On Tuesday, Judy Silverton will be interviewed Toastmaster, John Ashmele .
John discussed the history and the guilds and the training required for him to become a Toastmaster. We leaned about the different types of functions covered including weddings and b’nei mitzvah, civic and corporate functions and John peppered his answers with ‘tips of the trade’ and amusing anecdotes.
Over the years John has derived great satisfaction in organising and delivering many social, community and fund-raising events, ensuring that each occasion is memorable for all the right reasons.
Having pursued a successful career as a freelance Information Systems Consultant for over 30 years, he is now pleased to offer his services as a Toastmaster. Great care should always be taken when selecting a Toastmaster, and John is proud to have been trained to the high standards of the Professional Toastmasters’ Academy and welcomed as a Fellow of the Guild of Professional Toastmasters. Born and educated in London, he currently lives in Eastbury, South-West Hertfordshire with his wife, Annette, a professional translator.
Richard has over 15 years’ experience working alongside Government officials, diplomats and journalists. He appears on BBC and has written in many publications.
Richard joined Bicom (British Israel Communications & Research Centre) from the Israeli Prime ministers’ office. Following the Second Lebanese War he received the Prime Minister’s prize for excellence having served in the IDF Armoured Brigade.
Steve Levinson interviewed George Magnus on Tuesday afternoon.
George has occupied a front row seat as events have challenged governments, economies and financial systems around the world since the Great Financial Crisis in 2008. He is widely credited with having identified the trigger points leading to the crisis and with helping us to understand its lingering consequences.
Once the Chief Economist of UBS, George now works as an independent economist, author and speaker. His views and opinions appear regularly in the written and social media, radio and TV. He is the author of The Age of Aging (2008) which assesses one of our leading contemporary economic and social challenges, and of Uprising: will emerging markets shape or shake the world economy? (2011), which considers the rise of and prospects for emerging markets, especially China. His latest book, Red Flags: why Xi Jinping’s China is in Jeopardy, was published by Yale University Press in 2018.
After over 60 years in central Harrow, a final Reform and Liberal joint service was broadcast from 39 Bessborough Road at 11.00 am on Tuesday, 30th March.
Those who watched the event live would have seen the use of a split screen, where you were able to view the simultaneous removal of the scrolls from the Reform Ark downstairs and the Liberal Ark upstairs, as well as being able to view the scrolls leaving the main hall and (at the same time) exiting the building itself. Unfortunately due to the limitations of recording on Zoom, we were not able to capture the second screen on the recording. Our apologies to members of Mosaic Liberal that we were unable to record the removal of the scrolls from the Ark. All other parts of the service are on the recording.
A service booklet was produced for this event – please click the link below to download the service booklet.
Keith Simons visits Jewish prisoners all over England. On Tuesday he spoke about their experience of being Jewish in a prison and how he is able to support them.
Dr Johnson Beharry, VC COG really needs no introduction. A British Army soldier, born in Grenada, who on 18th March 2005 was awarded the Victoria Cross for valour in the British and Commonwealth armed forces, for saving members of his unit, the 1st Battalion Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, from ambushes on 1 May and again on 11th June 2004 at Al-Amarah, Iraq. He sustained serious head injuries in the latter engagement.
In addition to still serving in the army within the London District, he is now very active with his charitable foundation set up in 2014. The JBVC Foundation supports youths in getting away from gang culture and helps rehabilitate former offenders, helping with training and getting them into sustainable employment in the future.  https://jbvc-foundation.org.uk.
Mosaic Jewish Community Zoom events are available and free for anyone to attend. Our speakers are not paid for their time so If you are able to support the JBVC Foundation then please donate here
On Tuesday we were joined by Paul Solomon who is the youngest son of Mosaic Liberal members, Janet and Alan Solomon. He was interviewed by Steve Levinson.
Paul is a Director of Communications & Public Affairs at Google and leads Google’s Communications teams in Israel, the Middle East, Africa, Turkey & Russia. Paul’s team is responsible for telling the story of Google in these diverse regions: showing how Google makes people’s lives easier and helps businesses grow, and protecting Google’s reputation in the media.
Before joining Google in 2011, Paul spent 10 years managing communications for Coca-Cola in the region, and was a media & political consultant at communications agencies in London and Tel Aviv.
Paul is married to Esther, who is the Opinions Editor at Ha’aretz.com. They made aliyah in 1998 to central Tel Aviv, where they live with their 4 children, aged 17 to 6, and their over-sized dog.
Harinder, a local Pinner artist and teacher, is an exciting and versatile artist whose genres span portraiture, landscape and still life. Her beautiful watercolours and oils range from the subtle and thoughtful to the vibrant and dynamic.
In addition Harinder teaches popular and well-received Watercolour Classes at the Heath Robinson Museum and the Harrow Arts Centre.
During her presentation Harinder gave us a fascinating insight into how she creates her watercolour portraits.
Born in London in 1949, Brian spent his formative childhood years in Sydney, Australia. He was a child actor, appearing several times on Australian television. In 1969 he won an Open Scholarship to read English Literature at Oxford University, directing several plays while he was there, and then travelled, as an actor, to the United States with a semi-professional drama company.
Returning to England, Brian appeared in repertory theatre and in the films, VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED and THE EXPLORERS, prior to spending three years at the UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS), where his graduation film, THE DEVOTEE, won several prizes and much acclaim, particularly from David Puttnam – who commissioned Brian to write and direct his first feature film, SHARMA AND BEYOND, for Channel Four’s First Love series.
This led to many films directing a “Who’s Who” of stars, including Stephen Fry, Jude Law, Vanessa Redgrave, Simon Russell Beale, Robert Hardy, Mel Smith and Michael Fassbender to name a few; and many film awards.
Since 2004, Brian has taught directing for the MA course at the NFTS; and since 2010, also the Directors Series there. In 2018, Brian became Co-Head of Directing Fiction at the NFTS and started a new course, ‘Directing the Actor’.
On Tuesday, Judy Silverton will be interviewed Toastmaster, John Ashmele .
On Thursday evening, Richard Pater, Director of Bicom Israel, discussed with Michael Reik the results of the 4th election in Israel within 2 years.
On Sunday we were honoured to have Dr Johnson Beharry joining us to talk about his life story and all the work he is doing through his Foundation.
On Tuesday we were joined by Paul Solomon who is the youngest son of Mosaic Liberal members, Janet and Alan Solomon. He was interviewed by Steve Levinson.
On Sunday, Harinder Sahota showed us how she creates her watercolour portraits.
Judy Silverton interviewed Brian Gilbert.
