CELEBRATES THE START OF ITS JUBILEE YEAR WITH THE REDEDICATION OF ITS PREMISES

Monday, 8th September, was a landmark day for The Calcutta Anglo-Indian Service Society (CAISS) as the organization proudly celebrated the start of 50 years of its journey. To mark this Golden Jubilee, the re- dedication of its premises to The Philomena Eaton Centre was held with great significance.

The celebration began with solemn Holy Mass at 11:00 a.m. at the CAISS centre , celebrated by Fr. Pat Walsh, a very dear friend of Ms Philomena Eaton and a member of the CAISS Advisory Board invoking blessings on the centre and for the future of the society. The occasion was attended by several distinguished guests who knew Philomena very well and who had worked with her over the years Dr. Gillian Hart, Mr. Shane Calvert, Mr. Ian Myers, Mr. Neville McNamara, Mrs. Carolyn Dupratt, Ms Bemvinda Pereira, Mrs. Angelina Jasnani , along with the Convenor and Steering Committee of CAISS. After a short and symbolic service there was the unveiling of a commemorative plaque. It was indeed a blessing to have Dr Gillian Hart present as she was present when the original plaque was unveiled to do the honours along with Mr. Shane Calvert both Ex MLAs along with Father Pat Walsh and Mr. Leslie Pereira, all present stood around in honour and respect of A Dynamic Leader who led CAISS in humility and with a compassionate heart. Thereafter Father Pat blessed the entire centre. Fellowship brought together the youth present and the leaders of the. community in a symbolic gesture to take the vision of CAISS forward into the future.

This celebration, was the first to start of the 50th year of CAISS, and the renaming of the premises will now stand as a testimony to the community’s unity, growth, and enduring legacy.

CAISS is in indebted to Louis & Kate De’CRUZE the persons behind the setting up of this premises and this too was acknowledged with the placing of a plaque in their honour.

CAISS remains ever greatful to all its benefactors, donor’s and supportors the world over and last but in no way the least it’s members and friends in this wonderful city of joy,who continue to be our lifeline.

2025-26 will see numerous events all through the year and will hit its pinnacle in January 2026 from the 22 to 25 with Good Ol’ Calcutta Memories.

Thank you to all those who keep the CAISS Heart beating.

SANTA was in town…..

It’s that most wonderful time of the year and the Christmas Spirit brings Cheer and Joy to all across the world at this time.

This year in Kolkata there was a special attempt to celebrate Christmas in a slightly different way to reach out to people in different parts of the city for whom Christmas was not the same as they have been accustomed to and celebrated it before in years gone by, situations and circumstances have changed and challenges have overwhelmed them and they just don’t have the enthusiasm and energy to put in the extra effort it takes to make Christmas special.

A group of people put together a bag of Christmas Cheer and things which would bring a smile to anyone from the mundane milk powder,sugar and tea leaves to the cookies, candy and cake. All packed into a “big red bag” difficult to carry this bag was dropped off at the door step by a group of young people who only identified themselves with the words “Santa wants you to have this for Christmas”. “Merry Christmas”
and they were gone. It was this secret that left people surprised and the emotions that followed were enough for the young people to carry on to their next destination.

A WhatsApp message had over the past month asked people if the knew families who could do with some extra Joy at Christmas and many caring individuals did send names and addresses and it was this that made the visits possible. People who received these young strangers at their doorstep couldn’t hide their feelings and the mixed emotions of a smile which only half disguised the welling up of their eyes and the joy which held back the tears but the pulling of their cheeks, the tap on their backs and the many blessings the young people received was their reward of a job well done.

The group managed to get their “big red bag”and all the joy it could carry across to 200 families through their Christmas initiatives reaching people across our wonderful city of Joy. Of course it’s that spirit of Christmas which makes all this special and possible. How I wish this spirit could be bottled and stored to be opened one at a time all through the year.

