The Zone January Activities Report

January 2009 Activities Report
by Raina Sheaf

Club Nights
January got off to a really enthusiastic start but unfortunately some of our members had been hit with “the bug” that was going around over the December Holidays! However, where we lacked in numbers we gained in great participation and quality nights.

There was however a serious side to club nights in January as we spoke to our members about the Israeli/Gaza situation and the experiences of the children of Sderot and some of our members put pen to paper and wrote to the children in Sderot. We also held an Israel/Gaza awareness evening for High School pupils during which our community Shaliach Asaf Segev, Philip Margolis from The Zionist Federation and Emma Cohen from CST gave presentations and answered questions.

Sports and Keep Fit
Football, basketball, gymnastics, karate and general keep fit continue to prove popular activities as well as other sessions of Bench Ball and Wii Keep fit.

The Wii has been a very popular way of enticing young people to participate in sport that doesn’t like sport!! And as you will have read in previous reports Karate is a popular class and the karate club are thinking of offering a second session every week. We will keep you informed.

Culture/Chagim
Poland trip leaves February 15th. More children than we could actually offer places to showed interest in the trip so we hope to offer another trip in the not so distant future. In the meantime the participants have been preparing by discussion groups, meeting survivors and watching movies such as Schindler’s List.

UJIA
I was extremely happy to be given the opportunity to thank UJIA publicly for the support we receive when I was asked to give a vote of thanks to Daniella Lerner who gave a talk about her life and her book, Four More Tears for an audience in Leeds. It was an insightful evening and I was able to speak a little about how we use our UJIA sponsorship and thank donors directly.

Judean Reunited
This month has been full of memories, as we have all been working very hard to ensure the Judean Reunited evening is as big a success as it deserves to be. Celebrating 80 years of Jewish social life in Leeds, everyone is invited to join us. Those who were Judean members and those who weren’t, and those who are simply interested in the future of Jewish life in Leeds. We have had 100’s of requests for tickets and have been swamped with memorabilia. We are delighted that guests will be joining us from all over the UK as well as the USA, Hong Kong and Canada.

Leadership
Guest speaker Lynda Groiser joined us for an activity exploring Child Protection this month. The activity went very well and was as much thought provoking as it was educational. We also have a new Leader; Emma Charlton has joined the Leadership team to develop girl’s leadership programming.

Fashion & Culture
How to make new clothes out of old and throw away garments was explored in January with the discussion always geared to why we get so caught up in fashion and how to try to be “green” when it comes to fashion.

Café Chai
A great hit with our members and since September we have been really busy. We aim to offer a healthy menu at extremely subsidised costs and have started cookery sessions on some club nights.

Outreach and Development
Simon is working with LJWB to offer a joint Summer Programme this year as well as developing new activities in-house to offer an even more diverse programme for our members. His music work-shops are proving very popular. Adam is working with LJWB (a different dept) to plan a new community volunteer course. We hope to start this Sept 09 and will keep you updated. Adam has also been into Jewish assemblies in schools showing power point presentations about Jewish life now and in the future.

DanceAthon
The forthcoming Dance-a-thon event is planned to take place on the 25th and 26th April. We will keep you updated.

Congratulations
I would like to formerly congratulate Stanley Cundle who works tirelessly for The Zone and many other organisations in Leeds. Our community is always top of his priority list (after his grand children of course) and we are delighted for him on his recent MBE achievement.

Finally
There is much concern at this time about the rise in anti Semitic crime and violence and we are doing everything we can to ensure the safety of our children. Foreign Secretary David Milliband recently assured me that this is on the top of Governments agenda and we work on the advice of CST. However, can I ask you all to be extra vigilant at this time? Park away from the entrance, as we need to keep it clear and make sure you identify yourself if asked to do so. Many thanks.