as against 59 for 2007 and 55 during 2006 … 340 words. Click here.

Goa is gradually becoming unsafe for tourists: Parrikar
8 Mar: UNI. Alleging that Goa has become unsafe for tourists due to lack of police vigil, Opposition BJP leader Manohar Parrikar today demanded a thorough inquiry into the mysterious death of a British teenager at north Goa's famous Anjuna beach recently … The series of 30 deaths last month including that of foreigners and drug related cases have sent a wrong signal about the safety of Goa as an international tourist destination, he said. 314 words. Click here.

'Some forces' trying to malign Goa: Digambar Kamat
8 Mar: UNI. Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat today said that ''some unknown forces'' were indulging in malicious attempts by projecting the state as an ''unsafe international tourist destination''. 210 words.

The Dark Side of Paradise
8 Mar: Daily Express (UK). By Bill Coles. …the police are behind a sinister cover-up. How did the hippy dream go so sour? … Officials are prone to turning a blind eye to crime … Tourists leave their senses at passport control … Photos and text, 1670 words. Click here.

Forum: Feedback: Goan beaches
8 Mar: The Daily Telegraph (UK). … When I was staying in Anjuna a man near me noticed a swimmer in difficulty … The swimmer was pulled ashore and I tried to find someone to perform CPR. Nobody was prepared to help. He was surrounded by a large crowd of men who held him upside down by his feet. He was eventually helped away in some sort of state of consciousness. I saw a similar event on Baga Beach two months later. Click here.

Ready, Steady, Goa
9 Mar: Sunday Mirror (UK). Yes, it sure is all go in Goa. You have to decide what beautiful beach to visit next, when to spend 60p on your next bottle of Kingfisher beer, when to take an elephant ride through the forest... yep, it’s tough having fun in the sun … You’ll find locals of mixed heritage with magnificent names like Aloysius or José, and the buses have slogans on the front like “Jesus Saves”. This is a funky place... So don’t delay... go to Goa! 1024 words. Click here.

Death, drugs and extortion: the ashes of a paradise lost
9 Mar: Independent on Sunday: Once a backpacker's dream, Goa has become the stuff of nightmares … The problem is that Goa's laid-back image seems to make people think nothing bad can ever happen here, and when it does, their shock and outrage are all the greater … 1512 words. Click here.

Goa's lustre dims
9 Mar: The Observer (UK). Goa has long been a haven. But it is now a drugs and paedophile playground, where police look the other way as the Russian mafia muscle in… For the many Britons who spend the winter season living by the golden beaches of Anjuna, the place remains a paradise, the afternoon calm disturbed only by the occasional bark of stray dogs and the distant strains of trance music … 1450 words. Click here.

Police in Goa ordered an Editor not to report a murder
9 Mar: Sunday Times (UK). As the family of a murdered 15-year-old fight for justice in Goa, Amanda Merritt, whose brother Stephen Bennett died there, tells why she’s convinced he was killed too … the chances are that there will soon be a reduction in the number of British tourists travelling to Goa … Few can now be unaware that a succession of unexplained deaths is revealing a deeply sinister side to the popular resort. “The editor of a local paper told me that he had been ordered by a police representative not to report on my brother’s case at all,” Merritt says … 1283 words. Click here.

Goa no longer safe for tourists?
9 Mar: Times of India. By Preetu Nair. Goa has always had its share of tourist troubles — from the nudist beaches of the sixties to drug peddling, and more recently, to pedophilia rackets. But the spike in murder and rape incidents in the last two months has darkened the mood … 541 words. Click here.

Drug trade thriving in Goa due to peddler-cop nexus
10 Mar: Times of India. By Preetu Nair. … With Goa becoming a haven of drugs, rave and sex, its beaches have become a major market for foreign narcotics dealers … the cops protect the trade as they too earn a cut … 494 words. Click here.