ANGLO-INDIANS ACROSS THE WORLD CELEBRATE ANGLO-INDIAN DAY

An ecumenical thanksgiving service was held at the iconic 192 year old St. Thomas Church Free School Street to celebrate World Anglo-Indian Day on Saturday the 2nd of August at 4.00 PM IST. The service was coordinated by The Calcutta Anglo-Indian Service Society here in Kolkata and held in collaboration with the International Federation for Anglo-Indian Associations and the Federation of Anglo-Indian Associations in India, this was the forth edition of this unique hybrid mode service which brought Anglo-Indian leaders and members of the community together from across the world.

The service was presided over by Clergy from different churches both Catholic and CNI and again from across the globe Fr. Nicolas Dias from Delhi while Fr. Moloy D’Costa , Fr Pat Walsh and Fr. Shreeraj Mohanty and Fr. Daniel Chatterjee Presbyter of St Thomas Church led the community in Prayer in the Church .

The Service was Prayerful and Solemn especially while remembering the people of the world affected by war.

Leaders and Members of the community joined in to pray for the various intentions and give thanks for the many blessings the community has received over the past year. Mr. Gordon Maher President of the International Federation, Dr. Charles Dias President of the National Federation joined in the service and brought greetings on the occasion.

This Service was a wonderful opportunity for the community across India and the world to connect to celebrate their unique heritage and culture and join in the efforts being undertaken to take the community forward into the future.

The Convenor of CAISS Mr. Colin Fitzgerald thanks all those who had supported this initiative to bring people together and all the two hundred guests and members present at the service for joining in to celebrate the occasion with the community, especially Mr. Mohit Pradhan and the Choir for adding solemnity to the proceedings. Mr. Farrell Shah and Ms Maria Fitzgerald for handling the technology that kept the entire diaspora connected.
Leaders from Organisations, Angelina Jasnani President of the Catholic Association of Bengal, Caroline Dupratt President of the Anglo-Indian Association Calcutta Branch and many other Friends and Supporters of CAISS

The service was unique in more ways than one and will definitely be a permanent fixture to the annual calendar of Anglo-Indian celebrations acting as a reminder to all that this small yet vibrant community which has contributed greatly to the building of this nation and remains resolute and strong in facing the challenges of the future together as one community.

The Christmas season always brings along with it a special feeling as it arrives each year. The buying, shopping, giving and getting new things had begun, the parties and not to mention the food & the rich plum cake were a few of the things everyone was looking forward to.

At CAISS apart from thinking about ourselves at Christmas, the society reached out to its members & beneficiaries with a full throttle schedule of programmes at Christmas. The ability to make time for someone else, to ensure a smile on their face, even if it was for a  moment or two during the ‘rush’ of the season is indeed rewarding in its own way. It is with this in mind that we organized the following events during the Christmas season.

​

Seniors Shout out & Tea /Distribution of Jumble

Sunday 1st December 2024

CAISS Office

The Christmas feeling was ushered in as early as 1st of December when CAISS organized the Seniors Day for collection of  Assistance and Tea along with this was the Jumble Distribution for our beneficiaries at the CAISS office from 10 a.m. onwards. Usable items such as old clothes, household articles, shoes & bags were distributed. We express our sincere appreciation to all our members who generously donated items thus contributing as much as they could & to all our youth who volunteered their service to ensure the distribution of Jumble went off smoothly.

Christmas Bornfire

St.James’ Church Vicarage Lawn

Saturday 14th December 2024

It was that time of the year again, the season of good will, the feeling of love and togetherness. Preparations had begun well in advance. Even for the second event of this season, the “Bonfire and Carol Evening”

The St. James Church Vicarage lawn was lit up for the event. It was after two years of the restrictions that we once again welcomed our members and their guests as we came together to enjoy the evening.

