Our sister organisations – ARS, Homenetmen and Hamazkayin – threw us once again into a new year in style and jubilation. Heathrow’s lavish Sheraton Skyline Hotel accommodated the near-300 Armenians as they revelled in the hype and anticipation of 2012.

Opening speeches were delivered by Veronica Babayan and Meline Jacob, members of the organising committee, and the evening proceeded thereafter. The singer took the stage, the three courses of our dinner swiftly came and went, the dance floor filled, and a lottery raffle took place. Prizes ranged from a simple DVD to pearl earrings, and one lucky winner even bagged a weekend stay at the hotel!

The evening’s entertainment came from Jirar and his band, and the party drew to a close after a brilliant set provided by DJ Alex. For a large part of the evening the dance floor failed to contain the energetic mass of people doing shourchbars, shalakhos, and just general freestyle. The hall was certainly alive with merry celebration not least thanks to the abundance of youth, whose vitality was almost infectious as they kicked off the dancing. Scattered among the young attendees were several members of AYF London also.

Perhaps the numbers seen at this year’s dinner-dance reflects the success of last year’s, with numbers of youth increasing and the party continuing later into the night. If that’s the case we can expect yet more next year. With its lively audience this certainly wasn’t an event to miss. One hopes the attachment towards our roots and community doesn’t fade but instead grows as a result of spirited events such as this. Once again, our sister organisations did a marvellous job and, in the eyes of this writer at least, topped last year’s achievements. We wait eagerly for next year’s.

— Heros Jojaghaian