There was a delicious menu of seven dinner items plus appetizers plus late night snacks lovingly cooked by Lisa Viegas. Her husband – DJ Basil Viegas, not to be outdone, provided excellent music for the entire evening.

Midnight, as usual was the time everyone was waiting for – when “Old Man 2011″ was finally booted out and the New Year 2012 was ushered in.

The 2011/2012 Canorient Committee wishes all the members, their families and friends a joyous 2012 and every success to all their ambitions in the New Year.

In closing, the Committee would like to thank all the members and their guests attending all the functions and making every event a huge success.

The evening started off with family and friends mingling over cocktails, and then moved on to a mouth watering dinner of Roast Beef, Crusted Chicken Breasts, Whipped Potatoes and an assortment of salads, only to be followed by a dessert of cakes and pie, and who doesn’t like pie.

There was plenty of entertainment and dancing to the tunes of the “Simply 5 Band”, featuring our very own members Glen Boyle and Shaun Noronha, accompanied by Placey D’Sousa and Dan Osz, with Sue on vocals, and when the band took a break, DJ Cesca was there to keep everyone going.

The Committee sends out a huge “thank you” to all the members, their kids and the Pageant producers for their help in making this event another tremendous success. The kids did a wonderful job in acting out the story of the Birth of Christ. They put in many hours of practice over the last three months, as did the producers who patiently worked with them to put together so wonderful a performance.

Mother Nature tried to play the Grinch, by blanketing Calgary with 5 inches of snow the evening of the party, but neither snow nor slippery roads could keep the one hundred or so guests from showing up. She also could not keep away the most important guest of all, and with Rudolph and the other reindeer parked up on the roof, the Jolly Old Guy and his Jolly Old Gal slid down the chimney to hand deliver gifts to the kids.

Special thanks go out to Imperial Oil, who through the generosity of their Imperial Oil Foundation gave a cash grant to the Canorient. This grant was used to cover the cost of the pageant for our members’ children.

The event was catered for by our very own Lisa Viegas, and with the music of DJ Humayun, and live performances by Manu and Jonathon, ensured that everyone had a merry old time.

A full house of  monsters, ghosts, goblins and creatures of fright showed up to creep the night away.

DJ Basil provided the spooky music, and both young and old rattled their bones.

This year’s get together was held at the “Game Time Sports Bar & Grill”, located at #11-6219 Centre Street NW.

Many guests dressed up in their finest ethnic outfits and spent an enjoyable evening in the company of family and friends.

The Executive Committee would like to extend a huge round of applause and heartfelt thanks to all of the association’s members and guests, as the attendance at this year’s event was almost 150 – probably one the highest turnouts for a single event in a long time, if not the highest.

The Executive Committee would also like to offer their sincere apologies to the members that they could not accommodate, as due to the delayed replies, the hotel would not accept any last minute changes to the guest list.

About 120 people showed up, some taking the arranged bus, and some choosing to drive the hour and a half through central Alberta to the orchard-like atmosphere and beauty of Travers Reservoir and Little Bow.

The day started out with overcast skies and little on the cool side, but by 11:00 am the sun came out and the temperature rose to make it an absolutely fantastic day for a picnic.

Young and old enjoyed themselves, with the kids spending most of the day in the lake and the adults either engaged in a game of “dog and the bone” (which I must say brought about and intrigued many spectators), or wrapped up in a game of tombola.

Brunch of “green chutney” sandwiches and lunch of chicken biriyani was served, and just when we felt like we needed our afternoon nap, there was tea and cake.

The committee would once again like to thank all those who came out to support them and  the association and to also make the picnic an enjoyable one.

It was with your support, that the celebration of “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth” was just a gosh darn success.

Thanks once again. Now go hang up the stetsons and put away those bandanas…at least until next year.

There was more food than you could ever eat, courtesy of your fellow members. There was face painting for the kids, tombola, a food hamper (congrats Barbara) and music, which everyone enjoyed dancing to.

The committee would like to thank everyone who helped out with the event, and a special thanks to all the members who came out to support them and the association.

• President          – Anthony D’Costa
• Vice President – Ian Carvalho
• Secretary         – James Dubash
• Treasurer        – George Aranha

Also at the AGM a number of additional directors were elected. To view a full list of your committee members, please visit the link at the top of this page, or click here.