Community news roundup: 7th-12th April

This week’s community news roundup. Got a story to share? Email your news and photos to community@thejngroup.com

21st Century Shtetl

Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue invited 250 people to go back in time for ‘shtetl day’. Children and adults took part in embroidery, candle-making, cooking and wine-making. There was also a petting zoo, a klezmer band, which rewound time to the days of Fiddler On The Roof, and plenty of food.

Youth director Steven Kaye said: “It was wonderful that so many of the community, young and old, joined together to recreate the shtetl experience. It was a memorable occasion”.

News in Brief

• Sinai in semi-finals

Sinai School made it through to the semi-finals of the 2013/14 Quiz Club National Inter-School Quiz Championships. Zachy Lipshaw, 10, Daniel Kallin, Adam Duke, both nine, and Ben Carvin, seven, will compete in the finals in the summer term. Mrs Gilliland, who trained the team said: “I am delighted both teams worked well together, winning by 320 points.”

• Norwood’s Brady Bunch raises £42k
  The Apprentice’s Karen Brady attended a brunch that raised over £42k

More than 200 guests joined Karren Brady CBE, vice-chairman of West Ham United for brunch at the Pillar Hotel, and raised £42,000 for Norwood, more than doubling last year’s total. Jo Rosenthal, chairman of the Ladies Lunch Committee, said: “I would like to thank Karren Brady for joining us at the brunch and enthralling the crowd with her career in business from such a young age and in the male-dominated world of football.”

• Sports Quiz raises £5k

The Friends of Moriah committee held their third Mens Sports Quiz at Moriah Jewish Day School. Funds from the event will go to both the school and Great Ormond Street Hospital, with more than £5,000 having been raised so far. Nearly 100 people took part in the quiz, which included questions being pre-recorded by Radio 5 Live presenters.

• New Young Jewish LGBT goup

Twenty-five young people gathered in north London for the first meeting of the Young Jewish LGBT group. Part of the Jewish Gay & Lesbian Group, the sub-group has a youth committee made up of youth workers, advice workers and counsellors. Working closely with the UJIA, Keshet and the Union of Jewish Students, members travelled from Birmingham, Bournemouth and Brighton to join in the activity. Committee chairman Karen Lewis said: “Young people are joining up almost on a daily basis, which shows how necessary this group is. There is no other provision like this in the UK.”

• Children’s Dance Festival 
  More than 600 children and parents from all over the UK gathered for the 24th Children’s Dance Festival

The 24th Children’s Dance Festival brought together more than 600 children and parents from 14 different Jewish primary schools around the UK for an afternoon of dancing, singing, culture and Israel engagement. This year’s festival was organised around Lirkod Beshira (singing while you dance). The children had the opportunity to dance to their favourite dances, which are part of the National Curriculum of Israeli Dances created by the Israeli Dance Institute’s team.

• GCSE success

Hasmonean High School received national recognition for achieving some of the fastest improving and highest GCSE results in the country. SSAT, the national schools’ membership organisation for improvement and collaboration, identified Hasmonean High School’s success, which has seen them qualified for two SSAT Educational Outcomes Awards. Executive headteacher Rabbi David Meyer said: “These rewards show how, by building on a foundation of excellence in Jewish and secular studies, Hasmonean has been recognised for achieving among the top scores in the country for levels of progress and attainment. ”