MTM Awards Brochure 2017

2017

Celebrating The Excellence & Achievements of Asian, Black & Ethnic Minorities

Welcome to the MTM Awards 2017 MTM Awards welcomes you to celebrate the excellence & achievements of the Asian, Black & Ethnic Minorities in the South West.

JUNIOR SHEIKH CEO and Event Organiser

The MTM awards were created to give a platform and a voice to the Asian, Black and Ethnic Minorities show case their potential, excellence and achievements in Business, Community, Arts and Entertainment.

In 2016 the awards introduced a National Award For Excellence for participants other than those in the South West and an International Recognition Award for charity based organisations in the third world countries.

The MTM Awards provide a perfect setting for in a uniquely cultural environment at the Bristol Marriott Hotel based in the heart of Bristol that is transformed into a glittering gala evening, the only awards ceremony of this type in the United Kingdom welcoming a multitude of diverse guests.

MTM Awards are already established as the premier Asian, Black & Ethnic Minorities event welcoming over 3000 people across communities at the Glittering Gala Evening, over 1000 nominees and with over 60,000 voting online since inception in 2012.

Re-branding in 2012, the magazine launched the 1st ever MTM South West Asian Awards, Honouring the Best in the South West in business, art, entertainment, auto trade, catering, public service, community service, and life time achievement.

This was the first event of its nature organised by the local community for the local community in the 60 years the Asians have been in the South West.

Over ten thousand voted for the 200 nominees in the 23 categories with 69 making it to the grand finals that featured a glittering award ceremony, entertainment and exquisite dining.

Now in its sixth year and building on the success of last years MTM Awards, we are delighted to be able to continue to offer our stand-out awards night for this year. Celebrating the essence of business and culture across our diverse, rich, ethnic and minority communities.

A graduate in global logistics and transport, Junior has been involved in radio broadcasting from the age of 12. Presenting the Weekend Breakfast Show on Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.

Junior co- hosted his first at the National Aids Awareness Open Air Concert at about the same time. He is one of the founders of Radio Ramadhan Bristol, Radio Mast FM (where he was station manager) and Mast The Magazine. He has been involved with the MTM Awards since its inception in 2012, taking over as event organiser in 2013 and eventually as CEO in 2014. Junior has brought some great ideas to the awards since then and has been instrumental in getting more communities involved. He also runs an entertainment & sound hire company. He is the Heart & Soul of MTM Awards and its associates.

BIG Q FOUNDER Career broadcaster who has a passion for media and entertainment, Big Q is the founder of the MTM awards and a number of radio stations and magazines. Originally from Kenya, where he worked at a top level radio station and has been instrumental in sharing his broadcast and entertainment expertise with the ethnic communities.

“I arrived in this city as brief stop over with intentions of moving to London and having lived most of my life in Nairobi, one of the finest cities in Africa I found Bristol rather slow.

Saying that I loved that pace and greenery much like Nairobi so here I am today. I was surprised that there was no Asian Radio station – a voice of a community that thrives in culture, food & entertainment. I gave the community their 1st Islamic Radio Station; soon I found the need to introduce an all-inclusive Asian Station and later on their own magazine. In 2012 I founded an award scheme to honour these great communities, MTM Awards was created for the Asian & Ethnic Minorities and was sponsored and supported solely by these communities to showcase the excellence & achievements of diversity.

GEORGIA HOLMES C0-Host Georgia is a mother of two, wife and ex-military. Georgia was a Mrs Wiltshire Galaxy 2016/17 finalist. She also represented Wiltshire in the Miss Great Britain finals. She was Mrs Wiltshire Sensational Pageant Finalist UK Award 2017.

An MTM Best Model Award Winner in 2014.

During her spare time, Georgia enjoys going out for runs, spending time with friends and family and attending various events around the UK.

NIGEL BARRETT Official Photographer Nigel was born and raised in Plymouth, Devon on the South West coast of the UK. He took up my passion of photography full-time and went selfemployed in the four years Nigel has covered events like London Fashion shows, Plymouth’s Charity Mega ride (charity motorbike ride), Plymouth’s St George’s Day celebrations, British Fireworks Championships, #Art4Justice Exhibition, Vaisakhi 2016, and Armed Forces Day and of course last but by no means last MTM Awards.

