FORTHCOMING

16 Mar. 7pm -11pm. Guava Groove Party. Bring whoever you want. The Princess Louise Pub - function room 2nd floor. 208 High Holborn, (Holborn tube station). Collecting donations for the National Association for Colitis and Crohns disease and the Thalassemia Society - entrance £2. GuavaGroove@yahoo.com About 70-80 people attended the last such event on 17 Jan.

16 Apr. 12 noon - 10 p.m. Goan Community Millennium Celebration in conjunction with the Goan Association(UK) on Easter Monday at the Goan Community Centre, Keston Road, London N15. Opening Ceremony by the Mayor of Haringey at 12 noon. Stalls. Performance Football nearby in Downhills Park. Entertainment in Keston Centre from 2-6 p.m. followed by dancing to live band. Disco for the youth in the Goan Community Centre. Entrance £1 for 16 yrs and over. Event to accommodate 2000 people covering the areas of the Park & the two Halls so everyone is welcome. Ample car parking. To put up a stall or participate in the entertainment contact Nina Pinto 020 8767 0663 or Candy 020 8245 4513:e-mail candyrose2000@hotmail.com

29 Apr. Rocky's Trook Tournament. Near Oval LT Station. Rocky Fernandes 020-7274 3585.

6 May. 5 p.m. The Goan Cultural Society UK proudly presents a modern comedy Konkani play, " FARICPON" written and directed by Larryboy. St Monica's Church Hall, Green Lanes, Palmers Green, London N13. Tickets: Adults £ 6, OAPs £ 5 and children under 14 years £ 5. Contact: Rosy 020 8352 9450, Bella 020 8352 0373, Ida 020 8881 2921 or visit our website: www.goanculturalsociety.com

6 May. Saligao Feast. Zemira Fernandes 01895 259947

20 May. Malawi Goans. 25th Anniversary Reunion.

27 May. 12:00-20:00 Cortalim Union. Feast of St.Phillip & St. James at White Hart Lane School Hall. Wood Green. London N22. For further details contact Luis Fernandes 020 8889 2278 luisf@lineone.net, Maria Alfonso 020 8803 5146, or Melvyn Fernandes 020 8809 1128. See Cortalim website for further info at: http://home.earthlink.net/~nsequeira

27 May 12.30pm - 8pm.The members of the Assolna, Velim and Cuncolim Union (AVC) will celebrate their annual feast at Bishop Thomas Grant School, Streatham. Alvira Almeida 020-9300 6154 or Plino Martins 020-8657 8951.

27 May. 1.00pm to 8.30pm. Third Bakuli (Kampala, Uganda) Reunion at the Jasmin Club, Tooting. Music by "Zodiac" and "Ben's Formula 21". Tickets £10 and £5 children. Snacks and meals included. Leave name, address and telephone number at 01666 824122 or email ediasuk@email.com or regdacunha@aol.com Details to follow.

COMMUNITY NEWS

YLGS (Young London Goans Social) - Free membership (21-40+) are actively looking for new members. See website http://www.aivf35.ukgateway.net/ for further events - clubbing, theatres, days-out, drinking, "chill-out" from everyday stress, etc...Contacts : rfernandes@spss.com, marie.pereira@talk21.com Some future events: Buddy at the Aldwych theatre and Latin Night on a Saturday at a West End club/bar Salsa

Details of the The Millennium International Goan Pilgrimage to Aylesford Priory. Kent on 23rd June can be found at http://www.goanpilgrimage.homestead.com/ Write to Shirley Gonsalves, xuelian55@hotmail.com

The Hammond Report which is expected to be published early today, Friday, is believed to exonerate Europe Minister Keith Vaz.

DEATH

3 Mar. New Duston, Northampton. GEORGE LOUIS GOMES (ex-Nairobi and Ucassaim), husband of the late Armida and father of the late Soter. He leaves behind his daughter Olive and sons Rudy; Francis and Clive, their families and the family of Soter. The funeral will take place on Friday 9 March at 11 a.m. at St. Patrick's Church, Peveril Road, Duston, Northampton.

FLIGHT CORNER

Hays Travel. Tel:0870 1200 544 Quote Ref:Travelfind. Gatwick- Goa Dep 13 Apr. 2w £289 return

2 Mar. Evening Standard. Go to Goa with Hayes and Jarvis (0870 8989 890): 14 nights at the two-star Ronil Royale hotel for £319 per person, including breakfast and return flights from Gatwick. Departs 10 March.

3 Mar. Belfast Telegraph. Manos Holidays. Goa, March 10, two weeks, named accommodation, flights from Gatwick, £389.

4 Mar. Sunday Mercury GOA: Jewel in the Crown (01293 533338) offers 14-nights' self-catering and hotel stays from £399 departing Manchester on March 22 & 24.

