CITYSIKHS A VOICE OF BRITISH SIKHS

END OF YEAR REPORT 2013 CITYSIKHS A VOICE OF BRITISH SIKHS

END OF YEAR REPORT FOR CSN

2013 has proven to be a year during which CSN has gone from strength to strength.

SOCIAL EVENTS

CSN has held three networking parties this year at hotels in central , the most recent being our Diwali party at the Grange Hotel Holborn which was attended by over 300 people. Highlights at the networking parties have included guest appearances by celebrities, live performances by Drumline amongst others, and supporting charitable causes such as the Gaurav Bains appeal by the Anthony Nolan Trust. Another highlight of our social events calendar was the networking dinner in Swiss Cottage earlier in the summer. We promise to continue bringing bigger and better social events.

BRITISH SIKH REPORT

As one of the partner organisations of the British Sikh Report (BSR), we are proud of how it was received by the Sikh community and by British society. It was launched in Parliament in June, was reported by the BBC Local Radio, BBC News Website, the Huffington Post, Operation Black Vote, and it was syndicated as a story distributed in India and Pakistan by the Associated News of India. EY (formerly Ernst & Young) and CSN also co-hosted the Stakeholders Launch of the BSR in July. The questionnaire for the BSR 2014 is live on the website – www.britishsikhreport.org – and we hope to continue with our successes in 2014. The BSR 2014 is expected to launch in March 2014.

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RECIPES FOR SUCCESS

We have had two Recipes for Success events this year, hosted by State Street in April and UBS in September respectively. Both events were very well attended and received, with the highlights including inspirational talks from investment banker Kamel Hothi, entrepreneur politician Baroness Warsi and comedian Paul Chowdhry. We promise to bring even better Recipes for Success events in 2014.

SPIRITUAL INSPIRATIONS

In May, an inspiring panel of speakers came together near London Wall at an event co- hosted by the City of London Police and the City Sikhs Network to talk about their own spiritual beliefs in order to inspire others. Speakers included Uttrang Kaur Khalsa (formerly Alexandra Aitken and now a Nihang), Fateh Singh (a follower of Hanmi Buddhism) and Rajinder Singh Sawhney (presenter of Ek Concious Living). We promise to continue to bring events showing the diversity of identity and inspiring others in their spiritual paths.

SPORTS EVENTS

In February, we were given the opportunity to take 20 lucky CSN members to watch the v Brazil football match at Wembley as guests of the FA. CSN is one of the various faith organisations working with the FA in order to bring a Faith Awareness Toolkit to all FA affiliated clubs in England.

One of our Directors, Baljit Rihal, was also involved in the Asian Football Awards in October which received widespread coverage by the mainstream media. We commit to continue being involved in various initiatives to encourage more British Asians to get involved in professional sports, and not just football.

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EXPRESS YOURSELF

In August, we held our inaugural ‘Express Yourself!’ event where we gave you, our members, the opportunity to give short 3 minute speeches on the topic of your choice. The day was filled with inspiring talks ranging from the perils of procrastination to the importance of charity work. We promise to bring a similar event next year as part of our programme of encouraging personal development and helping people hone their public speaking skills.

AMBASSADOR SCHEME

In April, we revamped our Ambassador scheme and we were inundated with applications to join the CSN Team in an official capacity. The Ambassadors have proven to be the new lifeblood of CSN, and they have brought many new skills to our organisation. We will continue to look at ways to utilise the skills of our members for the benefit of CSN as a whole, especially through the Ambassador scheme.

A full list of Ambassadors and Directors can be found on our website: www.citysikhs.org.uk

MENTORING PROGRAMME

As part of our commitment to nurturing the next generation of professionals, we have finally launched the CSN Mentoring platform to the public. We look forward to seeing the response from our members and we hope that it will grow organically over the coming months.

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BECOMING A CHARITY

We are proud to announce that we are in the process of becoming a registered charity. Our activities are growing every day, and we will use our charitable status to continue to meet the needs of our members.

