By Madhumangal dasa
Day Retreat: We had a day retreat to the Bhaktivedanta Manor on the 10 of August which hosted 43 devotees from Worcestershire. Many went for the first time and we had a range of activities and seminars that captivated everyone.
Janamastami: We hosted a grand Janamastami Festival by popular demand as there is no Hindu/Vedic or ISKCON temple in Worcestershire which was attended by over 80 people. We hired a beautiful community hall in Droitwich, took our Krsna Balaram deities who were dressed in flower dresses and had dramas, dances, a class, Kirtan, abhishek and midnight darshan.
Pershore Plum Festival: We teamed up with the festival devotees this year at the Pershore plum festival and assisted with the cooking, prasadam serve out and Kirtan. Its an amazing event that the festival devotees have built up over the last few years, all in all over 500 plates of prasadam were distributed.
Hare Krishna Festival: We hosted out first Hare Krishna Festival in Worcester town center on the 10 of October. We had a few harinams prior to the event to advertise the festival. The turn out was really pleasing, we had over 80 new people attend with the majority being Western bodied. Many showed keen interest to learn more so we are creating a more specific program for them which we will roll out shortly.
Damodar Programs (During Kartik): We hosted 20 house programs during the month of Kartik all over Worcestershire, had over 150 lamps offered with books and prasadam distributed. It was a great way to network with people and encourage them to attend future programs too.
Over the next few months we are planning to do the following: Participate in the Book Marathon (we have set a target of about 1000 books), start of another Bhakti vriksha in Worcester in January, Start of food for all in January and host a Gaura Purnima festival in March.