4 Mar. Independent on Sunday. CTS Horizons (tel: 020 7836 9911) runs a 16-day Gourmet Tour of India holiday…Delhi, Lucknow, Agra, Jaipur and Goa before returning from Bombay. The next trip departs on 7 November and costs £2,195…

NEWS HEADLINES
(mainly from Joel D'Souza in Goa, courtesy of GOACOM, e-mail: goanow@goatelecom.com )

Last week Santa Cruz village in Goa held the Cota Mando Festival in Memory of Mestre Jose Santan Cota (1906-1989), grandfather of Joao Paulo Cota of the Goan Musical Society (London).

The Governor, Mr Mohammed Fazal said that Ayurveda possesses immense scope to support tourism in Goa since people all over the world are gradually realising the importance of the age old science, and are keen to come closer to nature.

A 50-year-old woman, who was infuriated over the non-functioning of toilets in Gandhi market, Margao, was detained by police after she urinated on the floor of the Municipal Inspector's office.

Warren Noronha - Part 2 4 Mar. Independent on Sunday. …the equestrian theme was taken up by Warren Noronha and Alexander McQueen, whose models wore shiny trousers and long belted coats - here the inspiration was more household cavalry than Hamptons debutante.

24 Feb. Independent. Finally, to the search for the next Alexander McQueen - or the Next Big Thing, perhaps. This season's names to watch have been…Warren Noronha, a former design assistant at Berardi and very much part of the fashion in-crowd…

18 Feb. Independent on Sunday. "I'd rather be playing football for a living than doing fashion," says Warren Noronha with all the laddish swagger he can muster. It' s rubbish, of course. If Noronha dreams of heading up a premier league team, it's YSL, not Man U. "It's just that I could never see anyone giving me a normal job," he declares, batting his long lashes over his big green eyes, as only a heterosexual man on the brink of fashion stardom can. "Of course, I'd like to be in charge of a house like Yves Saint Laurent - you have the best of the best making things for you," he confesses. "I want my label to be synonymous with something brilliant and visionary, something that's going to make people want to buy a piece of it. It's about creating something that's going to sell wallets and umbrellas at the end of the day."

This week's show will be his second on the London stage. Before that he spent four years working with British-born, Italian-based Antonio Berardi. "Ugh... In Italy, everyone's so sycophantic. If you say, `I think that zip should be an inch higher', they're like, `Oh! That' s inspired.'" In his own studio, Noronha, who is of Goan descent, has made sure to surround himself with opinionated assistants. He is also at pains to point out that his work - sort of conceptual sexy - is a million miles away from that of his former boss. "In this business, you've got to have a great sense of self."

IN THE NEWS
(e-mail eddie@fernandes.u-net.com for the full text of items marked *) .

2 Mar. Aberdeen Press & Journal. An Aberdeen man has died while on holiday with his girlfriend. Craig Whyte, 30, was staying in the Indian resort of Goa. He was taken to Goa Medical College Hospital but was dead on arrival. Mr Whyte's death is not being treated as suspicious. The Foreign Office last night said it was aware of the situation but would not go into detail.

*2 Mar. Navhind Times. The big demand in Goa for the Indian versions of Viagra is attributed to tourists, especially foreigners, and with a craze among the local youth to experiment with the new drug. The average price of a tablet is Rs 18. 439 words.

3 Mar. The Express. Solitair Holidays, www.solitairhols.com offers trips for single people and small groups. The company can provide everything from health and rejuvenation holidays and creative writing weeks to specialist fishing or safari holidays, all in Goa, India.

*4 Mar. Independent on Sunday. Tourism must be small to be kind.…Nothing good comes out of taking British holidaymakers to Goa for £299. The playing field should be more level. Local entrepreneurs cannot possibly compete with their international rivals in the tourism business if they have no way of keeping up with the changing tastes and demands of their customers. See: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news_and_advice/2001-03/mass040301.shtml

5 Mar. India Today. Singles Mingle. Sex was not top of the mind as Associate Editor Harinder Baweja found out when she was invited to an unusual holiday in Goa-for singles only. 673 words http://www.india-today.com/itoday/20010305/society.shtml

6 Mar. Times of India. Geoffrey's, the British-style pub that has charmed Mumbai and Delhi, will hit Bangalore in May. The next stops for Geoffrey's are Goa and Chennai, which will open by the year-end.

*7 Mar. Aberdeen Press & Journal. Placido Fernandes, 47, who is from Goa, has pleaded insanity against charges of causing a breach of peace in Oct. last year by threatening to kill a woman, attempting to lure two children to his home in Manor Walk and offering to collect two other children from school. The case continues. 748 words

Racism in Football. See The Guardian: 8 Mar.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4148196,00.html and International Herald Tribune. 28 Feb. http://www.iht.com/articles/11975.html