Drug dealers blamed for rising death toll in Goa
10 Mar: The Times. (UK). Since the 1960s Goa has been renowned for its pristine beaches, cosmopolitan atmosphere and plentiful supply of narcotics … a series of recent rapes and deaths – many involving drugs and British citizens – have created the perception that Goa is no longer safe for young backpackers, especially girls. … “When I came back I thought I would stay,” said one Goan owner of a beach shack who spent several years in Britain. “Now I don’t want to. It’s ruined.” 753 words. Click here.

Time for Goa to ban the backpacker?
10 Mar: Times of India. Now that Goa's enforcers of law and order are arguably shown up as liars and cheats, murdered British teenager Scarlett Keeling's heavily-tattooed mother is able triumphantly to claim she was right after all, is it time to rebrand the world's hippie capital? 445 words. Click here.

Trouble in paradise
10 Mar: South China Morning Post (Hong Kong). A spate of rape cases in India's tourist hot spots highlights a bigger problem in local attitudes to women … 1338 words. Click here.

Goa’s ugly side
11 Mar: Daily News & Analysis. The ugly side of Goa’s tourism industry has been very sadly exposed by the investigations into the death of British teenager Scarlett Keeling. Click here.

Beware the dangers of Goa
12 Mar: The Times (UK). The belated admission by police in Goa that Scarlett Keeling, the 15-year-old British girl found dead on a beach last month, may have been murdered is as shocking in revealing local corruption as it is damaging to one of India's most popular tourist destinations. Click here.

Video: Foreign tourists victims of false perceptions
12 Mar: CNN-IBN. 6 video clips of a discussion. On the panel to try and answer the question were MP Shantaram Laxman Naik; Convener, Goa Bachao Abhiyan, Dr Oscar Rebello; and German national, Cordula Bruenske. Click here.

Video + text. Goa, from simply tourism to 'moral tourism'
12 Mar. CNN-IBN. Goa is trying hard to maintain its reputation of a haven for free-living hippies. Click here.

Prize Competition
8 Mar: Africa Sky. 7 nights stay at one of the 4* Pinewood Village on Kenya’s South Coast for 2 people in a suite with your own personal chef, on a HB basis including return flights and transfers to your hotel … Click here.

Terrorists planned serial blasts along Goa coastline
8 Mar: Rediff. Recently, a man arrested in Karnataka revealed the plan to carry out attacks in Goa and their main target were the tourists … Riazuddin Nasir, who was posing as a cook and a medical student by the name Asadulla had planned to drive five vehicles to Goa, pack them with bombs, park them in the tourist hotspots and set them off in quick succession. 563 words. Click here.

India: Real Estate: Gold rush
15 Mar: Frontline (India). …Goa is witnessing a big boom in the realty market. The tiny State has the advantage of selling to foreigners and prices have sky-rocketed. While the local people have benefited, unfortunately there appears to be no vision for development and infrastructure in Goa. As a result, the beautiful State is in danger of losing some of its charm. Click here.

Washington: Novena focuses on power of prayer
1 Mar: The Spokesman-Review. The annual Novena of Grace draws people from Eastern Washington and beyond to St. Aloysius Catholic Church … The novena at St. Al's is in honor of St. Francis Xavier, known for his missionary work and his friendship with St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. This form of devotion traces its beginnings to Goa, India, when a boy who was crippled from birth was said to be cured by praying to St. Francis in 1615. 632 words. Click here.

Wales: NRI convicted of exposing himself
7 Mar: Times of India. Joby Jacob, 33, an Indian-origin man [Kerala?] was found guilty of exposing his private parts to a woman in the neighbourhood … Jacob, described as a church-going science graduate, claimed he was simply "having a scratch". 310 words. Click here.

