London Greek Radio

For the first time ever, Despina Miraraki will bring 30 years of craft expertise to London.

Her vast collection of tailor-made carpets will be available to browse and purchase, including traditional and modern varieties.

Date: 23rd November 2017

Location: Connaught Hotel, Carlos Place, Mayfair, London, W1K 2AL

Time: 18:30–21:00

RSVP and register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exclusive-cocktail-event-invitation-worlds-best-handmade-carpet-company-tickets-39833356642

If you are unable to attend the launch event, the exhibition will run from 22nd to 26th November, open daily from 10am – 9pm.

Join us in the heart of London as we showcase the award-winning Miraraki carpet exhibition.

Founder Despina Miraraki has led the specialised industry for over three decades with a long list of achievements, including being named the best handcrafted carpet company globally and winning the Seven Star Carpet Gallery Award, the highest award for the pinnacle in luxury hospitality and lifestyle.

Her achievements to date include collaboration with award-winning designer Robert Cavalli, weekly TV exposure and production for leading hotel brands such as Hilton.

Guests will be welcomed by a cocktail reception and will have a chance to browse a display of masterpieces, from classic carpets created from wool and silk to modern designs such as Persian silks, Qum, Tabriz, Nain and Isfahan.

Enjoy a show of exquisite craftsmanship, meet with founder Despina Miraraki and treat yourself to a one-of-a-kind exhibition.

We hope to welcome you to the launch show in London!

Wishing you, a happy start to the holiday season

The Management and Staff of London Greek Radio would like to invite you to their Christmas Dinner & Dance, 2017. The start to the festive season we have live music and food on Saturday 2 December at 7 pm.

We are also excited to announce entertainment for this evening includes Giorgos Gerolymatos, all the way from Greece, for a 1 night exclusive performance. Not to mention live music by Nostalgia Greek Band!

Events like this offer the chance for our station to come together with the community and enjoy a fabulous evening. Moreover, through these events we are able to renew and build a good relationship with both our listeners and the companies which work alongside us.

In 2017, our time has also been spent putting together events, such as this one, where all members of our community could come and celebrate our culture together.

Join us at the Cypriot Community Centre, Earlham Grove, Wood Green, N22 5HJ.

Tickets £30, £35, for more information and Tickets please call LGR on 0208 349 6950

7 pm ‘Till Late

We look forward to seeing you all there.

Wishing you, a happy start to the holiday season.

The event is sponsored by Caspian Lounge Sandwich Bar in North Finchley, Commeris UK Ltd the Mediterranean food experts, Panorama Greek Restaurant in Whetstone with Mediterranean cuisine at its best. Aspris & Son, the wine, beer & spirits merchants, Simon Fisher with a 50 year experience as a loss assessor, Taste of Cyprus in Palmers Green for a wide range of breads, sweets & pastries.

GREECE vs Croatia for World Cup Playoff First-Leg in Zagreb tonight, 7:45 pm kick-off UK time. Euro 2004 champions are only hours away from the first match at Stadion Maksimir looking to continue their perfect record in World Cup play-offs.

Greece, who finished behind Belgium in Group H, are hoping that captain Vasilis Torosidis and central defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos are fit.

Kostas Manolas is suspended for the first leg due to a fair play violation.

Michael Skibbe the German coach has compensated by calling up two additional defenders: Panathinaikos’ Dimitris Kolovetsios and SPAL’s Marios Oikonomou.

The second leg in Athens is on Sunday 12th November and we will all know by then whether the Greek colours will be a feature at the World Cup next summer.

