Annual General Meeting: 2023 – 2024

President Report (2023 – 2024)

Dear SKA Committee and the Members,

Welcome all to the Annual General Meeting

Once again, I am delighted to share this year's accomplishments and discuss how
best we can continue contributing to the Konkani community. Your constructive
feedback and suggestions will be highly appreciated.

Throughout the year, SKA committee and members have contributed positively
whenever their schedules allow. I appreciate your enthusiasm to contribute to the
community despite your hectic schedules.

A brief report of our events is as follows:
Our first event of the year was on the 23rd October, the release of the OSMITAY,
Konkani movie in London. As it required a lot of official formalities, we have not
made any profit. However, we received good recognition for our contribution towards
Konkani culture.

As preparation for Christmas 2023, Brother Prakash wanted to offer the community
guidance on spiritual preparation. Therefore, a Konkani retreat was held in
November 2023, benefiting both the Mangalorean and the Goan communities.
Our 2023, Christmas Dinner & Dance allowed all our senior and junior members to
come together and share the festive joy. We hope to keep this historic booming
tradition going.

At the request of our community members, we organised an Easter celebration on
the 3rd of March 2024 and were able to gather new young members. If feasible, we
shall continue this celebration every year or ad hoc based on the support and
circumstances at the time.

Since April 2024, we have been conducting a Konkani Mass on the first Sunday of
every month. We are pleased to see a good turnout, with many experiencing the
spiritual benefits of this gathering. To foster a sense of community, we have also
arranged coffee and snacks after the Mass, providing an opportunity for people to
connect and get to know each other. The only challenge we currently face is finding
a Konkani-speaking priest. So far, we have managed to bring in priests from Europe,
but we are actively looking for a local priest to make this more sustainable.


This year, instead of our usual free picnic, we organised a free sports day on 30th
June 2023 in collaboration with other Konkani associations in England. We also
participated in sports activities hosted by these associations. Although it was one of
the most challenging events of the year, it successfully fostered a strong sense of
team spirit. As it was our first inter-association sports event, we have gained
valuable experience and look forward to hosting even larger-scale sports events in
the future.

Our annual beach picnic was held on the 8th of August 2024, due to the demand we
had to arrange two coaches. People actively participated in lots of fun activities and
informed me that they are looking forward to having more fun in the next year.
Another Konkani retreat was organised in August 2024, and many members have
given testimonies of both spiritual and physical healing.

On 8th September 2024, at the Monti feast, we celebrated the 45th anniversary of
forming our South Kanara Association. On this occasion, we invited the Bishop of
Udupi and the Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster. This event allowed us to showcase
the presence of our Konkani community in London and discuss the chaplaincy needs
with church leaders. Alongside the feast, we organised Sambhram 3, a series of
Konkani cultural activities. Both local artists and performers from abroad gave
outstanding performances, providing great entertainment for the crowd. Although the
event was a success, we recognise the need to be more proactive in managing
unexpected crowd gatherings in the future.

This year, SKA successfully organized a wide range of events tailored to the needs
of our community, and I believe these efforts have brought our people closer
together.

Finally, I want to express my sincere gratitude to each of you for your unwavering
support. I look forward to working with you all as we continue to strengthen our
community spirit through our association.

Yours sincerely
Sunil D’Cunha
President, SKA



Secretary’s Report for Year 2023-2024

Update on Membership and Subscriptions:
There are a total of 87 members who are active (subscriptions paid up till the last 3 years
from 2021-2024).

There are 45 members whose subscriptions are overdue. The Secretary will follow up on
these payments for the Xmas function.
(Note that a single family may count as a family, rather than individual persons.)
12 new members joined the association and paid memberships between Oct-2023 and
Sep-2024.

Update on Committee Meetings:
The Managing Committee met on 6-Jan-2024; 28-Apr-2024; 28-July-2024; 28-Aug-2024.

Update on Committee:
Paula Johnson exited the Committee in 2024.

On behalf of the Association, I thank each and every Committee member for their constant
support, help and guidance, and looking forward to your support next year.

Kind regards
Loy D’Souza
Secretary, SKA



Managing Committee for Year 2024-25
We have increasing sports events in the coming year, such as cricket, throwball and
volleyball tournaments as well as Sports Day. Sampson D’Cunha has accepted the new role
of Sports Secretary to coordinate these events.

Olivia Saldanha was nominated as the Treasurer, and she accepted the role.

The Committee members are:
Sunil D’Cunha - President
Loy D’Souza - Secretary
Olivia Saldanha - Treasurer
Sampson D’Cunha - Sports secretary
Alwyn Saldanha
Alson Rodrigues
Grace Menezes
Walter Coutinho