John Lally International Foundation makes a difference
7 Mar: York Press. Friends of the late York environmentalist John Lally who died 13 years ago set up the John Lally International Foundation which, in 2007, secured £10,000 funding from the BIG Lottery fund to do a feasibility study in Goa on the possibility of setting up proper garbage disposal facilities in Calangute. The funding has now ceased, but the work in Calangute continues. Project manager Gordon Campbell-Thomas said: "We have been trying hard to make a difference, but it is an uphill struggle … As recently as January this year the Goa State Pollution Control Board praised a scheme …” Please contact John Lally International Foundation on gordonct@gmail.com 433 words. Click here.
Gordon Campbell-Thomas has been previously featured, with his photograph, in GVUK 2002-43, 2004-9 and 2002-43.

Football to link Leicester with Goa
7 Mar: Malaysia Sun. Players from Leicester City Football Club are to visit Goa in October following the launch of a football initiative which will enable a group of young players to visit Goa to play a local football team, Leicester East MP Keith Vaz said … 256 words. Click here.

Tony Fernandes: AirAsia to fly to India by Oct
7 Mar: The Edge (Malaysia). Low-cost carrier AirAsia expects to open a new route to India by October this year, its chief executive officer Datuk Tony Fernandes said. “We are in the final process of applying to the Indian government. We received the rights from the Malaysian government … It’s our final frontier. With that our mission will be completed,” he said. 150 words. Click here.
For the GVUK Tony Fernandes profile click here.

Wendell says no to ‘Goa property show’ in Delhi
8 Mar: Navhind Times. The widely promoted ‘Exclusive Goa Property Show’ in New Delhi looks headed for some controversy with Goa’s internationally reputed fashion designer, Mr Wendell Rodricks turning down their invitation to open the show. 535 words. Click here.

Scarlett Keeling: Video: Murder or Accident in Goa?
6 Mar: CNN. 2m.0s. Click here.

7 Mar: Herald. In spite of the case having generated so much heat internationally it hasn’t prompted the police to send the viscera for chemical analysis even after it was handed to them on the day (February 18) the first autopsy was conducted.
When contacted, SP North Bosco George said, “Yes, the viscera has not been sent for chemical analysis. The Hyderabad Forensic lab is overloaded so we are sending it to Mumbai and asking them to examine it on a priority basis.” 443 words. Click here.

Scarlett Keeling: Updates
7 Mar: 22:28 IST. CNN-IBN. Video clip showing some of the injuries on Scarlett’s body. 1m.22s Click here.
7 Mar: 19:45 IST. The Hindu. … Sub-inspector Nerlon Albuquerque who initially investigated the case was suspended in 2004 in another case for allegedly covering up a murder by showing it as a natural death. Click here.
7 Mar: Sky News. Video clip showing some of the injuries on Scarlett’s body. 2m.20s. Click here.

A girl's death reveals grim party paradise
8 Mar: The Times (UK). By Jeremy Page in Goa. … a seedy underworld in which dealers targeted young foreign women and then took advantage of them when they were high, traded sex for drugs or sexually assaulted them … Scarlett's death has still shattered the “hippy paradise” image that Goa has enjoyed … Julio denies being responsible for her. “I'm so scared and confused,” he told The Times, adding that he had been severely beaten by the police … 1447 words. Click here.

Scarlett Keeling: new report found 'more than 50' bruises on her body
8 Mar: The Guardian (UK). … One account of Scarlett's last hours has her in the company of three men: two of whom locals have identified as a barman called Sansom Da Souza and a shaven-headed foreigner known as Masala Mike. She apparently left with an unidentified man … the bar owner, Luis Coutinho, denied a suggestion that he was the third person … Da Souza and Masala Mike have not been seen in days. 673 words. Click here.

Goa rape case: Minister demands cops dismissal
8 Mar: CNN-IBN. Goa Tourism Minister Mickey Pacheco has demanded dismissal of the police officers … Click here.

Autopsy proves Scarlett was raped, killed
8 Mar: Navhind Times. There seems to be truth in the allegations that Scarlet Keeling was murdered, given the way Anjuna police have been attempting to “hush-up” the case. 526 words. Click here.