Supported By

Sprint Print & Design

Muangaza Wa Pwani

2017 Nominees - Business FOOD BUSINESS CATEGORY WORLD FOODS MINI-MARKETS Nominees: • Malik’s • 168 Oriental • Al-Noor Supermarket • Al-Madina Halal • SSA Cash & Carry • Wai Yee Hong Supermarket • Star Cash & Carry • Masala Bazaar Swindon

RESTAURANT AWARD

Nominees: • Taj Brassiere • Urban Tandoor • Mezze Palace Lebanese Restaurant • Wongs Chinese Restaurant • Ganesha Authentic Indian Cuisine • The Mint Room Clifton • La Casbah Moroccan • Ganges & Gurkha Plymouth • Koh Thai Tapas Bristol • Kathmandu Nepalese Restaurant • Tikka Flame • Rajput Tandoori Indian Restaurant • Watersky Restaurant • Sang Kai Cafe • Namaste Nepal • C & W’s African Experience – • Gloucester • Caribbean Croft • Shimla Spice - Gloucester • Raj Bari • 42nd Street – Plymouth • Ruchi – Swindon • The Green House Kitchen -0 Swindon • Manik’s Restaurant • Siam Harbourside (Thai Restaurant) • Obento Japanese Restaurant • Kuch Persian Restaurant • Raj Tandoori Restaurant • Cathy Rendezvous Chinese Restaurant

FAST FOOD & TAKEAWAY AWARD

Nominees: • The Pizza Company • Leisure Caf’e • Bikkle Island • Mirchi Indian Bristol • Convikt Coffee & Kitchen • Bristanbul Kebab House • Moroccan Corner • Dayzeeks Caribbean Home Cooking • Jeevan Sweets • Tuk Tuck Asian Street Food • The Green Kitchen Swindon • Matina Middle Eastern • Baldwin Kebab House • Quigley’s City Centre • Chili Daddy • The Green House Kitchen Swindon • Rice N Tings • Family Kebab House • Bodrum Kebab

GENERAL BUSINESS CATEGOR ENTERPRISE BUSINESS AWARD

Nominees: • Stockwood Pharmacy • Jeseca Robinson Weavealicious • Jonathan & Beth Trueman Urban Universe • Midtown Avenue • Ashley Rodwell Insurance Agencies • Sairaz Event Management • A City Carpets • Gloucester Road Fruiterers • MHC & Co. • Msala Library Urban Street Eats • A & M Motors • Mad Mobiles • Bristanbul Patisserie • Five – A - Day

BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD

Nominees: • Wai Yee Hong Supermarket • Clea Rossiter • Target Letter Box Marketing • 168 Oriental • Kustom Flooring & Furnitures • Ashley Community Housing

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR AWARD

Nominees: • Micah Charles • Sevek Singh – Digpal (Sev) • Horatiu Morar • Abdullahi Mursal • Wilma Burke • Ansar Mahmood

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT CATEGORY ART & CULTURE AWARD

Nominees: • Dadili Leste Timor • Nimeiri Hussien Mejwer • Miles Chambers • Swindon Stars Chendalemam • Edson Barton • Manny Masih • Ali Elmubarak & Knud Stuve • Creative Innovation Centre CIC Taunton

DIGITAL CREATIVE AWARD

Nominees: • Abdullahi Mursal • Sandeep Singh Gill • Rubeun Gracias (R42 Pro Films Photography) • Kamrul Islam • Rob Mitchell

MEDIA & MUSIC

Nominees: • Andrew Hartley aka DJ Styles • Sophia Bovell Empress of Soul • Chendamelem Swindon Stars

• • •

Manny Masih Sonia Mumtaz Soul Train Radio

FASHION & BEAUTY FASHIONISTA AWARD

Nominees: • Meye Couture • Clea Rossiter • Rani Kaur RK’s • AJ’s Fashion • Sultana Sarees

