Tamil Harvest Festival has huge turn out and celebration in Milton Keynes

On Saturday (January 14) the Harvest Festival (Ponggal) was celebrated with a grand show of dances, drama and debate at the Stantonbury Leisure Centre. The Mayor, Councillor Steve Coventry, and Mayoress were the chief guests at the event.

Several other local dignitaries also attended the five hour event which involved more than 120 young artistes.

The Mayor, in his speech to the gathering, said in Tamil: “Thai piranthaal, valli pirakum”, meaning the birth of January, brings a path to betterment.

The celebration, organised jointly by the Milton Keynes Tamil Forum, the Milton Keynes Murugan Temple Trust, the Milton Keynes Tamil Academy, and the Thaayakam Sports Club, was supported by funding from the Milton Keynes Community Foundation.