Was it a cover-up by Goa police?
8 Mar: Times Now. … sources have told TIMES NOW that police have in their custody documents that indicated all along that Scarlett Keeling was indeed raped and murdered on the night of February 18 … 328 words. Click here.

Scarlett case: Probe indicts police
8 Mar: NDTV. The Goa Police had suppressed the first autopsy report of the 15-year-old British tourist Scarlett Keeling. 254 words. Click here.

Loose ends in the story of British tourist's death
8 Mar. Rediff. … latest reports indicate that she may have been raped and then murdered, as was being claimed by her mother all these days … Click here.

Video: Goa unsafe? | New twist to Brit tourist rape case
8 Mar: CNN-IBN. Scarlett Keeling's death is throwing up deeply disturbing questions, not just for her family but the police and the government as well in Goa … 1m. 22s. Click here.

Video: Mum Wins Daughter Murder Probe

8 Mar: Sky News (UK) The top story on the Saturday evening news on Sky TV News (UK) was the announcement of the result of the second autopsy and discussion. The photograph shows Scarletts’s mother, Fiona. To access the video clip, 3m.18s, online, click here.

Scarlett Keeling: Autopsy points to murder
9 Mar: Herald. Goa’s Police Chief directed the Anjuna police to register a case of murder in the mysterious death of Scarlet Eden Keeling. This was following the opinion expressed by the panel of doctors who concluded second inquest. 415 words. Click here.

Video + text: Goa tourist's death not an accident
9 Mar: CNN-IBN. …Officers with dubious integrity were trying to hush up the case and show it as a case of drowning…1m.39s. Click here.

Second autopsy confirms Scarlett’s rape, murder
9 Mar: Navhind Times. The report of the second autopsy on the body of Scarlett Keeling confirmed the findings of the first autopsy, which had indicated that the girl died of homicidal drowning which was preceded by rape … sources said that the Anjuna police have been acting strangely and it has now been proved beyond doubt that they were attempting a cover-up … the earlier post-mortem report stating that foul play had taken place in the death was found missing from the files … 682 words. Click here.

Video: Goa murder 'cover-up'
9 Mar: BBC. Fiona MacKeown plans to return to England with the body and fly back to Goa. 2m. 27s. [Richard Branson has offered to fly the body back]. 2m.27s. Click here.

Video: Goa teenager 'was murdered'
9 Mar: BBC. A second post mortem examination on a British teenager found dead on a beach in Goa has confirmed that she was murdered. 1m. 57s. Click here.

Scarlett Keeling: Three held over death
9 Mar: AFP. Police in Goa on Sunday detained three men in connection with the murder of 15-year-old Scarlett Keeling … "We are likely to formally arrest all these people by evening," Goa police official Bosco George told AFP … The three men, all Indians, were being interrogated, said another police officer, adding that police were searching for four more men … 584 words. Click here.

9 Mar: The Mail (UK). Julio Lobo, 25, boyfriend of Scarlett has been interviewed by police for several hours in connection with her death … Mrs MacKeown believes Julio is innocent of any involvement in her daughter's death, despite the fact that the young man, who is unregistered as a tour guide, fled from his aunt's home last week. Julio, who was looking after Scarlett while her mother and siblings travelled to other areas of India, claimed in a text message to Mrs MacKeown that he was beaten by officers during questioning two days ago … 1005 words + comments + Photos. Click here

Video: 'Mixed Emotions' Over Report
9 Mar: Sky News. Sky's Asia correspondent Alex Crawford talks to Fiona MacKeown, mother of Scarlett Keeling … 2m. 42s. Click here.

Was Martin Neighbour murdered in Goa?
10 Mar: Daily Mail (UK). Divorcee Martin Neighbour, 39, was in the middle of a three-month holiday when his body was found washed up on Arambol beach last month. Indian police said he had drowned after he had been drinking. But his grief-stricken sister said she suspected foul play after a post-mortem examination found evidence of a blow to the head and cuts and bruises on his body … 531 words. Click here.

