How we all love Seychelles... as we showed at our fabulous Independence Day party

Outstanding: The famous Cascade Sega Dancers in full flow

The Independence Day party was another great success for Seychelles Life and the Kevin Betsy Foundation.

Guests celebrated 39 years of Seychelles Independence in style in London on Saturday 4th July.

Seychellois as well as revellers from all over the world enjoyed the glorious summer evening with Seychelles music by Ken London, Rita Romain (Richez), DJ’s Rudy, Moulinie and Pierre Labiche.

On song: Rita Romain (Richez) and Ken London put on a great show

To add to the entertainment, the famous Cascade Sega Dancers put on an outstanding performance.

It was a great night for Love Seychelles and once again we feel we’ve done our small islands proud.

The event was a chance for the Seychellois community in London to get together for a delightful evening with friendships made and renewed. As organisers, we felt we had got it right by the encouragement given us throughout the evening.

Going with the beat: Guests get up and dance

Kevin Betsy spoke about the work of his Foundation and explained that he is doing his utmost to promote the standard of football in Seychelles. During his last visit to the Seychelles he donated football shirts and footballs to the young players.

We now have more football shirts to take out to the Indian Ocean and I will deliver them on my next visit.

Of course, we cannot put on super events like these alone. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Seychelles High Commission and the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB), especially Mrs Lena Hoareau, for their support and cooperation in making the evening such a success.

Thanks too, to John Davies from Woking News and Mail who sponsored the event. And I am indebted to the photographer Marlon and his team from Koz Kreole.

Joint venture: Kevin Betsy with his father Lewis

I thought the raffle prizes were fantastic. Seychelles Life and the Kevin Betsy Foundation are immensely grateful to everyone who gave so generously and the list is below.

My biggest thanks though go to all of you who turned up on the night and made it such a wonderful occasion.

So how do you follow that? Well, the next stage for Seychelles Life is to get the Seychellois Diaspora closer together. I find it hard to handle that we all live so far apart. We need to get closer together and hopefully we can improve the harmony, unity and joie de vivre in our society for the love of our beautiful Seychelles.

Next year we will celebrate 40 years of Seychelles independence and we plan an even bigger party so please watch this space.

So, once again. Many thanks to everyone for your support. We love Seychelles. We really do.

Lewis Betsy

Publisher

Seychelles Life

* Lewis Betsy is Publisher of Seychelleslife.co.uk

Raffle prizes and donors:

1. Two tickets to any Fulham home Championship game at Craven Cottage.

2. A signed Fulham shirt.

3. Bottle of Champagne donated by Juliana Betsy.

4. 5, 6. Pack Bottles of Special Ales donated by John Davies, Woking News and Mail.

7. Bottle of Takamaka Rum donated by STB (Seychelles Tourism Board).

8. 9 ,10,11. Two  Small Bottles of Takamaka Rum donated by STB (Seychelles Tourism Board).

12, 13. Seychelles Book (Seychelles The Coco-de-Mer – A National Treasure).