Greece World Cup Playoff Squad

Goalkeepers: Orestis Karnezis, Stefanos Kapino, Giannis Anestis

Defenders: Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Kostas Manolas, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Vassilis Torosidis, Kostas Stafylidis, Marios Oikonomou, Dimitris Kolovetsios, Georgios Tzavellas, Panagiotis Retsos, Charalampos Lykogiannis

Midfielders: Andreas Samaris, Panagiotis Tachtsidis, Giannis Maniatis, Zeca, Alexandros Tziolis, Dimitrios Kourmpelis, Kostas Fortounis, Dimitris Pelkas, Anastasios Bakasetas, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos

Forwards: Kostas Mitroglou, Dimitrios Diamantakos, Giannis Gianniotas, Apostolos Vellios

The Labour Party’s ‘Friends of Cyprus Group’ was launched on Tuesday evening at an event held in the UK Parliament, in the presence of the party’s leader Jeremy Corbyn and a number of Labour MPs.

The initiative for the creation of the group belongs to Vassilis Mavrou, who said that he aim is to ”create closer bonds between Labour MPs and Cypriots, both in the UK and in Cyprus.” He noted that Jeremy Corbyn’s support was a catalyst for the launch of the group.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

In his address, Corbyn said that he represents a constituency that includes a huge number of Cypriots, both of Greek and of Turkish ethnical background, and that in 1974 he remembers trying to help Cypriots arriving to London as refugees following the invasion by Turkey.

”The contribution made to our communities and our lives by those people is really incredible,” commented the Labour Party leader.

He went on to say that there must be a reunification of Cyprus and a resumption of the collapsed talks.

”Campaigning for Cyprus and having a sense of responsibility towards Cyprus is very important to me. I recognise that the UK is a guarantor power and I want a Labour government to ensure that we fulfil our obligations, to ensure that this means the island of Cyprus gets reunified,” he added.

The first UK Cypriot MP Bambos Charalambous said that there is still hope for a solution, despite the collapse of the talks in Crans Montana. He added that during his recent visit in Cyprus, he realised that Cypriots are worried about the chances to solve the Cyprus problem as with the elections coming up in January, the timing is not ideal.

The Cypriot MP also said that the Labour Party Friends of Cyprus needs to put more pressure on Boris Johnson and the Foreign Office to support Cyprus.

The coordinator of the event and MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, Catherine West, said that the Labour Party will support Cyprus in its efforts to find a just and viable solution.

On her behalf, the hostess of the event, MP Kate Osamor, said she is proud to be part of this newly formed group which aims to take responsibilities and to speak on behalf of the community.

Joan Ryan, MP for Enfield North, said that her constituency is a fantastic example of how Turkish and Greek Cypriots work and live together. “The two communities have more in common than divides them,” she added.

Other MPs that were present and spoke in support of Cyprus and the new group were Angela Rayner, Stephen Doughty, Steve McCabe, Joan Ryan, Roger Gossif, Carolyn Harris, Hugh Gaffney and Caroline Flint.

Greece will have to get past Croatia if they are to earn a spot at next summer’s FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Greece drew Croatia out of the pot on Tuesday 17th October at the 2018 World Cup playoff draw at FIFA headquarters in Zurich.

Ethniki could become the first UEFA member nation to reach three World Cups in a row via the playoffs.

Greece will travel to Croatia on November 9th for the first leg at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb with kick off scheduled for 9:45 PM local Greek time.

The return leg will take place three days later in Athens at the Karaiskakis Stadium on Sunday, November 12th, with kick off scheduled for the same time 9:45 PM local Greek time.

The annual Radiomarathon Gala Dinner will take place at Inter-Continental London Park Lane Hotel on Saturday 28th October.

This glamorous evening of Dinner and Dance with star guest this year being the incredible Anna Vissi is Radiomarathon’s biggest fundraising event of the year which raises vital funds for the Enfield Centre.

The event is held under the auspices of Andri Anastasiades, spouse of the President of the Republic of Cyprus and President of the Radiomarathon Foundation.

Ticket prices start at £150 per person, including 3-course meal, available individually or as tables of 12.

For ticket information please contact Demetra Christou

email: demetra@radiomarathon.co.uk.

Telephone 01992 713297 and speak to Demetra or Sandra.

