The film “Slumdog Millionaire” had just been released, so it was a very topical project to support and if you have seen the film, the reality of toilets in poor parts India is made only to clear! So we decided to give it a try, booked a Tyttenhanger village hall and sweet-talked local award-winning restaurant Chili Raj to provide delicious food at cost price. We arranged for a DJ, twisted the arm of a prospective to give us a dance lesson and found a therapist to give Indian Head Massages. The UK project manager of SARIs happened to live in Bushey, so she was able to come along and tell everyone a bit more about the project. The obligatory raffle was also in place, and nearly 20 local companies donate some excellent prizes.

It was a lot of hard work to get this all together in such a short amount of time and everyone really pulled together as a team to make it work. Thanks go to everyone who helped, especially Marianne, Caroline, Gee, Anthea, Claire and Sharon. And not forgetting Jay Sammon and friend for DJ-ing and setting up such a great sounds system! The atmosphere was fantastic as over 60 tickets were sold, which was just the right number for the size of the venue. After eating the wonderful curry followed by home made chocolate brownies, the raffle prizes were drawn and the music got started. The “Bollywood Sisters” performed a couple of dances then showed us some of the moves. Everyone joined in and when our DJ played the theme from “Slumdog” the dancefloor went wild!

Altogether it was an amazing evening, not only because we made over £900 for Project SARIs, but because the event was attended by husbands, partners, friends, other Circlers from Radlett and Bushey plus a few members of Round Table, Tangent and 41 Club. We really felt we had put ourselves on the map,  not only literally (we now have a toilet block somewhere in India with our name on it!) but also this event signified that St Albans Circle had successfully pulled together and we were now working as a great team, the future seemed secure and the buzz of success prevaded through all our other activities for the rest of the Circle year.