HAIR & BEAUTY AWARD

Nominees: • Franclin’s Hair & Beauty • Weavealicious Hair Extensions • Tropic Beauty • Maryam’s Hair & Beauty • Biggz Barbers • Tiffany Franklyn – Ego Salon • Satisfy Salon • GlamByLayla • Doina’s Beauty Bar

2017 Nominees - Community SPECIAL AWARD CATEGORY EMPOWERING WOMEN AWARD

Nominees: • Saranjit Kaur • Naheed Iqbal • Monira Ahmed Chowdhury • Sado Jirde • Yasmin Olaad • Suad Bicid,Nimo Hassan, Sarah Hassan (Somali Kitchen) • Nura Aabe • Lily Khander • Esnas Turnbull • Alex Raikes

COMMUNITY GROUP AWARD

UNSUNG HERO AWARD

Nominees: • Mohammed Arif Khan • Mohammed Elsharif • Rizwan Ahmed • evin Chong • Tracey Mulzac • Pankaj Pandya • Rana Busharaat Ali Khan • Shazia Malik • Esnas Turnbull • Nura Aabe • Clayton Planter • Samina Iqbal

OPEN AWARDS CATEGORY SPORTING EXCELLENCE AWARD

Nominees: • Voluntary Action Swindon - VAS • Bristol Somali Forum (Abdul Ahmed) • The Sudanese Community Association of Bristol • Babbasa Youth Empowerment Project • Bristol and Chinese Women’s Group • Bristol Stars • Bristol Somali Youth (Mohammed Abdi) • Bath Hindu Society • Wiltshire Malayalee Association • Bristol Horn Youth Concern (Khalil Aden Abdi) • Ashley Community Housing • Bristol Keralites Association(BrisKA) • Somali Media Group (Abdi Omar Mohammed)

Nominees: • Mohamed Abdulle • Bristol Bangladeshi Cricket Club • Bengal Tigers FC • Bristol Pakistani Cricket Club

MUKHTYAR SINGH COMMUNITY AWARD

Nominees: • Enam Ul Haque Chowdhury • Abdul Raoof Malik • Chaz Singh • Rana Basharat Ali Khan • Tom Aditya • Pradeep Bhardwaj • Dr. Razvan Constantinescu

Nominees: • Yasmin Olaad • Kevin Chong • Mohammed Arif Khan • Chaz Singh • Patrick Hart • Khalil Aden Abdi • Naseem A Talukdar

YOUNG ACHIEVERS AWARD

Nominees: •

Pearl Rita

• • •

Ramadan Moussa Mohamed Abdullahi(Hanad) Haroon Malik

PERSON OF THE YEAR AWARD

BATOOK PANDYA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Nominees: • Rosa Hui • Simi Chowdhury

NATIONAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE AND ACHIEVEMENT

Nominees: • Sikh Union Coventry • Brixton Soup Kitchen • Lydia Tett Olet (Kenya In The Park)

SPECIAL RECOGNITION Nominees: •

Omar Dhaqan

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Christine Fernandes Swindon Hindu Temple and Cultural Centre Hazrat Bilal Centre Nirman Sewak Jatha Gurdwara(Summerhill) Easton Jamia Mosque Sonny & Chloe Richards 1st Choice Florist Yusuf Abdi Global Link Up Our Street Solomon Fubara Msomali Halal Butchers Dr Manjit Kaur Peninah Achieng-Kindberg Esam Amin Muna Talha Asia Yousif Baldev Singh Roudh Sayidali Ashar Moullin Irvin Campbell Tony Bullimore

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

Nominees: • Said Abdullahi Shaashale Group • Anwar Juma Bhalo Donge Welfare UK

MTM Awards 2017 Programme ARRIVALS, COCKTAILS & RED CARPET NETWORKING •

ALL SEATED IN THE BANQUETING HALL

ENTERTAINMENT - DADILI TIMOR GROUP •

ABOUT MTM AWARDS – Founder

FOOD BUSINESS CATEGORY •

MTM WORLD FOODS MINI MARKET AWARD

Presented by: The Right Honourable Mayor of Taunton - Councillor Hazel Prior-Sankey •

