Christmas 2004

The Charity Christmas Party organised by Friends of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian City Club with the support of the Bulgarian Embassy in London raised £8,000!

Some cheques and pledges came in after the party, so the final amount could be even higher. This is two times more than we raised last year. The money will support orphanages in the Stara Zagora region, the Day Centre for disabled Children in Troyan and other charitable causes (details will follow).

We would like to thank:

Our patrons HE Ambassador Valentin Dobrev, the Rt Hon the Baroness Rawlings, Sir Donald Logan KCMG, Chairman of Friends of Bulgaria and Prince Kyril Saxe-Coburg, President of the Bulgarian City Club for their support.

Lubimka Biserova , The London Bulgarian Choir led by Dessislava Stefanova, Manol Biserov (tambura), Boris Komitski (kaval) Dinko Atanosov (gadulka), Rossi Trajkova (vocal) and Valery Traykov (tambura), the dancing group Tanez led by Martin Spassov, James MacDonald Reid, (Rhodopa and Thracia Bagpipe) and Caspar Lloydd James (drum) and of course Milena, accompanied by the pianist Stefan Raev (piano) who performed with inspiration which did not allow anybody to guess that his car had been removed during the party and sent to an unknown car pound.

John Brisby for running the auction and the raffle announcements, Atanas Christev – for organising the online tickets sale, Christina Chakarova for the decoration, Rossitza Simeonova for the raffle, Nadejda Stoyanova, Veselina Tchakarova, the photographer Nivelin Tahchiev for taking all the pictures, Aylin Hassanova for managing the catering, Alexandra Morgan for making everybody pay at the door, Tom Gentleman, Nadejda Stoyanova and many others.

The E&D Agency for their generous donation; Bulgaria Air for donating two return air tickets to Bulgaria, Lubka Kachakova, who donated a week in the exclusive hotel Gela in the famous Rhodopi village of Gela, the Bulgarian newspapers BGBEN and Budilnik for publicising the event and donating annual subscriptions; Winez Ltd for supplying the wine and donating the cases for the raffle and the auction; Arda restaurant in London, and the TrioArt Gallery.

Assen, the chef – who prepared the banitza, sarmi and strudel – and his devoted team of helpers. This food was planned for 300 people (a hundred more than last year), not for 450, but there were very few complaints. We apologise for any minor starvation caused by this miscalculation

Finally we should thank again the dancers from Tanec and honorary Bulgarian James MacDonald Reid for leading the mass horos (these were the dances that were zigzagging through the crowd till most finally joined in).

And of course thanks to all the guests. We hope you enjoyed the party.

Friends of Bulgaria

 

 

Christmas 2004
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