Hello everyone!

This year presented unprecedented challenges post-COVID, causing our society to remain inactive for three years. Emerging from this, our success goes to your support. Rebuilding our society wasn’t a walk in the park, but thanks to the committee’s hard work and your support, we’ve brought our community back to life!

Behind the scenes, we’ve been busy organising events and laying the groundwork for more to come. As the year draws to a close I figured it’s time to spill the beans on what the committee’s been up to this semester.

• First off, Priya has been lobbying for a dedicated Mandir space on campus. We are now collaborating with the SU and university members to help develop a paper on the need for a prayer space, to be submitted through appropriate channels.

• Suprovo has been taking the lead on our recent affiliation with the NHSF (UK), getting us involved in national events. Garba was a huge success with over 400 people turning up to dance the night away! Also, a very well done to everyone who represented us in the NHSF Sports Zonal Competition. We were very glad to see everyone’s spirit, sportsmanship, and determination that led to us receiving 5th place overall for Football! Congratulations to the team and we are already looking forward to competing in the National Sports Competition.

• Sid’s been hard at work to set up regular sports sessions so that next semester, we come back stronger. Some sports, like Kho Kho, are being supported by the SU Bath active initiative! In semester 2 we aim to have regular fixtures in football and potentially badminton with other societies. We want to remain in high competitive spirits for the national NHSF sports tournament in 2024. 

• We’re also creating a sponsorship scheme to level up our events. Asmi is going to be getting mentoring from SU Marketing to help us set up our sponsorships. We will be signing our first in January.

• Krishang and Priya have been actively improving our representation in the interfaith community, working hard to make us more inclusive and looking after the welfare of the members. By attending interfaith meals and engaging with members of other faith societies, we’re helping to re-establish the Hindu community’s presence in the university. I was recently invited to a breakfast with the Vice Chancellor and other members of Faith and Cultural Groups, where our society was commended for our hard work and efforts.

• Priya and Suprovo played a key role in organizing Diwali, especially the sparklers and candles. The approval processes we went through to make it all happen was unimaginable. This was our biggest project for the year, and I am proud of the entire committee; everyone played a crucial role, especially the volunteers. Krishang lifting sofas alone was crazy. Following the success of the event, I have reserved the Claverton Rooms for next year's Diwali celebration.

Looking to the future, Suprovo and Prateek have been working on planning our events for next semester. We will be releasing monthly calendars for our events so you have plenty of notice of the events. We have also started the planning process for a Freshers Ball for the next academic year.

Semester 1 has been busy for us all, and the success has been huge! Bigger things on the horizon!!! I’ll try to do these update blogs more often.

See you soon in semester 2!!

Love,

Your Vice Chair Adi