NEWS
15/03/2008
Houses for £1,500
Restaurant of the Year Entrepreneur launches £100,000 Charity Appeal
Edinburgh business dynamo Dr Wali Uddin, MBE, JP, wants to build 70 cyclone-proof houses in Bangladesh (at a cost of £1,500 each), to replace homes damaged in last November’s cyclone disaster. Which is why he is part of the team organising a Fundraising Dinner for the Bangladesh Flood Victim Appeal Fund on Fri 4th April at 6.30pm (for 7pm), at the MacRobert Pavilion, Royal Highland Showground, Ingliston, Edinburgh.
Tickets include a 3-course meal with live entertainment, special guests, a Prize Raffle and lots of other fun activities which will keep the guests smiling and get them reaching just a little deeper into their wallets.
Catering staff will include some of Britannia Spice’s award winning chefs, who will create a special menu for the event.
Dr Uddin is the Honorary Consul of Bangladesh in Scotland and Chair of the Council of Bangladeshis in Scotland, which is organising the event, together with Bangladesh Samity, BanglaScot Foundation, Commonwealth Society, Oceanic Consulting, BBCC Scotland, Action Aid (Bangladesh) and IAP Scotland. His portfolio includes the multi-award winning Britannia Spice restaurant (which is shortlisted in the Irn Bru Scottish Curry Awards).
On November 15, 2007 the Category 4 Cyclone Sidr, with winds of up to 135mph, ripped through Bangladesh causing 3,447 deaths, with 3,322 people injured, and 1,063 missing as of November 20, 2007. There was widespread flooding with farmland and countryside devastated. Officials described it as the worst storm in more than 15 years. Thousands of homes were destroyed and at least 650,000 people were evacuated. In the worst affected districts, 90% of homes and 95% of rice crops were obliterated by the winds.
Dr Uddin has just returned from a fact finding visit to Bangladesh, where he visited what remains of Kalapara and Nizampur villages in the badly affected district of Patuakhali, where people are struggling to cope with the aftermath of this terrible event, with makeshift housing and their livestock gone. The target is to raise £100,000 for these two villages, for a cyclone resistant house and start-up supplies, including a cow, for each family.
Dr Uddin said: “It’s a lot of money to raise, but I really hope we can do it. Scottish people can be incredibly generous. We did it before in 1991 when we raised enough money to build a cyclone shelter in Bashkali in Chittagong. That shelter is now in constant as an education and community centre (as well as a shelter when required) and has made a huge difference to people’s everyday lives. The money we are asking people to donate this time will make a real difference to these two villages – the people I spoke to last month. It will give them the means to rebuild and develop their own future, without the fear of it all being literally blown away overnight”.
If you cannot come along on the night you can still send a donation. You can sponsor a complete house for £1500 and a cow for £200, but all amounts will be very much appreciated. A table (10 people) is £500 and individual places are £60.
For more press information, photos, interviews etc please call Morag Neil on 0131 478 6364 or email moragneil@blueyonder.co.uk
Listings
Charity Fundraising Dinner
In aid of the Bangladesh Flood Victim Appeal Fund
Fri 4th April, 6.30pm (for 7pm)
MacRobert Pavilion, Royal Highland Showground, Ingliston
Table (10 people) - £500 and individuals - £60.
Order online at www.oceanicconsulting.co.uk/bangladeshcycloneappeal or by post to Britannia Spice, 150 Commercial St, Leith, Edinburgh.
For more information call 0131 555 2255 or 0141 243 2848 (Maliha)
Organised by the Council of Bangladeshis in Scotland, Bangladesh Samity, BanglaScot Foundation, Commonwealth Society, Oceanic Consulting, BBCC Scotland, Action Aid (Bangladesh) and IAP Scotland
Editors’ Notes
Dr Wali Tasar Uddin MBE, DLitt, JP, Hon Consul General of Bangladesh in Scotland spent the last 2 weeks of February in Bangladesh, on governmental, cultural and charitable business. His packed itinerary included meetings in Dhaka, Sylhet, Moulvibazr and Patuakhali District.
In addition to visiting areas affected by the devastating Cyclone Sidr (with a group including Farah Kabir of Action Aid Group), the aims of the visit included a developing a proposed twinning arrangement between the City of Edinburgh and Sylhet and investigating possible partnership links with Edinburgh's Napier University and Heriot Watt University (both of which recently awarded Dr Uddin Honorary degrees) and the Universities and Colleges of Bangladesh.
Dr Uddin is respected throughout Europe and Bangladesh as a successful businessman, a community leader and an outstanding humanitarian. He has been awarded many honours, including Young Scot of the Year, since he moved to the UK in the 1970s. Many years of hard work and practical study, combined with exceptional drive and business acumen, have resulted in a portfolio of successful restaurants and business interests.
This success in the business world has brought recognition from many sides. In 1984 Dr Uddin was the first Bangladeshi in Scotland to be made a Justice of the Peace. In 1993 he was appointed as the first Honorary Consul-General of Bangladesh in Scotland and in 1995 he was made a Member of the British Empire for his services to race relations. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and, in 2003, was included in Debretts’ People of Today.
Britannia Spice Restaurant
Britannia Spice is an exceptional restaurant which has won many international awards since it first took the Edinburgh dining scene by storm in 2000. In 2007 alone, it was named Best in Scotland by both BIBA and the British Curry Awards In January 2008 it received a special presentation from the British Curry Awards to mark its unprecedented achievement in winning Best in Scotland three times in a row. The ceremony was attended by over 100 special guests including Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP, First Minister for Scotland and Rt Hon George Grubb, Lord Provost of Edinburgh. It is shortlisted in the Irn Bru Scottish Curry Awards (announced 13th February).
Britannia Spice has won widespread praise for its exotic multi-ethnic cuisine and stylish atmosphere. Its wide ranging menus offer diners a choice of Indian, Bangladeshi, Nepali and Thai cuisine, all freshly and expertly prepared. And there is an extensive range of soft drinks, beers, wines and spirits to compliment your meal.