It was great to welcome, amongst others, Cllr Penny Frost, Cllr Fiona Sacks, MP Munira Wilson, Zenaid Richards, Grants Manager at Hampton, Laura Caton, Director Richmond HealthWatch, Lord John Lee of Trafford, Phil Langton, ETNA Chair, Vanessa James ETNA Manager, Lily O’Connor, Kew Community Access Scheme, and Dr Virginia Lam, Roehampton University. All of the above have offered collaboration and support to our charity over the years.
Even though we hadn’t requested a speech beforehand, Munira Wilson, our patron, gave an impromptu, heartfelt and moving speech which touched all our attendees. She ended by saying that we were ‘a beacon of light’ in these dark times.
The event was enriched by singing, dancing and poetry recitation performances in Turkish, Russian, Cantonese, Arabic and Japanese. We also heard some of the successful life and friendship journeys made by ex and current learners with Pashto, Spanish, Vietnamese, Hebrew and Hinku home languages.
Over half of the attendees filled in and displayed postcards describing their Richmond EAL journeys.
Several current and ex-learners spoke movingly about the lasting impact of their experience with Richmond EAL Friendship Group.
Here are a few of the comments made by party guests:
Small selection of examples:
“Thank you for creating such an amazing place for foreigners who feel lonely. You make me feel welcomed and at home.”(Latvian)
“They welcomed me, I can meet people and improve my English. They push me out of my comfort zone and I can have a job in the UK. Thanks a lot”.(French)
“I love EAL because made my first contact with England as I am not alone. I made friends for life and felt included.”(Romanian)
“It is wonderful community! Great teachers, amazing people. Thank you so much for your job. I love you.”
(Russian)
“There are so many opportunities for the community. There are many people who need this in their life, and it makes a huge difference to their lives.”(Bengali)
“I make new friends, learn about different cultures, improve my English and feel more engaged in the community. Thank you, Richmond EAL Friendship Group and Happy Birthday!”(Cantonese)
“Richmond EAL held my hand and showed me the way, how to start and where to go. They brought me from the dark to the light. The classes showed me how to communicate and express myself in a new foreign country and gave me the opportunity to connect with other people in a similar situation. Richmond EAL helped me to take part in college classes and make memories that are still with me till now.”
(Pashto & a small, endangered language Hinku)
“Thank you for wonderful party it was really heartwarming to hear so many stories and perform their cultural treasures”. (Ukrainian)
Amazingly, there were 31 home languages spoken
ARABIC
BENGALI
HINDI
PUNJABI
AMHARIC
RUSSIAN
PORTUGUESE
SPANISH
UKRAINIAN
DORIC
TURKISH
LATVIAN
KURDISH
FARSI/DARI
FARSI/IRAN
PASHTO
MANDARIN
CANTONESE
TAMIL
FRENCH
BRETON
URDU
HAUSA
HEBREW
VIETNAMESE
TATAR
IRISH GAELIC
ROMANIAN
THAI
JAPANESE
HUNGARIAN
We look forward to expanding our services and reaching many more isolated and lonely learners of English as an Additional Language to create bridges across traditional barriers of language, ethnicity, religion, politics and economic status. One of our key aims is to support the process of social integration ensuring access to bright and healthy futures here in LBRUT and more widely here in the UK!
