Bethnal Green tube station
About the Society: Gure Etxea - Our Centre
Gure helburu nagusia Londresen Euskal Etxe iraunkorra zabaltzea da. Oraingoz eta etorkizun hurbilera begira gure egoitza, bilgune eta ekitaldi toki nagusia Bethnal Greeneko Oxford House da.
Our main goal is to open a permanent Basque Centre in London. At the moment our main place of activity and meeting point is Oxford House Community Centre in Bethnal Green.
Oxford House eraikina / building
Oxford Housen bulego bat daukagu alokatuta hirugarren pisuan. We have an office situated on the 3rd floor.
Cafe Gallery
Bazkariak, afariak eta festak Cafe Galeryn egiten ohi ditugu.
We normally organise lunches, dinners and parties at the Cafe Gallery.
Chapel
Noizean behin ere Txapelean biltzen gara elkarrekin bazkaltzeko eta mota ezberdineko tailerrak antolatzeko.
We also meet sometimes at the Chapel to carry out different workshops and small gatherings.
Latest developments
We are still very much considering opening a permanent Basque centre in London. This is an issue the Society has long looked at, and it is not , by any means, out of the agenda. We could say that just about everyone in the Society believes that having our own place always available to organise events would be a great advantage. It would certainly help to increase the number of events we organise.
To this end, we did call a couple of extraordinary meetings on spring 2007 and we even saw a few available properties that might fulfil the role. This was not new, since we saw some properties in the past. However, this time we were able to gather a large number of people to come and see these properties and to talk about this project. And so, some great new ideas that might help to achieve this goal have been coming out lately.
First of all, we have the facts. We all basically agree the Society needs a place for:
- Getting together. The idea of providing good food and a good, relaxed environment is quite general.
- Playing cards, listening to music, watch football, meet friends or new people.
- Organising parties.
- Organising music concerts.
- Organising cultural events, especially relating to Basque culture, and, as much as possible, bringing our own people and customs from the Basque Country to London.
- Creating a platform to allow Basque artists and Basque people, especially those living in London, and the UK, to develop and to introduce their skills to the UK and the world.
- Organising different types of workshops throughout the week, every week. This is a concept that has been already successful in the past and there are some great possibilities here.
- Following on this line, and at a special level, providing a place for students of Euskara to meet Basque people who are able to speak it. This would be a perfect scenario for all those who, as we know, find it hard to practice and learn in London.
What is really new about this latest approach is that we have decided to create a team dedicated to plan and organise this project, from a totally new angle. This team will be drawing a plan, searching for a suitable place and, eventually, will start to run it till the Basque centre is settled and secured. We have people willing to contribute with time and effort to get this new approach going, but we would like to hear from anyone wishing to join the project. By contributing to this project we will be contributing to the creation of a Basque centre in London.