MTM RESTAURANT AWARD

Presented by: Cllr - Peter Abraham & Raja Rizwan •

MTM FAST FOODS & TAKE-AWAY AWARD

Presented by: The Deputy Mayor of Bradley Stoke - Councillor Tom Aditya ENTERTAINMENT GENERAL BUSINESS CATEGORY •

MTM ENTERPRISE BUSINESS AWARD

Presented by: FSB MTM BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD Presented by: FSB & The Right Honourable Mayor of Chippenahmm - Councellor Mary Norton •

MTM ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR

Presented by: Councillor Terry Pullen - Representing the Mayor of Gloucester ENTERTAINMENT ARTS AND CULTURE CATEGORY •

MTM ARTS & CULTURE AWARD

Presented by: Lord Lieutenant Peaches Golding OBE MTM DIGITAL CREATIVE AWARD Presented by: The High Sherrif of Bristol - Mr A R E Brown ESQ •

MTM MEDIA AND MUSIC

Presented by: Honorary Counsul of South Africa - H E Professor Chris Mullard CBE

MTM Awards 2017 Programme ENTERTAINMENT MTM FASHION & BEAUTY CATEGORY •

Fashionista

Presented by: Honorary Consul of Romania - H E Dr Razvan Constantinescu & Sabrina North (Miss Catwalk Perfect UK)

•

Hair and Beauty Award

Presented by: Former Gloucester Mayor Councillor Neil Hampson SPECIAL AWARD CATEGORY •

Empowering Women Award

Presented by: Avon & Somerset Police & Crime Commissioner - Sue Mountstevens •

Community Group Award

Presented by: Community Union •

Mukhtyar Singh Community Award

Presented by: The Right Honourable Mayor of Yate - Councillor John Ford Unsung Hero Award Presented by: The Deputy Mayor of Bristol - Councillor Ashar Craig ENTERTAINMENT OPEN AWARDS CATEGORY •

Sporting Excellence Award

Presented by: Assistant Chief Fire Officer- Simon Shilton •

Young Achievers Award

Presented by: The Right Honourable Mayor of Swindon - Councillor Maureen Penny •

Person of the Year Award

Presented by: The Right Honourable The Lord Mayor of Bristol - Councillor Lesley Alexander Batook Pandya Lifetime Achievement Award Presented by: Tim Bowles - West of England’s Regional Mayor •

National Award For Excellence & Achievement

Presented by: Honorary Counsul of Cyprus - H E Mr Athanasios Lazarides INTERNATIONAL SPECIAL RECOGNITION Presented by: Honorary Counsul of Finland - H E Mr Geoffrey Parsons

Special Recognitions ENVIRONMENTAL & CONSERVATIONIST: JIM JUSTUS NYAMU Presented by: Councillor Ian Bolton Presented by: Superintendent Rhys Hughes Presented by: Councillor Hibaq Jamal Presented by: Nazma Ramurrttun Presented by: Councillor Mubashar Chaudhry Presented by: Councillor Mhairi Threlfall Presented by: Councillor Afzaal Shah

Printing ...in fact sprint printing

Top quality printing quickly...and at great prices!

• Leaflets

• Stationery Packs

• T-shirt Printing

• Flyers

• Booklets

• Vinyl Banners

• Folders

• Order of Service

• Exhibition Graphics

• Postcards

• Greeting Cards

• Canvas Prints

• Business Cards

• Calendars

• Sign Boards

• Compliment Slips

• NCR Invoice Sets

• Labels

• Letterheads

• Garment Printing

• Large Format Printing

Get in touch for a quick quotation today!

Sprint Print & Design 22 Station Road, Yate, Bristol BS37 4PS w. www.sprint-print.co.uk t. 01454 852255 e. info@sprint-print.co.uk

Al Madina Halal Butchers The brainchild of Yasir Iqbal, a Bristol based taxi driver who saw the need for an HMC (Halal Monitoring Committee) certified Halal meat & poultry products that the Bristol Muslim community lacked.

The response was good as Bristol lacked an HMC approved meat & poultry outlet and with the formation of the Halal Monitoring Committee in Leicester Yasir grabbed the opportunity of branding his new enterprise HMC approved.

