Dear Members

I was invited to accept nomination to be President of Dharmaj Society of London (DHASOL) followingterm end for 2019/20 committee on 31st July 2020.

I acknowledged society’s confidence in me and duly accepted the nomination to serve as President, role that I had engaged in previously.

At the time of my election for the role, the country was already in the mist of the Covid-19 inflicted pandemic lock down mode, having imposed limitations upon social gatherings, meetings and functions etc.

The rules were relaxed during summer 2020, and outlook looked promising with virus seeming to be under control and economy being opened up slowly. Then suddenly situationappear to have deteriorated upon arrival of autumn, as the virus adopted more virulence, spreading out of control, enforcing the Government into taking further severe and stringent restrictions in movement of population.

Thesesudden and rigid lockdown measureshave imposed severe limitations upon the society as whole, enforcing unforeseen changes in life style affecting all sectors of the economy including charities.

DHASOL too, has been appropriately affected, by having had to cancel all our usual activities, including AGM 20, Barbecue 20, Navratri 20, members’annual gathering and all other charitable fund raising events.

The pandemic and resulting lock down could not have come at any worse time for DHASOL, us having had just completed upon the purchase of much awaited replacement freehold property at 188-190 Kenton Road Harrow HA3 8BL.

We were then still in process of raising funds from members to finance the purchase of property and attend to necessary refurbishment work to bring the property into an acceptable state, suitable for our community use.

Owing to such unforeseen circumstances, limited to working within Government guidelines, refurbishment works have taken much longer than originally anticipated.

As we approach spring, thanks to our hard working Property Committee, I am excited to report that our proud Community Centre is taking good shape and the works are expected to end soon, upon which we should be in a position to bring the Community Centre to life.

This acquisition of Community Centre at prominent location adds to our DHASOL community pride.We owe a big thank youto all thedonors, supporters and those involved in The Property Committee to have over seen this project develop to this stage, working through thick and thin during extremely challenging conditions imposed by the pandemic.

Indeed this has been a dream project for all the past and current DHASOL members starting with the founding members of the society going back to 1968.This property is intended to be permanent DHASOL institution of inheritance for generations to come and link roots to proud village of DHARMAJ.

Dharmajiansalong withour well-wishers now have something to be proud of for our community and may wish to join is in rejoicing in DHASOL’S dream achievement and wish to be part of the project. It is never too late, so please do come forward to make your mark on this inheritance project by joining into our donations schemes to drive our charitable activitiesforward.

Working withinstrict Government pandemic regulation, has sadlyprevented us from approaching members and familiespersonally, for the required funding to remain loan free. I therefore appeal to Dharmajians and friends to join our donation scheme of regular monthly standing order and share in DHASOL’s unique pride.

As Always, we continue to appreciate lump donations from any good wisher who may wish send us remittance through cheque or direct transfer into our bank account or if you wish pay via Charity Aid Foundation (CAF) quoting our charity registration number 1070401.

In addition we have also teamed up with Amazon whereby by nominatingDHARMAJ SOCIETY OF LONDON as your favourite charity when placing your order via Amazon Smile, Amazon will donate a proportion of their profit to DHASOL’s good causes, without affecting buyer’s purchase cost.

This scheme may be extended to friends and family to place orders via Amazon Smile instead of Amazon whereby they will be contributing to a good without burning any hole in their pockets.

There has been encouraging support to our New Community Centre project,and completion is anxiously awaited by members and well-wishers.

We are here with well awaited facility that we at DHASOL are keen topresent to our community and see it utilised to the fullest extent.

In due course we expect to invite members and friends to view and appreciate your pride and dream.

With best wishes & kind regards

Mukund R S Patel

President