Category: Event photos

Yesterday, Ike Alterman BEM, one of our Fed My Voice Holocaust Survivor Storytellers, shared his life story with 55 staff members from Beaverbrooks' head office, alongside 35 members of St Anne's synagogue. At 96 years old, Ike survived four Nazi concentration and death camps—Auschwitz-Birkenau among them—as well as a brutal death march. His entire family perished at the hands of the Nazis. Ike came to the UK as one of the Windermere Children and later settled in Manchester. His commitment to sharing his story and conveying powerful messages of hope, tolerance, kindness, and resilience left a lasting impact on the audience. Feedback from Beaverbrooks attendees included: “𝐼𝑘𝑒'𝑠 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑦𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒, 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒. 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑤𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦.“ “I have always found it difficult to...

The weather dominated the anticipation of the Rabbi's Annual Summer BBQ during this abysmal summer. Surely August will be a safe bet for some sun? Shhh. A little bird said that Rabbi Danny even had a word with the Boss in the hope of influencing the outcome. Well, in the event, despite prior weeks forecasting rain - there was a brief respite just for the duration.......... Hmm, was that a result of the little word ? We'll never know  - and I couldn't possibly comment. So, although cloudy and rather cool, the dry day meant it went like a walk in the park. The food prepared by chef Robert and sous chef Steven was worthy of at least a half Michelin star.   The salads by Rebbetzen Anna and the Ladies Circle were naturally brilliant (Biased? Moi?).  But full kudos go to Jon's security team of heavies who policed the gate with a professionalism we were surprised by but delighted to discover. The guests? Well, needless...

The hottest day of the year dawned with cloudless blue skies and the sun beating down - a perfect day to visit our lovely seaside town and pop in to our fundraiser event hosted by the Shul Ladies Circle at the home of Anne and Ian Glass, who very generously allowed their home to be turned upside down :-) We thank all those who came, who bought from our stalls, those who won on the tombola and the raffle winners - and indeed we thank all those who couldn't attend but who donated most generously. Our thanks also to opener Mrs.Shulamit Pfeffer and to Mark Goldstone from MDA UK who joined us from Manchester. Here is Mark's very interesting talk again. (Click on it to expand) https://youtu.be/seSZvInig0A ...

Last Sunday, 24th March, saw a happy gathering of locals and visitors from Southport and Manchester - some in fancy dress, others in .... well it was hard to tell :-) The Ladies Circle produced a delicious 3 course Sunday lunch and the Alte Machers provided the entertainment (?!!).     You may be wondering about the Rabbi and the Pope. Check out this video for a clue                 https://youtu.be/s4Y0kHyuhnM AND this video : The Bergson Family Players.   https://youtu.be/xahqzYbhInM And finally ...... For the hard of hearing or those who forgot their hearing aids .... here's the script for the 'Insurance' sketch : SCRIPT – INSURING AGAINST BEING JEWISH  Robert:   Are you the person I should see about taking out an insurance policy? Spencer::   Yes, that is right. …..Come in. ……….. Robert:    Thank you.   Only, I want to insure myself, you see. ….Against becoming Jewish. Spencer:   Right! …. ….  .You're just ……………..what !!!!?   Sorry !!!? Robert:   I vant to insure myself against becoming Jewish. Maximum cover. Not too high...

Monday 19th February 2024 - our first Ladies Only get together of the year, in a posh room generously donated by the Glendower Hotel, St. Annes (thanks to Anne Glass for organising, thanks to the Ladies Circle for coffee and thanks to Michelle Morris for providing delicious kichels from London !)). Our bi-monthly Meet and Greet with Rebbetzin Anna saw 16 of us settle down to watch a filmed talk on the Purim story ....... oh, wait ! Tech Fail !! Ever so luckily, Rebbitzen Anna had exercised her female intuition and brought along a printed version of the script, and, as always, humans stepped in to save the day.  Those of us who'd brought our glasses, read out the story of Purim. I wont bore you here with the actual story, which you no doubt all know, but I bet you didn't know of one interesting fact that came to light. Those celebrating Purim are obligated to bring their own (kosher) wine and it's...

On Friday 26th January, we hosted our Annual Holocaust Memorial Day. At this time when it's perhaps even more important to Never Forget, we filled our shul hall with around 120 very welcome supporters. As well as members of our own St. Annes Synagogue and our neighbours at Blackpool Reform Synagogue, we were delighted to welcome MP's from Fylde, Blackpool South and Lancashire and Fleetwood.  The Mayors of Fylde, Wyre and Blackpool joined us, along with the Leaders and many of the councillors from many of the surrounding councils and parishes. Representatives of the Police (to whom we are hugely grateful for their ongoing support and security) and also the representative of the Lancashire Lieutenancy.  Our thanks too to the Vicar of St. Pauls Church and the Chaplain of St. Georges Church, who joined us. Our Speaker was Stuart Ferster of Northern Holocaust Education Group, a 2nd generation Holocaust Survivor, who gave an engrossing and moving illustrated talk about his fathers experiences. The programme...