Essam Amin I am a human rights activist who has founded the Bristol Free Voice media project, which uses audio for migrants to tell their experiences, made films and media projects about asylum seekers and Kurdish history, ran a free hug a refugee and boiler suit protests, Bristol Immigration Detention Campaign Keys to unlock detention project and slept out in front of City Hall. I have given speeches in conferences, to the city council, on the radio and in schools, and am an active member of Bristol Defend the Asylum Seekers Campaign, most recently going to London to protest the detention and deportation of Kurdish asylum seekers.

Ashley Community Housing Ashley Community Housing (ACH) was established in Bristol in 2008 as a social enterprise specialising in the resettlement and integration of refugees. In this time they have successfully resettled 2500 individuals from refugee backgrounds and are now one of the UK’s leading providers of refugee resettlement and integration services, working across the West of England and the West Midlands.

They provide safe, secure and comfortable housing combined with culturally sensitive support and employability skills training. ACH focus on refugees’ futures, seeing them as people with skills, desires and ambitions. They don’t focus on the story of how they came to be here, they focus on where they want to be.

Simi Chowdhury

Rosa Hui, MBE, DL (1944 - ) Mother, community leader, fighter Rosa Hui’s incredible contribution to the wider community especially striving to integrate the Chinese Community in the City is a legacy in itself.

She dedicated her working life in helping others in ensuring they get the support they deserved.

Simi Chowdhry was born in Poona, India and came to this country in 1968.

She has dedicated over twenty five years of her life to the empowerment and benefit of the South Asian community, particularly women. First coming to Bristol, Simi saw the lack of services for Asian youth at that time and she developed the first mixed, multi-faith Asian youth Service.

“I was a young woman myself and I saw that there were no facilities in Bristol for young people at all. I don’t think the authorities knew that young Asians needed any. They thought that we all lived in extended families; we didn’t need to come out of the families.

As a former patient herself (brain haemorrhage,), Rosa has had extensive contact with the local health services as well as ongoing support for her condition.

Bristol Horn Youth Concern Somali Kitchen Bristol The Somali Kitchen is a local new Initiative, we are group of 10 Somali women based, who decided to cook somali traditional food, raise awareness of unhealthy takeaways in Easton and Lawrence Hill area, raising awareness of the health and the well being of somali community, helping community cohesion by sharing some healthy traditional somali food cooked by somali women. Our vision is to create safe space for somali women and children to enjoy and to discuss and raise issues concerning them.

aims to work with young people and youth from deprived areas of Bristol providing advice and information on skills for employment based on the philosophy that it is the community itself who can best create sustainable solutions to its problems.

BHYC has made an impact on the community and brought a difference to lives in these communities by bringing Better community cohesion, reduced anti-social behaviours, reduced youth crimes and empowered young people will go closer to employment market as well as high education perspective.

Clea Rossiter

Christine Fernandes

Clea set up her business two years ago at the age of 14. Seeing a gap in the market here in the UK, and understanding the fashion and trends of young people like herself, she became aware of the growing influence of American styles and the lack of availability in this country.

Christine was born in Nairobi, Kenya, she moved to London when she was 20 to live with her two sisters. Characterised by her strong work ethic, she has been working many jobs, of which includes childminding, school dinner lady and many administrative roles. In her spare time Christine sings for a gospel choir and a classical choir.

Clea designs, makes and customised her urban clothing from home.

She purchased her heat press and vinyl cutter and taught herself how to work them. Within the first 24 hours of releasing a picture of one garment on snapchat, she had over 30 sales from local young people.

Creative Innovation Centre CIC We are a not for profit organisation specialising in the creative sector in Somerset which the local council has a very poor track record in supporting arts initiatives. As a result, it is very difficult to raise funding for projects which our communities we serve would like to create. Our weakness therefore is financial stability which creates problems in implementing growth strategies to meet demand from our customers. We are seeking funding from external funding agencies such as the Arts Council and are presently linked to a pilot with the Big Lottery on developing our community interest company model ready for investment.

