Swadhinata Trust set to celebrate its Silver Jubilee

News desk
shottobani

Londonঃ The Swadhinata Trust has announced plans to celebrate its silver jubilee anniversary throughout 2025. As part of this, the Trust has unveiled plans for a number of events to mark this major milestone, starting with an anniversary Mela at the world-renowned Russel group institution, Queen Mary University of London, on 5 March and a new, redesigned website to showcase its work to the public.

The 25th-anniversary celebration Mela is a collaboration with students from the Queen Mary University of London. It will formally kick off a year-long series of fun and exciting activities and events, concluding in November 2025.

Plans include games, comedy, film screenings, books, pamphlets and traditional Bengali snacks and drinks. The mela will be held at the Arts One Building, QMUL, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, on 5th March 2025 from 4pm to 6pm. During the mela, the updated and redesigned website will be officially launched. As the mini mela coincides with Ramadhan, a traditional Iftar will be served, ending the day’s event.

The revamped website offers all the core information, services and resources. Projects such as The Bengali Musicians’ oral history and the Trust’s valuable and numerous archives have been carefully catalogued and indexed. The gallery, news and events pages have been updated, providing visitors with improved navigation and ease of use, allowing them to find and retrieve information more quickly. The search button parameters have been expanded, and some overall aesthetic changes with subtle colours and tones are pleasing to the eye.

A Tiny Desk-style concert is also planned. The date and venue will be announced in spring 2025.

Speaking ahead of the Silver Jubilee anniversary and website launch, chairperson Julie Begum said, “Since moving onto the QMUL campus last year, the Swadhinata Trust has been looking at ways to engage with the students here. So, when the opportunity to organise a Mela came up with the students, it was a no-brainer. We are looking forward to getting to know our neighbours at QMUL with a fun filled day of engagement with the Bengali culture and heritage.”

The Swadhinata Trust is a secular, nonpartisan Bengali organisation that promotes Bengali history and heritage to young people and wider communities. It recently moved its base to the world-famous Queen Mary University of London. In the last 25 years, It has been working with the community and academia since November 2000, offering seminars, workshops, exhibitions and educational literature to young Bengali people in schools, colleges, youth clubs and community centres in the United Kingdom.