Bollywood night is fundraising success for South Shields school

Masum Chowdhury, left, with Friends of Hadrian Farzana Khan and Lisa Smith and Aklasur Rahman, owner of Rice and Spice.

The Friends of Hadrian hosted a Ladies’ Bollywood Night in support of Hadrian Primary School, in South Shields.

The event, held at the school in Baring Street, raised £350, which will be used to fund projects and buy equipment for the school.

The Friends of Hadrian held a Ladies' Bollywood Night at Hadrian Primary School.

The night featured curry and rice, provided by Aklasur Rahman, owner of restaurant Rice N Spice, a cookery competition which saw a lamb biryani take first prize, music and dancing, nail and make-up demonstrations, henna painting, and Indian head massage.

The grand finale was a dance routine by the ladies of the Hindu Nari Sangh Bollywood SandDancers.

Lisa Smith, chairwoman of Friends of Hadrian, said: “We often struggle to engage the mothers of our large ethnic minority population with traditional fundraising events so we decided to host a Ladies’ Bollywood night to entice them into school.

“It was a brilliant night, we will be doing it again.”

Jean Nixon, deputy head teacher at Hadrian Primary School, added: “The Bollywood night was a great success and we were delighted to see so many people present, celebrating our local community.”