Serving up a birthday treat

6 of Luton's finest attended the birthday celebrations of Shri Guru Ravidass today with every intention of kicking back and enjoying the party. But all Luton Goodgymers seem to have an uncontrollable desire to help, wherever they go and today was no different. Duncanand myself arrived around 10 am and after a cup of tea and a little spicy snack, we popped outside to observe the Nishan Sahib ceremony, this is where the flag pole at the temple is lowered and the flag, which has been there since last years celebration, is replaced. After seconds of being outside, we were asked to assist with the ceremony. Yasinand Musaarrived shortly after the flag was lowered and helped us along with several attendees from the temple 🛕 as we washed the flagpole in yoghurt and milk, then rinsed with warm water and dried off with some snazzy Wimbledon tennis championship towels. once this was done we all fastened a fabric tie around the flag securing the material for another year. Tiggerand Mayara arrived shortly after and we had a cup of tea and chatted for a short while. Mayara and myself then served some delicious food from the hatch in the kitchen, samosas, pakoras and some sweet treats. It was extremely hot in the kitchen but great fun to support the aunties who had been cooking for 3 days solid. Whilst we were serving up samosas, the rest of the team were clearing the walkways near the entrance and making sure nobody would fall over stray shoes that had been kicked off when visitors were going to the hall upstairs. We had been at the temple for a good few hours at this point and due to other commitments the team headed off after a really productive session. The temple asked if I could stay back to watch there annual awards and unbeknown to me they had planned to present us with a certificate to thank us for our help over the last year. I was very humbled to receive this on behalf of the team and look forward to showing off to everyone when I pass it to our AA.