If you are unable to attend the Gala but would still like to help this amazing cause, you can still support the charity by making a donation online:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/RadiomarathonGala2017

All donations go towards running the Radiomarathon Centre which provides facilities and cares for people with learning disabilities.

Your support will make a huge impact today, tomorrow, and at all times.

The LGR Boîte Night

The LGR Boîte Night, on Friday 20th October, is hosting a spectacular evening with a line-up of local community artists.

Enjoy a traditional Boîte styled evening in a chilled and relaxed atmosphere.

Entertaining us on the night are the talented; Nicos Shiakolas, Mimis Nicolaedes, Giorgos Pafitis, Savvas Savva, Andria Antoniou & other community artists.

Join us in the bar of the Cypriot Community Centre, Earlham Grove, Wood Green. Let’s have a drink and listen to the live music and have an amazing evening. You can even sing along too and really let your hair down.

There will be drinks and snacks available at the bar.

This will be an unforgettable night with our dearest London Greek Radio audience.

Tickets only £7.

Doors will open at 7:30 pm.

For more information and tickets please call LGR on 0208 349 6950

We look forward to seeing you all there.

This event is sponsored by: Despina’s Food Store, C.Michael Accountants & Bookkeepers, Fratelli Greci Finest Foods, exclusive distributors of ION chocolate products and Zagori Mineral Water in the UK, Meraki Grill and Ambeli Ltd, exclusive distributors of Karapashis Winery.

Tonight in a 7:45 pm kick-off in Nicosia we will see Cyprus take on Greece in a match in Group H qualification. As things stand now, the Cypriot squad still mathematically possible for them to finish as runners-up. Despite a brilliant 3-2 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in August, the Cypriots could not repeat the result in Estonia. A 1-0 defeat away put a serious dent into Cypriot hopes of their first World Cup appearance.

The Top 8 out of 9 runner-up teams make the playoffs and for one team their qualifying hopes will simply end next week.

Greece currently in third position a single point behind Bosnia and Herzegovina will need to beat Cyprus and see-off Gibraltar in the final match on Tuesday night. The Greeks knowing that only a Belgium victory against Bosnia on top of it, second place is theirs to lose, but they will still face a nervous wait to find out who will miss the cut for the playoffs.

Cyprus coach Ben Shimon has had to deal with a few injury concerns in the lead-up to this match. One big absence is that of Omonoia attacker Demetris Christofi. A recent injury in a league match means that the 29-year-old will misses out on this qualifier. APOEL’s George Efraim is unavailable while Konstantinos Mintikkis was left out of the squad, due to injury as well. Mintikkis was replaced by Marios Stylianou, a likely back-up to first-choice right-back Jason Demetriou.

Greek manager Michael Skibbe will be ecstatic to have seen Kostas Mitroglou training with the rest of the squad this week. The Marseille striker suffered a preseason knock that saw him miss Greece’s previous two qualifiers. However, there was bad news on Thursday as it was confirmed that Tasos Donis will miss Greece’s remaining two qualifiers due to injury. That will be a big blow to Greece as Donis has been amongst the team’s top performers in recent matches.

Dimitris Diamantakos was injured after the squad announcement and his place was taken by Nottingham Forest striker Apostolos Vellios.

POTENTIAL LINE-UPS

Cyprus: Panagi, Demetriou, Laifis, Katelaris, Margaca, Laban, Artymatas, Charalambides, Kyriakou, Alexandrou, Sotiriou

Greece: Karnezis, Tzavellas, Papastathopoulos, Manolas, Torosidis, Maniatis, Zeca, Fortounis, Christodoulopoulos, Mantalos, Mitroglou

The island nation confirmed that a singing contest will decide who will represent Cyprus in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon. This new approach focuses on fresh talent and budding vocalists to see who is right to enter the competition next year.

All Cypriots can apply, whether they’re island or UK Cypriots. People are saying that this is a brilliant chance for ambitions British Cypriot artists to showcase their talent to the masses as well as giving them the opportunity to fly the Cypriot flag at Eurovision.