Briton ‘witnessed sex attack on Scarlett Keeling’
10 Mar: The Times (UK). A British man has told The Times that he saw an Indian barman apparently sexually assaulting Scarlett Keeling less than two hours before her body was found on a beach in Goa … The witness said that he fled Goa because he believed that his life was in danger from the alleged assailant and the local police … His account of Scarlett’s final hours came as police in Goa announced that they had arrested Samson D’Souza, a barman at Lui’s, on suspicion of raping her … 903 words. Click here.

Mother of murdered girl sceptical at Goa arrest
10 Mar. Daily Telegraph (UK). The mother of a 15-year-old girl found dead on a beach in Goa has expressed doubt over whether Indian detectives have arrested the right man … “I am not confident that they have got the right person, I think that they are just making a public show, to be honest," Ms MacKeown, speaking from Goa, told the BBC … Click here.

Teen's Goa murder covered up - minister
10 Mar: CNN. Police covered up the murder of a British teenage girl in Goa last month to protect the southern Indian state's tourist industry, a government minister and local media said Monday. Click here.

Scarlett murder case may hit Goa tourism badly
10 Mar: Express India. The tourism industry in Goa is dogged by the fear of losing business following wide publicity of the British teen death case, state Tourism Minister Francisco Pacheco said on Monday. "I am getting so many calls from places like Germany, UK and other places. They are apprehensive about coming to Goa following such cases," he said … 272 words. Click here.

Scarlett Keeling’s mother facing negligence charges
11 Mar: The Guardian (UK). The mother of a schoolgirl found dead in Goa is to be questioned by the Indian authorities for negligence, after allegedly letting her daughter travel alone … 410 words. Click here.

Kamat says no to CBI probe into Scarlett's death
11 Mar: PTI. Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat ruled out a CBI probe into the mysterious death of British teenager Scarlette Keeling and said he was optimistic that police will crack the case in the next two days … Click here.

Latter-day hippy is facing a lonely battle against prejudice
12 Mar: The Times (UK). As if taking on Goa’s police was not enough, Fiona MacKeown has fought another battle in the past three weeks — against the prejudice of local people and foreigners towards her “alternative” lifestyle. Click here.

The death of 15 year-old Scarlett Keeling on Anjuna beach, Goa has hit the UK and international headlines in quite a big way. So too has Goanet received many articles on this issue and particularly on how safe Goa is for tourists. An analysis of natural and unexplained deaths is undertaken of overseas visitors and this is most informative. Tourists from the UK make up a significant proportion of the tourists and there is a growing worry whether Goa is getting a bad reputation that will encourage tourists to go elsewhere and lose valuable income to Goa. However, there are many searching questions too: do fellow Goans who are killed in the UK as Gregory Fernandes was recently, get the same kind of media attention as UK nationals dying unexpectedly in Goa? Also, was the teenager (Scarlett) receiving the kind of adult care that would be normal in entirely new surroundings? This particular death is likely to continue to receive media coverage for some time to come and key questions addressed such as whether there are sinister unseen hands operating within the drug culture in Goa?

Lionel Messias has recently made insightful contributions to Goanet and his latest article 'Around the World in 365 Days' is no exception to his talents for penetrating obscure issues. He now tells us a great deal about Goa politicians who may be milking the system through devious and corrupt ways that Lionel explores in some depth with many examples.

The enigma of an aircraft carrier without aircraft on board to protect it in case of hostilities is explained very clearly by Philip Thomas. It is an account of India's only aircraft carrier, the INS Viraat that appears to have no support aircraft on board. It thus has neither defence nor attack capabilities as its ageing Sea Harrier fighter aircraft have proved unfit for purpose and require immediate upgrading and refurbishment. Clearly, the big question is---how does a major power in the Indian Ocean get into such a dilemma? Thomas provides an excellent answer and his text is well worth reading.

