2015/2016 Philippine Centre Cultural Class

The Philippine Centre Cultural Society class.

“My presentation today is about an organisation that I am very happy and proud to be a member of. It is called the

Philippine Centre Cultural Society and is based in Hounslow. The society is both a charity and a cultural organisation. We meet up every Saturday from 10am till 1pm  except during school holidays.  There are about 15 Filipino kids aged from 5- 12 years old. I am half Filipino and half English because my Mum was born in the Philippines and my Dad was born in England and I joined the society because my mum wanted me to understand the Philippines culture and practices.

We do different activities every month. For example in the month of October we made pumpkin decorations and in December we make traditional Philippine Christmas lanterns. Every February we have Filipino lessons where we learn to speak and understand some Tagalog words, the Philippines national language.

We also learn to sing Filipino songs and dance and every July my friends from the Philippine society and I performed in the Barrio Fiesta in Surrey in front of thousands of people. The Barrio Fiesta is the biggest and the grandest Filipino annual gathering in the UK.

This year, we performed three cultural dances and one of the dances was the Philippine’s national dance which is called Tinikling. I have some  photos of our performance.

I’m so blessed to be part of this friendly, supportive and loving  community with a strong interest in the Filipino heritage and traditions.

Thank you for listening and hope you enjoyed my short presentation today. Good morning and God bless us all.”

By Angelika Eugenie Robinson, 8yrs old. Presentation to her school

10 October 2015

” During the outing with the Philippine Centre Cultural Society Class, I had the opportunity to try the Filipino martial art that focuses on stick fighting, knife fighting and hand to hand combat, as well as other things. This was called Doce pares. 
The experience we had was enjoyable as we consumed ourselves into the session. We started with the basics of stick fighting- different attack techniques as well as defence tactics, then progressed onto another activity associated with boxing which allows us to use both our feet and fists to attack to opposition (which in our case was a punch bag). To end the session, we practiced some acrobatic exercises and then developed new ways and link them to start combat.
Overall, I certainly had a memorable experience and I highly encourage anyone who wants to pursue this as it is both fun and cultural. The quality of both the teaching and the equipment are up to a very high standard and it is welcome to any age and gender. ” Anabel (Age 14)

For anyone interested joining Doce Pares please contact 07596 3000 80 / 0208 960 5973 or visit their website for further details.
http://eadocepares.com/index.shtml

19 September 2015 

 “On the 19th September 2015, the Philippine Centre kids have learnt a new life skill.  We have been learning how to knit and do crochet!  It is simple, fund and very addictive.  I say that it is frustratingly good because at the beginning none of us had a clue on what we were doing, it was very annoying but when we practised and knew what to do, all of us found it fascinating.

We were going to continue knitting and crocheting for the next few weeks.  The Philippine Centre kids have promised to make a scarf before christmas for their loved ones.  We all loved it and learnt that:  wool is called yarn; the knitting hook is called needle and also crochet hooks are called hooks!”  Carolina (Age 10)