The VCSL held a picnic at the sports ground of the Archbishop Lanfranc School in Croydon, Surrey on Sunday 20 August 2009. It reminded us of the picnic days we so often used to have in East Africa in ‘Shambhas’. There was a slight chilled breeze in air for us to really enjoy the grilled vegetables, sort of weather which reminded us of the winter days spent in Nairobi. Even here, our school & university youngsters, who were on summer vacation, sat around the BBQ eating corn-on-cob dipped in spicy sauce. Besides that, there was plenty of other variety of vegetables to enjoy. Yes, we had BBQ as well, specially arranged on request by our VCSL Youth Committee and organised by Sureshbhai Damji Tank.

Rest of the home-made food brought by all those who attended was laid on a large table in the hired gym hall where most of the elders spent chit-chatting and listening to the ‘Bhuli-Bisrin Yadhen’ songs of yester-years. There were variety of food dishes and also drinks to quench the thirst.

It was fun playing a game of cricket, a mixture of young and retired Vanza cricketers who tried to show that they still had the skill at the bat & ball to score 4s and 6s or take wickets at their age! The youngsters were well impressed with the seniors. We were delighted to have Lakhubhai & Ramesh Bharkhada arriving from India and Babubhai Sikotra from Norway joining us at the picnic.

Facility was also made for indoor games, specially badminton, to be played in the gym hall. Some of the youngsters showed their skill at the game and it was so wonderful to watch them play.

Highlight of the evening was the Tug-of-War, best of three, between young boys & girls and then between elderly men & women. The results of the wars were decided not to be declared in this article!

Our sincere thanks to all those bandhus who attended the picnic and hope to see them with their relatives in future years.