London: GOA Holds Coolurful Annual Day at Croydon

by Percy Ferrao
for Daijiworld Media Network - London

London, Aug 20: In conjunction with other Goan organisations, the G.O.A. (Goan Overseas Association), London held their annual Goan festival on Sunday 29th of July at the Archbishop Lafranc School grounds, Croydon.  In a month where the UK has experienced some of the worst weather on record, the festival got off to a promising start when the rain ceased the night before and summer finally arrived on Sunday.
 
There were close to 5,000 people attending the festival, including Goans from all over the UK , and many Europeans as well.  The event got underway with a Holy Mass offered by Fr Oliver Antao and four other co-celebrants.  The mass concluded with a rendition of a song 'Proud to be a Goan' by Basilio Magno, a famous Goan composer based in Germany .

The G.O.A. festival was first held in 1983, and is the brainchild of Marcus D'Souza.  He had a vision of uniting all the Goan associations and clubs.  Life in the UK is often hectic and highly pressurised and Goans make it a point to meet each other at least once a year at this festival. The festival is becoming quite popular and the numbers of people attending the festival is increasing annually.  In addition, this year there were largest number of stalls with more than forty stalls dishing out popular Goan dishes.
 
Joaquim Rodrigues enthralled the crowds with a string of Elvis Presley hits. The highlight of the evening was the Goan spice mix, a fashion show with Vanessa D'Souza (Miss India UK 2007 finalist, and a model  for Asiana women's magazine) and Asiana  participating in the event.  The festival also included Goan cultural programmes by the Goan cultural society, Konkanni duets and Mandos medley by 'Goans 'R' Us', and a popular Goan Konkanni song and dance by the Konkanni Dramatic Association. This year, the festival included a new event called 'speed dating' where young people were given two minutes with each other to share their likes, hobbies, etc.  This was very popular with the youth!  'Shine', the live band from Swindon , brought the eventful evening to a close with their scintillating music.
 
The success of the festival can be directly attributed to the excellent organisation under the chairmanship of Diego and his wife Nina Pinto.  The festival offered a wide variety of stalls, excellent music, and managing the traffic in order to create ample space for thousands to amble and mingle freely ensured that everyone could enjoy the event.