Once most had gathered on the lawns of the church the bonfire was lit. When everyone had gathered around, the fire was lit from a string coming down from the as if from nowhere. It looked as if a shooting star came and gave light to our bonfire. Another beautiful spectacle it was. Throughout the whole evening we were entertained with games and fun. Of course the lit up Christmas tree caused a furore and one of the games that evening was to guess the number of lights on the Christmas and the young and old devised all the means possible to reach the magic number 200 to 3500 was the guessing range that says it all. We are indeed grateful to our singers for the evening who rose to the occasion and lifted the spirits of everyone present that evening. The food for the night was a finger licking dinner which was served to the people with a hot soup as the pre cursor and the very vastly famous “fruit cake” the best kept CAISS secret recipe specially baked by Yvonne & Jessie  served as desert. The typical continental food was food for the soul for all the foodies. To sum it up in a sentence, it was a great way to start the festive season.

Children’s Christmas Tree & Family Lunch

Loreto School, Entally

Sunday 22nd December 2024

The Christmas Family Lunch was held for all our beneficiaries both old & young as well as for their siblings and family members on the Sunday before Christmas as always at the Loreto Convent Entally School grounds. Around 700 + persons thoroughly enjoyed themselves that day either dancing to good music in the hall or playing games in the compound outside. The day began with an opening prayer by the Convenor after which a snack and tea was served.

The children enjoyed playing games at the various counters that had been set up. The youth enjoyed a game of football. The seniors were taken into the Hall and entertained with singing, dancing and a few party games, while the teenagers and little ones enjoyed themselves outside. There were two Khoi Bags for the very tiny ones.

Just before lunch time Santa Claus arrived and distributed gifts to all the children and sweet bags to the children between the ages of 0 months to 12 years and a gift envelope of Rs 100/- each to the youth between 13 and 18 years of age, a special thank you to “Santa” when he reads this as he joined us especially for this occasion. This was then followed by lunch for all of the CAISS family the Lunch consisting of a Pea Pulao, Chicken Curry with gravy, Cauliflower Bhaji, Salad and an Orange for the multitude but the surprise is the baskets left over at the end which are then distributed, this meal was enjoyed by all. They were also served ice cream after the meal. A special ration, cakes, gifts and goodie bags were given to all the families. Our sincere thanks goes out to the people who sponsored the items for the “goodie bags”. A special thank you to all those who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make the event possible packing the ration bags the goodie bags decorating the hall and looking after all the arrangements.

Family Christmas Evening & Dance

Jamuna Banquets

Friday 27th December 2024

The Christmas Family Party was held on 27th December at the Jamuna Banquets starting at 8:00 p.m. With a live band in attendance almost 300 people danced the night away. Mouth watering snacks were on sale. A draw was held for the Lucky Guest & Lucky Member tickets and the winners of these took home exciting gifts. It was an enjoyable evening for both members & their guests.

The Calcutta Anglo-Indian Service Society hosted the Christmas Dance for members and their guests on at The Jamuna Banquets, Kolkata. Every year CAISS organizes this Christmas Dance. The Dance started at 7pm.

The night was kept alive and the people were kept in groove with the live band, lead by Jeffory Rick The music good and kept the dancing going all evening the dance started off with our Convenor welcoming all present which was followed by the snowball for the evening. All the members and non-members were given favours and chocolates as they entered the hall. The snacks on sale were delicious courtesy Jamuna Banquets.

Before the night came to an end, the draw for the lucky member and guest was announced. They were gifted a hampers. The table decorations which added the Christmas warmth to the décor were a much sort after item, to say the least “so as not one remained after the dance”.

The night came to an end with the Band playing their last song three times over. On an ending note, all the members and guest were thanked for coming. CAISS is ever grateful to Mr. Murli Punjabi and his Business Associates at the Jumuna Banquets for allowing us to use the hall at the most talked about secret rates in town. We were truly blessed to have a wonderful mix of members and guests at the dance this year and from the feedback we got everyone had a wonderful time.