Broadcasters CyBc announced that the Cypriot sing-off contest will air in January 2018. At LGR we’ve been looking over the ‘rules’ of the new singing contest. Firstly, each applicant has to submit a video audition via a private YouTube link that only CyBc can see and the singers can choose which song they want to sing. Afterwards, a limited number of entrants are chosen to audition for the judges. The judges will pick the finalists advancing to the Cypriot sing-off which will be aired on TV. The deadline is already looming for acts to enter the competition – all videos must be submitted by the 20th October 2017.

The public will vote for their favourite act and the jury will also decide which artist deserves to win. The votes will be combined to determine who will represent the country at Eurovision.

The Eurovision tune is expected to be recorded weeks after the Cypriot song contest final and will most probably be released in March.

The award-winning composer Alex Papaconstantinou, also known as Alex P, has been asked to compose the song. The Greek-Swedish producer is based in Stockholm and has co-written hits for Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias and loads more. Mr Alex P is known in Eurovision circles with a few Euro-stompers under his belt. He was responsible for Ivi Adamou’s ‘La La Love’ in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest and Sarbel’s ‘Yasou Maria’ in 2007. His best result, which placed in the top 3, was for the Azerbaijan duo Aysel and Arash.

The Cypriot Eurovision delegation has said on Facebook that they’re hoping this new contest gets Cyprus into another Eurovision final.

Six-year-old UK Cypriot Andy Achilleos would like you to read his story, which you can see by visiting the Page justgiving/fundraising/andyswishtowalk

Hi my name is Andy and I am 6 years old. Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I live at home with my mummy, daddy and my big brother Chris.

Mummy says I had a difficult birth and after 14 hours of labour I still wasn’t ready to come into the world. The doctors said it was because I was being stubborn and they decided to force me out.

After spending the first 5 days of my life in the neonatal unit I was allowed to go home.

Mummy soon noticed that I wasn’t meeting my milestones as I couldn’t sit, stand or walk like all the other kids could at my age, so she kept taking me to the doctors and eventually at 18 months old I was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy.

For the last few years I’ve had lots of physiotherapy and have even been given Botox in my legs to help my tight muscles which worked well for a while. Now the injections aren’t working as well as before and the doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital say that I can have an operation which should help me walk without using my sticks or my rollator.

They say that I will have to do lots and lots of physiotherapy after the operation which can be very tiring but I don’t mind especially if it means I can dance and run around without having to hold onto something so I don’t fall over.

My mummy and daddy say that this operation costs a lot of money and that we will need help to pay for the operation and all my physiotherapy after.

Andy has been accepted as a candidate for Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). The aim is to improve spasticity (muscle stiffness) in his legs caused by brain damage at birth. The spasticity can be very painful and leads to excessive stiffness in his legs and causes difficulties with walking.

Once Andy has his operation, he will be discharged from hospital after about a week and we will then move into the patient hotel across the road. Andy will then have to attend the hospital gym twice a day for two weeks in order to help strengthen legs, trunk and pelvis, increasing his range of movement. He will then be discharged from hospital and we will have to fund further rehabilitation for the next 2 years. He will have to learn how to use his body in a different way as he will be weak and lose the ability to co-ordinate his movements. This is the only procedure that permanently removes the spasticity in the legs and is only partially funded by the NHS.

7.5% of all donations to Tree of Hope in relation to this appeal will be allocated to the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope to cover our core operating costs.

If we raise insufficient funds, or surplus funds, then the funds will be used, if appropriate, to fund support for our child’s needs in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objects. If in those circumstances we are unable to use all or part of the funds for the benefit of our child in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objects, then any funds that cannot be used will be transferred to be used for the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope.

Check out the Justgiving Page if you would like to make your pledge or donation and Gift Aid, by visiting the website: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/andyswishtowalk