The Loombas, Cherie Blair, Preity Zinta, Yoko Ono, Cilla Black & Joanna Lumley
Yes, 10 Downing Street has made it official – British entrepreneur Raj Loomba has been made a Lord by the Queen – so it’s Lord Raj Loomba now! He was in New York to hold the annual fundraiser for the Loomba Foundation of which Cherie Blair is the president. The evening raised funds for the cause of widows, in memory of his widowed mother who had to bring up her children alone.
Guests at the elegant fundraiser at Essex House in New York organized by Loomba trustee Peter Rajsingh included some heavyweights – Cherie Blair, Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s permanent representative to the UN, Yoko Ono and Preity Zinta who is Goodwill Ambassador for the Loomba Trust, Broadway actress Joanna Lumley, Lord Dholakia, Meera Gandhi, Raj and Rohan Mirchandani.
Cilla Black, the Beatles and Bhangra
After cocktails in the Petit Salon, the guests moved to the Grand Salon for dinner. Here the Loomba Foundation Leadership Award was presented by Cherie Blair to English singer and television personality Cilla Black, who is from Liverpool and had been such close friends with the Beatles that Paul McCarthy wrote songs for her auditions!
Guests enjoyed some lively moves by the New York University Bhangra dance team, and participated in a live auction which raised funds for providing assistance to widows and their children in 13 countries, including India and Africa.
As Cherie Blair said of the Loomba Trust, “I’ve been watching its influence grow and expand. We now educate children of widows in every one of India’s 29 states. It’s not just an Indian problem so we have expanded into Africa, Sri Lanka and Nepal.” The organization hopes to get June 23 recognized as International Widows Day by the UN to provide a focus for global action.
(C) Lavina Melwani
All Photos (C) Jonathan Elderfield.
