Report 2003-2004   Aiming the unity and further progression of the expatriates from Kerala, a few like minded people have joined hands on 2nd July 03 to form an organization based in central Manchester where a majority of Malayalees reside. They discussed various options and possibilities to form an organization for the welfare of Malayalee community. Later a group of fifty people attended the inaugural function at Wythenshaw Malayalee Cultural Association and wholeheartedly encouraged their endeavour. As a result of that encouragement around fifty enthusiastic people from Central Manchester assembled for an inaugural meeting on 20th July 2003 and shared their own views and ideas about the necessity of a community organisation in this environment. For this sole purpose they formed a fifteen-member steering committee and entrusted the committee to elect the office bearers. On the basis of this, the steering committee first met at Mr. Babu Thomas’s residence at 6.00 pm on 27th July 2003 and elected the first executive committee of MMA. They were: - President : Mr. Paulson Thottapally Vice Presidents : Mr. Jinto Joseph, Mr. Babu Thomas Secretary : Mr. Saji Pazhayattil Joint Secretary : Mr. Afsar Aliyar Joint Secretary : Miss. Bindu Mathews Treasurers : Mr. Kalesh Bhaskar The prime responsibility of this committee was to collect the details of the Malayalee families living in and around Manchester and go ahead with the registration formalities of the MMA with the authorities here. The executive committee was entrusted with this sole purpose and the committee members visited the houses in batches and distributed the application forms with a fee of £10 for registration as decided at the previous meeting i.e. one membership for a family. Considering the cultural development of the community, the steering committee met at the residence of the joint secretary Mr. Afsar Aliyar’s on the 10th of Aug 03 and decided to call for an official General Body meeting of all Malayalees to make the platform, to express each one’s opinions and also decided to celebrate Onam festival a mega event. In order to select a suitable venue for these functions the committee conducted a massive search and identified ‘Longsight Library Hall’ as a common stage and booked the same for the General Body Meeting on 17th Aug 2003 and for the Onam Celebration on 13th Sep 2003. To fulfil the above tasks the committee met several times and appraised the situations and tried to overcome the obstacles that come on the way. Distribution of the membership forms and collection of the same was done on priority basis. Approximately 200 application forms have been distributed and around 100 forms have been collected back along with the fees. The committee members are working hard to collect the rest of the forms. I wholeheartedly thank everyone who co-operated in all the activities of this association and expect the same in the coming days and presenting this report for your kind approval. Secretary Saji Pazhayattil MMA   Report 2004-2005   The first general body meeting of MMA after Onam calibration 2003 was held under the chairmanship of the previous president Mr. Paulson Thottapally on 7th March 2004 at West Indian community Centre. During that meeting a committee was elected which Dr. Thankam G Arun headed and the members were Abraham Punnoose, Bobby George, Bindu George, Bindu Mathews, John Varghehese and Luckson F.A. This committee was entrusted with two responsibilities: - 1. Ratification of the constitution. 2. Conduct an election as per proposed constitution. This election committee headed by Dr Arun studied the first constitution prepared by Mr. Herlin Joseph. After through scrutiny, the committee drafted a new constitution based on the previous one making necessary changes and amendments and sent both the constitution copies to each member by post to know their views and opinions. A meeting was called on 3rd April 2004 at West Indian Community Centre to make the necessary amendments about the constitution and the constitution was ratified and passed. An election date was decided on 2nd May 2004 between 2.30 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. The final date for submitting the nominations were fixed for 25th April 2004. The election committee had the elections on 2nd May 2004 at West Indian Community Centre and the elected members are as follows. President : Saji George Pazhayattil Vice President : Jinto Joseph Secretary : Bobby George Joint Secretary : Bindu Mathews Treasurer : Abraham Punnose Executive Committee Members: Paulson Thottapilly, Thankam Arun, Kalesh Bhaskar, Bipin, Selson, Tiby, Robin, Joji Simon, Herlin, Tina. The first meeting of the new office bearers were held at the residence of Mr. Bobby George (Secretary) and decided to open a bank account for the association and also to go ahead with registration procedures with the City Council. As directed by the executive committee an account was opened with HSBC on behalf of MMA. The association is analysing various modalities to get registered with the City Council. The executive committee met on 22nd May 2004 and decided to celebrate Onam on 28th August – the ‘Thiruonam Day’. Majority of the members who met on 13th June 2004 for the executive were of the opinion about organizing a sports day before Onam and decided to have this event on 18th July 2004. The meeting also gave approval for a new membership form replacing the old one. The search for a venue for the sports day was in vain. We couldn’t hire a suitable venue and the sports day was cut short into a cricket match and was organized at Victoria Park. Many members couldn’t receive the details about the sports day. Taking the above into consideration, a massive search to locate the correct address of the members was begun. On 25th July 2004 a meeting was held at the residence of Mr Selson Lukose and it was decided to call a general body meeting to discuss about Onam calibrations to be held on 15th Aug 2004 at the West Indian Centre. It also decided to visit the houses of the new members and to encourage them to join the mainstream. We are proud to say that we have been successful to encourage 12 new members to join the association. We are grateful to all these members who floated this idea of forming this association and actively participated in its growth until now. We appreciate the sincerity and handwork of the people who came forward for the development of the community in spite of their domestic commitments and helped this association to grow in a massive way. Our sincere thanks goes to everyone who support and encourage the new executive council in delivering their responsibilities. Let us strive hard together to make Mma a model cultural association. I request your co-operation and submit this report for your approval. Secretary Bobby George MMA