STANMORE & CANONS PARK SYNAGOGUE - Stanmore and ...

FEATURES
Sara Greenfield
A Week of Firsts
The children in London for a Duck tour
In the Rosh Hashanah edition of
Habimah in 2011, I wrote about the
wonderful experience of taking part
in the Emunah Mother and Daughter
Israel Trip, when our Bat Mitzvah
age daughters were able to visit the
Sarah Herzog Children’s Centre in
Afula and meet the girls they had
twinned their B’nei Mitzvah with.
We appreciate how lucky our families are
to be able to visit Israel on numerous
occasions, as well as taking holidays in
many other parts of the world,
something that the children from Afula
have never been fortunate enough to do.
With this in mind, a small group of
“Emunah” mums decided it was time to
do something about this, and through
the wonderful generosity of our families,
friends and communities, we raised
enough money to bring 15 children, plus
two of their counsellors, over to London
during Chanukah for a very much
deserved holiday.
The children arrived late on the Monday
evening (3rd night of Chanukah) and
after lighting candles and the giving of
gifts (much needed hats, scarves and
gloves as temperatures plummeted to
just above freezing that week), they were
dispatched off to bed, as we had planned
a very full few days of activities ahead.
The first morning they went off to see
Buckingham Palace and then the
36
Changing of the Guard at Horse Guards
Parade. This was followed by a trip
around some of London’s other famous
landmarks on the Duck Tour. The
children returned for supper to their host
families and then all the families got
together for an evening of bowling and
fun. The following morning we were
back in Central London, this time on a
guided tour of the National Gallery. The
children were amazed to see the huge
Chanukiah in Trafalgar Square and had
fun climbing up the base of one of the
lions. In the afternoon, one of the
highlights of the trip was the matinee
performance of the Lion King, and in
the evening they were hosted at the B’nei
Akiva Bayit, where there was candlelighting,
entertainment and doughnuts.
Thursday morning the boys spent at Top
Golf, whilst the girls went on an eagerly
awaited shopping trip to Primark.
Accompanied by some of the host
mothers, the girls were able to experience
the sort of mother and daughter activity
our own girls would take for granted, but
one that they had never had the
opportunity to do before. The children
were invited to the Independent Jewish
Day School in Hendon for lunch and a
Chanukah concert. From here it was on
to Hasmonean High School, where the
boys were entertained by a graffiti artist
at the boys’ campus, whilst the girls went
to a Chanukah fair at the girls’ school. In
the evening all the children were
generously hosted at the home of Lisa
Ronson and her husband, Paul Altheson,
where they had a wonderful supper and
were entertained by a magician.
Erev Shabbat the children went to the
Harry Potter experience, where they
were able to go behind the scenes of the
famous movie(s), look at room sets,
costumes and studio lots. They then
returned to their host families for a rest
and to prepare for Shabbat. Many of the
host families joined up to share their
Friday night dinner, and in Stanmore
alone, there were 25 of us on Friday
night kindly hosted by the Bower family
(themselves hosting two of the boys).
Some of the Stanmore families joined
together again on Shabbat for lunch
hosted by the Sudaks.
Motzei Shabbat, their final evening in
London, the Emunah Executive put on a
Malava Malka farewell party, with
burgers, JooDoo drums (another
Stanmore favourite) and dancing. It was
a fabulous party, enjoyed by all, young
and old.
Posing with Trafalgar Square's giant
Chanukiah