MEDIA APPEARANCES

2013 has proven to be an amazing year for CSN in respect of our media appearances. We have had coverage from Al Jazeera, Asian Voice, BBC Asian Network, BBC One, BBC Radio 2, Channel 4, Eastern Eye, Huffington Post, the Metro, and numerous other media outlets. We hope that we can continue to build upon that for the coming year and provide a voice for the British Sikh community to the best of our abilities.

POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT WORK

We have worked hard to build good working relationships with the Conservative and Labour Parties. We are a non-partisan and non-political organisation, but we understand and appreciate the need to work with central and local government to raise issues of concern. Our members attended both the Conservative and Labour Party Conferences in the Autumn, and we hope to expand our political engagement work to all other major parties in 2014.

CSN Advisory Board

Our Advisory Board has been pivotal in providing us with the strategic advice, mentoring and assistance required to allow us to continually improve and expand. Special thanks go to Kamel Hothi, Krish Raval, Dr Surinder Hundal, and Shivraj Bassi for their help, hard work and guidance in 2013. A full list of the CSN Advisory Board can be found on our website.

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THE CSN TEAM

Special thanks goes to each of our Directors and Ambassadors for their hard work in 2013:

EXECUTIVE BOARD (with contributions in brackets)

Dr Harpreet Kaur Bains Equalities Director (for ensuring our continuing commitment to equality for all)

Onkardeep Singh Khalsa Branding & Technology Director (for managing the internal IT needs)

Sonia Kaur Summan Marketing Director (for looking after our social media and helping organise the Diwali Party)

Harry Virdee Vice Chair and Finance Director (for organising our New Year’s, Summer and Diwali Parties)

Amrit Kaur Interfaith Director (for creating our internal interview process)

Baljit Singh Rihal Sports Director (for his continuing support)

Param Singh Communications Director (for his chairing of the Spiritual Inspirations event and continuing hard work and support)

Sanj Mehmi Director (for his contribution to the Recipes for Success event at State Street and his advice and expertise regarding the formation of CSN Midlands)

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AMBASSADORS throughout 2013 (with contributions in brackets)

Sandie Panesar (for her graphic design work for CSN and the BSR) Jas Jassal (for helping bring the Guarav Bains appeal to the Diwali Party) Anna Mandhar (for her continuing support and hard work at CSN events) Hardeep Parmar (for being the MC at the BSR Stakeholders Launch) Tia Jounija (for presenting the ‘Express Yourself!’ event) Jasdeep Singh Khalsa (for being the lead in the ‘Express Yourself!’ event) Komilla Chadha (for representing CSN at various events this year) Dilraj Kaur Paul (for general support) Randeep Buttar (for his contribution to the Recipes for Success event at UBS) Chayya Syal (for representing CSN at various events this year) Harper Gill (for general support) Gary Singh (for setting the groundwork as CSN Student Liaison Officer) Kiran Singh (for general support) Gurmukh Panesar (for his work on the CSN website and infrastructure) Harjit Sarang (for general support) Raj Singh Rainu (for general support) Sukhdeep Dhillon (for managing the CSN Newsletter) Raja Dang (for providing the youth perspective to CSN events) Pooja Bhambra (for creating interfaith greetings on behalf of CSN) Sunny Matharu (for being the lead in forming CSN Midlands) Kamel Chahal (for general contributions) Amrit Cheema (for providing media advice) Ruchira Talwar (for providing media advice)

Former Ambassadors Raisa Cheema (for helping shape the CSN social media presence) Jai Bhakar (for his contribution to the Recipes for Success event at UBS)

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OUR MEMBERS

Finally, we are nothing without our members. We have almost doubled in size over the last 12 months to about 2,500 registered members and over 1,400 followers on Twitter. Your support has been central to our expansion. Thank you for your continuing support and we hope to continue to meet your expectations.

PLANS FOR 2014

Our plans for 2014 include the following: • establishing a branch of CSN in the Midlands • hosting an interfaith event at the iconic St Paul’s Cathedral in central London • introducing membership benefits and discounts • creating a video-based discussion series looking at contemporary issues affecting British Sikhs and British Asians

Our membership will continue to be free to everybody who adheres to or respects the Sikh faith and tradition.

Thank you again for your support in 2013 and we look forward to working with you and for you in 2014.

Kind regards,

JASVIR SINGH Chair – City Sikhs Network.

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