Jason Monserrate's article about New India Foundation Fellowships may be of particular interest to Goan Voice (UK) readers, scholars and writers who may wish to avail of funding to examine aspects of history of independent India. Much detail is provided about how this scheme works and several examples are provided of those who obtained scholarships and the fascinating topics they examined.

Finally, do read a fine article on how Great Britain ended India's Olympic hockey hopes for Beijing in 2008. Details are provided about a deciding match when Great Britain beat India 2--0 in the final of the World Hockey qualifying tournament at the Prince of Wales Country Club in Santiago, Chile, last week. For those particularly interested in Sports in Goa and Goans in sport, please visit http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-sports-goanet.org

ARTS: Open Book. BBC Radio Four
Sunday 16th Mar: 16:00 to 16:30. Mariella Frostrup talks to the Indian writer and mathematician Manil Suri about his new novel The Age of Shiva.

DRAMA: Bollywood Jane. BBC Radio Four
Monday 17th Mar: 19:45 to 20:00. Amanda Whittington's story of a young woman who discovers the magic of Indian cinema.

SITCOM: Goodness Gracious Me. BBC 4.
Tuesday 18th Mar: 22:00 to 22:30 British-Asian comedy sketch show.

FILM: Born Free. UKTV Drama
Saturday 22nd Mar: 15:20 to 17:15. Based on Joy Adamson's factual book. Engaging and moving family movie set in Kenya in the 1960s where Elsa the lion cub is rescued

Sun. 23 Mar. Konkani Dramatic Association proudly presents 'Easter Dance' at St John’s Church Hall, Bourne Hill, Palmers Green, London N13 4DA. From: 2.30 p.m. - 9.00 p.m. Music provided by Nite Life. Tickets, (includes buffet meal): adults £10.00 Children £5 (5-16, under 5 free). Dress: Formal (Strictly NO Jeans or Trainers). For tickets & further details call the following: Antonio - 0208 4529406 / 07988896904; Judy - 0208 76302606 / 07949403741; Domacian - 0208 3761609 / 07940501196; Rosy - 0208 8352 9450; Johnny - 0208 7693168

Sun 6 Apr. 1pm – 8.30pm. Charity Dance in aid of Osteoporosis Brittle Bone Disease. Venue: Archbishop Lanfranc School, Mitcham Road, Croydon, Surrey CR9 3AS. All proceeds will go to St. George’s Hospital Tooting. Featuring Music by Dimensions Band. Disco by ‘Say One Do One’. Plus Cabaret shows. Admission: Adults - £13 with food; Children (4-10 yrs) - £5 with food. For tickets, please contact: Derrick Pereira – 020 8952 8899; Clare D’Souza – 01784 421421; Irene Mendonca – 020 8767 2762; Hazel Rodrigues – 020 8357 6776; Bernie Gracias 020 8723 1322.

Sun 4 May. 12:30pm- Cortalim Union (UK) 30th Jubilee Celebrating the Feast of Sts. Philip and James at Irish Centre, Pretoria Rd, London N17. Holy Mass followed by the social. Music provided by Nite Life. Also hosting the May Queen and May King. Smart dress essential. For tickets, (includes snacks, meal & desert): adults £12.00; Youth (11-17yrs) =£6 Children (2-10yrs) =£2.50, under 2 free. For further info call Maria 0208-803-5146, Melissa 0208- 888-0393

Sat 31 May. 7pm. GOA Anniversary and May Ball. Wandsworth Civic Suite. Crowning of May Queen and May King. Music by Mellow Tones and Nite Life. Further details from Norma Menezes Rahim 020 8771 4457 Rosy De Souza 020 8677 0390 Rose Remedios 020 8658 7769 Claire De Souza 01784 421421 and Bernie Gracias 020 8723 1322. For full details click here.