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18 JANUARY’19-JUNE’19
THE REVIEW
The All-India Anglo-Indian Association Annual General Meeting, October 2018, Pune
Vote of
Thanks
Vote of Thanks to the President-in-Chief’s Speech
by Blossom Lillywhite, the President of the Mumbai branch and Shanaya Lewis, an active youth member of the Perambur branch
BLOSSOM
OLILLYWHITE
ur Chair, Mr Barry O’Brien, Governing Body members,
ladies and
Good morning! My job is the pleasurable one of saying thank you; showing gratitude, because we do know that all things in life are a result of some collaborative effort, whether directly or indirectly, whether intentional or non intentional. Today, as we officially complete 142 years of existence, moving from a mere project to the powerhouse known affectionately by all of us as The All-India Anglo- Indian Association, we must first say thanks to the architects, particularly the few Presidents-in- Chief I
had
the pleasure to meet over the years I have attending the AGMs: Mr Frank Anthony, Major General Williams, Mr Neil O’Brien and Air Marshal Denzil Keelor, and of course now, our own captain of this ship, Mr Barry O’Brien. Ever since Mr Barry O’Brien has taken over the reins, he has made it a point to try and revive and lay the foundation of new branches in far- flung nooks and crannies of our country. FNG (Faridabad, Noida and Gaziabad) being latest one. We welcome each one of you. The advent of this story honours the members of the community who have excelled in their fields and brought laurels to the community is an initiative that has been appreciated and welcomed by one and all, particularly youth, who are constantly raising the
bar in academics and several uncharted fields that you and I never ever thought existed. It’s amazing what our youth today have been achieving and attaining—you can’t believe that they’re getting so far. You have doctors, dentists, lawyers, all coming up. Further, there has been a rejuvenation of our youth in the affairs of the community. This was kickstarted at the National Youth
Meet in Calcutta and the second one in Patna, which were both super successes, encouraging our young members from around the country to participate with amazing results. As we said just now, we are fortunate to have 150 youth members amongst us today. The spinoff of this has been that at this AGM, Gen Next have gone back to their various cities and towns and garnered interest in the Association. This will positively go a long way in making sure that the Association stays alive in the years to come. Earlier, the youth had perceived that they were to be seen dancing at branch functions, but were to remain silent listeners otherwise. There is a sea of change now, as so many of them are taking active part and interest in community activities. Our President-in-Chief, Mr Barry O’Brien has an utmost friendliness and warmth to the golden oldies, who are our stalwarts and are certainly close to his heart. Those of you have been reading The Review will know the work that Barry has been doing with the Tollygunge Homes and other seniors around the country. Social media, our interactive, computer-mediated technologies, have facilitated the creation and sharing of information, ideas and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks, realising that the growing Anglo-Indian community needed to be engaged with frequent events and projects. This brainchild of
the official Facebook page shows his lateral thinking or thinking out of the box, whereby he can be in touch with everyone. For this, we need to thank you, Barry, and we can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of these treasures. Everyone is marvelling at our President-in-Chief’s accessibility. Nothing and nobody is too small or too trivial for him to meet and talk or discuss with. You could have seen it last night—Barry moved to every group in the hall, talking to them, interacting with them and getting to know them. The task of a good leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been. Let us sacrifice our today so that our children can have a better tomorrow. When you hold someone close to your heart, like I do Barry, they know how you feel about them. In spite of that, it is good to say ‘thank you’ nevertheless, because some things just have to be said. I think it’s important that each one of us needs to say ‘thank you’ when the occasion arises. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the community, I would like to once again thank our President-in-Chief, Mr Barry O’Brien. So now let’s put our hands together and give him a loud round of applause as a sign of our appreciation. Thank you, Barry, for everything you have done for us. God bless you and your beautiful wife and family.
gentlemen,