Esnas Turnbull Save The Mind UK which I am the Founding Director is dedicated to helping victims and survivors of domestic abuse and violence. With the dedication of our volunteers and partners, we strive to improve the lives of survivors who need help with walking past the pain and dealing with the trauma, because of prolonged domestic abuse, in a better way.

Micah Charles

Kevin Chong

Micah graduated in Sports Science quite a while ago and looking back at those days and comparing to today, you see the massive journey and consistent growth that he has managed.

I am the Operations Manager for Bristol and Avon Chinese Women’s Group, which oversees the day to day running of the group’s projects and activities. My job encompasses anything related to the office from ensuring that there are enough bin bags and providing supervision and support to members of staff to writing funding applications and liaising with suppliers and other professionals.

I’ve worked with a few trainers and the first thing that comes across with Micah, is just how good a communicator he is. Business Genius can be interpreted in many ways but what Micah’s been able to do very successfully over the last 5 years is build a brand, from the ground up. One which he spearheads and focuses the majority of his time into.

As someone who works behind the scenes, my work does not have a direct impact on the community; however, without my support then project staff would not be able to provide the valuable and important support to the often invisible members of the Chinese community.

Monira Ahmed Chowdhury

Saranjit Kaur

I have been proactively working in the communities of Bristol and surrounding areas since my teens, I have worked as a community worker with a range of BAME communities both paid and unpaid and been involved in both race equality and equalities work for several decades across Bristol, West of England and South West. As a race equality worker, I have fought against racial discrimination and harassment both for individuals and institutionally.

As a British Sikh woman I am a mother to 2 children and the backbone of my husband in Plymouth, the South West, nationally and globally.

Saranjit has been Deputy Lady Mayoress where she experienced firsthand many of the barriers BAME women still have to go through.

Mohamed Abdi Bristol Somali youth voice Bristol Somali youth voice is organisation that advocate and promote for young people, to bring decision making platforms. BSYV offers young people different platforms, like sports activities, workshops, trips and other volunteering opportunities, to showcase their energy, skills, leadership and creativity.

Enam-Ul Haque Chowdhury Enam-Ul Haque Chowdhury was born and studied in Bangladesh before arriving to the UK in 1986 to study Business Management at Luton University.

After completing his studies he moved to Swindon to gain business

In the last 3 yours, BSYV has implemented wide range of activities include: sport activities; awareness programs; youth conferences about drugs, radicalisation and crime; sport programs for young people to explore their talents, skills, creativity and leadership.

Alex Raikes MBE Alex is Director (Strategic) of Stand Against Racism & Inequality (SARI) an awardwinning, community based, BME-led charity dedicated to promoting race equality and community cohesion and the provider of an intensive casework service for victims of racist attacks in the South West.

SARI has changed its’ charitable objectives to allow it to support those facing other types of hate crime and to also promote equality and diversity for those with any legally protected characteristic.

Having graduated from Bristol University in Social Policy and having worked with children with learning disabilities in care, Alex began working at SARI as its first caseworker in 1991.

Jonathan Trueman Urban Universe Design (UUD) Urban Universe Design (UUD) is a graphic design and media/marketing consultant company founded in 2015 by Jonathan E. Trueman. Jonathan developed his idea for the company after seeing his family run their own successful businesses. Driven by his strong business mindset and desire to work for himself, he began training in the design field. Using his creative skills and his love for art and design, he started devising logos, flyer and website designs for a friend, who then became his first client.

After a successful first project, Jonathan began to draw ideas together for the formation of UUD.

Swindon Stars - CHENDAMELAM Swindon Stars Kerala Drummers is a group of Malayalee’s based in Swindon, Wiltshire committed to promote this Traditional Art from Kerala.

The group started with 6 members and with rigorous and committed training; the group could put up their first stage show within four months in June 2010.

Fatima Layla Touati

Thereafter in two years’ time the group performed at more than 75 stages all over UK, entertaining not only Malayalee’s, but also the whole UK residents.

