New group to connect Malayali people in Lymington and Pennington who originally hail from Kerala in India holds its first meeting

A GROUP to connect Malayali people in Lymington and Pennington who originally hail from Kerala in India enjoyed its inaugural meeting last month, bringing together 25 families.

The Malayali Association for Lymington and Pennington was set up to enable Malayali people living in the area to have a place to meet each other.

Malayalis are the native people of Kerala in the southwest of India who are speakers of Malayalam.

The group is run by a committee of people, including Ginu Varghese, who came to the UK in 2007.

He told the A&T: “We have grown in number over the years and there are new people arriving from Kerala all the time.

“I thought it would be nice for us to be able to get together but we had no place to meet, so we set up the association, which we hope becomes a hub for the region’s vibrant Malayali community.”

The group recently had its first meeting at St Thomas’ Church hall during Onam festival, which symbolises unity and harmony.

Ginu said: “It was a great success with about 25 families attending. It was lovely to meet up and talk.”

The group’s next meeting will be a get together on 30th December.

“We will be having a lovely supper together and there will be fun things for the children to do,” said Ginu.

“We are looking to spread the word and invite other Malayali families in the area to become members.”

Anyone interested in joining can call Ginu on 07545 287595.