Hundreds dance in colour at Maidenhead Holi celebrations

Hundreds of people danced in a sea of colour on Sunday afternoon as they gathered to celebrate Holi at a Maidenhead park.

The Sanatan Parivar (TSP) was back for its second Holi event at Oaken Grove Park, with a record number of around 500 people attending to join in with the celebrations.

DJ Bhav kept the party going as guests danced in an array of colours and enjoyed games and south Indian food such as dosas, biryanis and vadas.

Visitors also watched two ‘amazing’ multilingual dances.

Holi, also known as the Festival of Colours, is a major festival in the Hindu calendar and sees people through coloured powders known as gulal.

The festival marks the start of spring and celebrates life, love and diversity.

“Last year we had around 300 people and this year we thought it would be nice to invite the community groups and the local residents as well, so we’ve opened it to the other communities, Vanita Dutta, one of TSP’s trustees, said.

“There have been around 100 tickets that we have given as complimentary to support the other community groups and to thank their volunteers who do an amazing job for the residents and the community of Maidenhead.”

This year TSP has also initiated a youth wing called Real Impact, which sees youngsters fundraise for other groups and charities.

The group provided a range of games for guests to enjoy and raise funds for St John Ambulance Service, which was also present on the day.

Vanita added: “We are all one and we just have to come together and enjoy and it’s all about community cohesion and bringing all the community together.”

Maidenhead’s MP Josh Reynolds also joined in with the celebrations as he made a speech, visited the Maidenhead Foodshare stall, and spoke with guests.

Vikash Kumar, a fellow trustee of TSP, said: “[It was] fantastic.

“There [are] so many people, everybody has enjoyed [the event].”

Vanita added: “It’s really successful.

“I think as the years are passing, we are growing stronger, we know how things can be done at a larger scale.

“We would really like to approach more community groups next year to support us and also we want to support them.”

The event will be back ‘bigger and better’ next year, she added.

Josh Reynolds MP said: “It’s another fantastic celebration, Festival of Colour.

“Being able to be here with the whole Maidenhead community, I really, really enjoyed myself.

“Maidenhead is so many different communities, but like I say all the time, we are just one big Maidenhead community at the end of the day.

“So being able to have all of these different cultural events around the town, it’s so important for us to be able to have, and that’s why I’m really keen to be able to take part in as many as I can.”