Bristol based Fatima Layla Touati professional name Glambylayla is a Professional Freelance Makeup Artist with more than 6 years’ experience of working in the Makeup industry specialising in Bridal Makeup parties, Teen Make-up, Fashion and other special occasions. She has held an event in London last year where she taught makeup to beginners for four hours and topped the day with free make-up giveaways.

“I feel that my greatest weakness is that I am very critical of my own work. I have always prided myself on producing excellent and error-free work. I look forward to opening my first beauty studio in Bristol and in London in the near future.”

42nd St Grill - Plymouth 42nd St Grill is owned by a Plymouth Greek family who also have another restaurant in Plymouth called Lanterns.

42nd Street Grill is based on the historic Barbican of Plymouth, surrounded with Victorian, Tudor and Elizabethan buildings.

The Greek family run business are no strangers to the restaurant trade having run several of them in Plymouth over the years, the fairly new venture is a big hit with locals and visitors alike, with them serving traditional Greek, American and English food.

Sophia Bovell Empress of Soul Nominated For an MTM Media and Music Award in the Arts & Entertainment category - Sophia provides excellent music in and around Wiltshire. She sings from Sade to Motown so blissfully.

Sophia has a great drive and determination for music. Sophia as she describes herself, “Conspicuously unconventional is how I am and I would not change being this way. I am a Musician, mainly vocals, some violin.

Read notated music, 3 range octave (voice) with a love of jazz, blues, Motown, soul, and much much more. “She sounds like Sade…” I hear people whisper”

VAS - Voluntary Action Swindon VAS- Voluntary Action Swindon – Nominated for the MTM Community Group Award 2016 Voluntary Action Swindon is a charity that helps other charities. We support the local voluntary and community sector through advice, training, and administering forums, events and coalitions.

What We Do: Voluntary Action Swindon can help your charity or community group secure funding. In the last year, we helped more than 85 local organisations to raise more than £350,000.

A Perfect Christmas Gift A coffee-table book is a large expensive book with a lot of exciting pictures, which is designed to be looked at rather than to be read properly, and is usually placed where people can see it easily.

Wildlife Film Makers and Photographers Tanvir and Feisal are publishing a coffee table book to celebrate Elephants, called “Elephants Wear ivory.” This is a hard cover A3 size book with 50 images of Elephants, totalling 110 pages. It will also have augmented reality (AR) in it, enabling readers to scan some images in the book with their smart phones, which will then extract video clips.

The AR will have a one hour documentary on Elephant Poaching, produced by Visual Africa Films Ltd and directed by Feisal, called “The Last in Line”, a video message from Jim and a few behind the scenes shoots of an Elephant Photographic Safari that authors Tanvir and Feisal went on in order to capture some images for the book.

This is a new concept and to my best knowledge, no wildlife coffee table book in Kenya has it so far, not sure about the UK. The book will be available to buy at a discounted price during tonights event.

MTM & Visual Africa Films Ltd and Studio 10VR will be releasing a special package deal soon whereby the book & the Ivory Belongs To Elephants merchandise plus an MTM Award Executive ticket will be packaged into an affordable price.

Proceeds from the sales of this book will be directed towards the conservation projects being conducted by the Elephant Neighbors Center being run by Jim Nyamu.

Feisal Malik PRODUCER/ DIRECTOR/ CAMERA/ FILMING AGENT

Ivory Belongs to Elephants Walk We help create awareness of various projects and charities.

At the inaugural MTM Awards in 2012, our chosen charity was ‘Help for heroes’.

In 2016 we opted to go International and supported Ivory Belongs To Elephants in Nairobi Kenya and Al-Muqtadir Association of Mombasa County Kenya.

Our project for 2017 is Ivory Belongs To Elephants, a project headed by Jim Justus Nyamu a renowned conservationist in Africa. We have invited Jim Justus Nyamu founder and Director of Elephant Neighbors Center, www.elephantcenter.org to join MTM at the Glittering Gala Evening to further highlight the fast disappearance of elephants in the wild due to poaching and a continuous market for ivory in Europe and other western states.

He will speak on the Ivory trade and its effects on the dwindling Elephant population.

