O Hsraldo article Sunday 4th August ,Courtesy of Goan Voice UK “They will dance to the tunes of Lorna in UK, but they need to have a greater voice in Goa”
Reply from Melvyn Fernandes, Lawndon – UK for people not on Facebook Dear Esteemed Readers of O Heraldo, Allow me to table a correction statement about our people in UK seeking clarity through FT for our people in Goa. No, no, no I don’t mean the pink pages of the Financial Times but the FT World of our Goan People FT - Fotkiros (liars) Toddokis (cheats). The festival of today or Goa Day was originally held on the six and half acres of grounds freehold land owned by the Goan Association UK with the Veranda of the Clubhouse transformed to a stage from where our musicians and entertainers have always kept us happy as they do today. People forgot their troubles for a carefree day with friends and family used to meet and greet under the banner of SCOGO – Standing Conference Of Goan Organisations, an opportunity for Village Organisations to Showcase their Villages which they did with Pride. The Event was financially self-funding thanks to nearly a hundred volunteers participating. The Goan Association was Hijacked over 10 years ago and SCOGO died, since then there has been no proper accountability, by this I mean the revenue from Entrance, Car Parking and other Income Streams like Raffles, Stall Rental do not add up, leading to Suspicious Minds and an alleged Hand in Pocket Enterprise with Zero development for our Goan Community in UK and towards our people in Goa. The organisation can only claim to be the richest Goan Club in the world as the current management still “basks in the glory” from the proceeds of an insurance claim roughly in the region of £300,000 when the Club House bought by mainly East African Goans was burnt down. You will note that for an organisation that claims the be the richest Goan Club in the world the poverty it displays to our people is appalling. Last year shows a recent example on the numbers attending the biggest ever billed 2018 Goan Festival at Cranford, West London, UK. With reports and videos coming out that over 10,000 attended, our people around the world may feel envious that things are going so well here, not realising that we are actually in Breadline Britain. Once again, I feel duty bound to comment on this figure. In 2018 putting the record straight is very easy as some of our enterprising Goan youth have come to my assistance, recording their experience of this event on Video. Their uploaded version on U-Tube is titled “Goa Day 2018 Routex” and I would like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate them for their excellent recording. For those of you who wish to see it the link is below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKxGkyKbY6Y Viewers can see that starting at 6.57 of 26.51 there is a recording of the aerial view of the whole of Goa Day UK 2018. One can see seven coaches neatly parked, a number of cars and a group of single men all in one area of the grounds as well as 10,000 plus blades of grass. Today this is an event where the needs of our people are met with Greed specially the gullible new arrivals. Note very few Ladies and Families participate. Perhaps OHeraldo can get accurate figures from the current management of those attending this year’s festival at close of play for the record. >From all of us thousands not attending Happy Birthday Lorna Cardozo on your >75th and a warm welcome to the most humble ambassador from Goa. Melvyn Fernandes [email protected] mailto:[email protected] Sunday 4th August 2019
