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Press Release
Immediate Release
Nov 18 2013
Harrow Mayoress’ Ball With A Difference
The
Harrow Mayoress’ Ball of 2013, which took place last weekend at Harrow
Arts Centre, will certainly be remembered for the changes it brought to
the long-established event.
Mayoress Awula Serwah, a Ghanaian
born barrister, in keeping with Mayor Cllr Nana Asante’s wishes of
making her mayoralty accessible to a wider community, made the ticket
prices attractive, which resulted in a wider constituency attending the
ball than usual.
In addition to elected representatives from
Harrow and beyond, there were representatives of community groups,
including the Mayor’s charities Flash Musicals Theatre and Harrow
Community Choir, and businesses, including two Barclays Bank staff, who
matched the over £600 raised from sale of raffle tickets.
"Good venue, food and music," said
Mission Dine Club charity founder Dame Betty Asafu-Adjaye. "Thanks to
the youth who volunteered."
Each table was assigned a name and
background information of a country in Africa or the African diaspora.
Countries included Nigeria, Senegal, Malawi, Brazil, Trinidad &
Tobago, Jamaica and Haiti. The meal reflected an African touch with West
African jollof rice and kelewele (fried plantain) and Caribbean jerk
chicken on the menu.
In addition to introducing the audience to
Ghanaian highlife music by ET Mensah, DJ Marky J provided a wide range
of music, which allowed the ballroom dancers to show off their moves,
and worked through rock n roll of the 1950s, and popular music of the
subsequent decades, including disco, and rounded off with the Candy
Dance line dance, which had many guests out of their seats.
“It
was a delightful atmosphere, enjoyable
evening and food,” opined deputy Mayor Cllr Camilla Bath. “The dancing
was great – it was for all ages, and my favourite, the Twist, was
included. A big thank you to the Mayoress for a great evening.”
“What a wonderful evening, good company, good food, and lovely music,” added Barnet deputy Mayor Cllr Bridget Perry.
“We
had the most amazing time. Len said it was the best night out we had
since we got married, and the food was excellent,” said Catherine
Miller-Baldwin.
As part of Harrow’s on-going
African History Season, MC and quizmaster Kwaku kept the guests informed
by asking questions on countries represented on the tables. “What I
learnt from this fantastic event where Africans, Asians and Europeans
were interacting and having a good time, is to keep our prejudices in
check. Because I assumed some of the people would not know some of the
more contemporary and disco-ey music, and was surprised to see some of
them not just dancing but singing the songs.”
The Mayor, a member
of Harrow BHM Group, will be extending BHM Season by hosting Xtra
History & Reasoning Sessions, an intimate, semi-monthly gathering
for discussing history in her Parlour in the Civic Centre. The first
event, Global Africa Quiz, starts December 23. This will be preceded by a
thank-you reception for the Mayoress’ Committee, who organised the
ball, the support staff and helpers, including the young
people who volunteered to serve at the Ball.
“I learnt that
serving is very, very important and crucial,” said one of the young
people, 18 year old Reshaun Forrest. “I met a lot of lovely, lovely
people including the Mayoress herself, who is a fantastic lady.”
ENDS
Kwaku
editor@BritishBlackMusic.com
Photo by peter hill
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