The Great London Elephants Walk this December 2017 in the UK starts from Kensington London to Bristol creating awareness to stop the Slaughter of Elephants. ….the slaughter of elephants upsets the eco system.

Elephants are leaders & protectors of other animals, without them lions, Zebras, rhinos and even hyenas become unsafe.

Jim Justus Nyamu...........what can be said about this man, he walks and talks just like any other but he cannot be called

Getting you there

ordinary. This amazing man has been campaigning, walking and talking about elephants since 2013.

His series of walks under the banner “Ivory Belongs to Elephants” has seen him and his supporting team walk 10,457 km in 12 walks. His latest walk,(number 13) and the FIRST in Britain or Europe, has seen him and team walk from Kensington in London to Bristol City Centre in 10 days. What is so amazing is that he was willing to do this walk in December, cold days and even colder nights with the threat of snow at any time!

Why does this noted conservationist do this ? The sale and trade of ivory has been banned by CITIES and elephants given the highest protection. That should be the end of the story and we should all go home happy. Not so. The ban only covered INTERNATIONAL and not DOMESTIC markets. There were exemptions on pre-convention and worked ivory.

The ban was working and elephant numbers started to recover when 3 African Nations successfully had their elephants downlisted to Appendix 2. This allowed them to sell stockpiled ivory to Japan and China. The slaughter started again and is still going on with an elephant killed every 15 – 20 minutes for its tusk.

Many people do not realise that the UK is the highest exporter of legal or pre-convention worked ivory to Hong Kong or China.

China announced at the end of 2016 that they would close their domestic ivory markets by the end of 2017.

Ivory Belongs to Elephants Walk Hong-Kong has announced they too would close their domestic ivory market but with a 5 year time scale. The UK Government announced at the beginning of October 2017 a consultation to close its domestic ivory market.

Many people across Asia, where the demand for ivory is highest, do not realise that an elephant has to be brutally slaughtered in order for them to purchase an ivory bracelet or carved figurine. It’s ironic that a living breathing elephant is killed just so that somewhere in China and elsewhere in Asia a figure of an elephant can be carved from an ivory tusk from a dead elephant.

Jim Justus Nyamu does not just go to an African community and say “Dont” ........he looks for ways to educate that community why they should care about their elephants.

He is willing to listen to their concerns on human-elephant-conflict.

The present plight of wild elephants is not just a problem for Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe or any other African country with elephants. It’s a problem for all world governments and everyone on the planet.

We have to look at ways to coexist with elephants. Yes, they can wipe out a farmers entire crops but that is our fault and not theirs. They are also a great benefit to the environment, they are called nature’s gardeners as they help to clear paths and share/propagate seeds from one area to another.

Please Support the cause: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ivorybelongs2-elephants?utm_id=2&utm_ term=gPv2yQz7p

FeedTheHomeless Feed The Homeless

www.feedthehomeless.org.uk

What are we about?

Hello & welcome to feedthehomelessBRISTOL We’re a diverse group of people from all walks of life & faiths, united by our desire to feed the homeless in Bristol. feedthehomelessBRISTOL has been going since February 2016, and has been registered as a charity since October 2016 (charity number 1169924). Our volunteers are split into three main groups; the cooks provide hot meals, sandwiches and snacks, the walkers distribute this food along with any warm clothing, blankets and sleeping bags that have been donated, directly to the needy on the streets and the management team (including our dedicated trustees) help ensure we meet our core objectives and continue to grow.

Currently all activities centre around distributing hot meals to the homeless within the city centre on Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays. With the continued support from our vibrant and caring multi-faith-based community, we hope to build upon this and reach even more homeless people in the future. Thank you for taking the time to find out more.

At Present Naseem Ali Talukdar is the Chair Trustee as well head of Operations and one of the core founders of the charity alongside various other volunteers and team leads managing weekly operations.

erse OL are a div elessBRIST e lif of #feedthehom ks wal ple from all the ed group of peo fe ire to ited by a des re nt ce and faiths, un es activiti Bristol. Our in s es e el th m to ho eals ibuting hot m around distr y Centre on it C ’s ithin Bristol w s es el m ho Sundays. urdays and Fridays, Sat