Royal Approval for the Muslim Khatri Association

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, on a recent visit to Leicester, showed great interest in a presentation by the Muslim Khatri Association some of the Services provided by the Association - including the UK Online Centre.

Yahya Thadha - holding trustee for Muslim Khatri Association - is speaking to the Queen on some of the Services provided by the Muslim Khatri Association including the UK Online Centre.

Mr. Yahya Thadha said:
'The first question that HM the Queen asked was what is Muslim Khatri Association? I explained that we provide a wide range of services at the community centre but our most recent service is the UK online Centre which provides free access to a range services using ICT and Internet.

'At our centre we have students who want to learn dress making and they will use our UK online service to find some designs in the type of dress they would like to make.

'Some times we will get general public who will come in to find out more about a particular council service and with the correct web address within minutes they are able to print out the details and are happy customers'.

HM the queen was most impressed how ICT was making a huge difference specially people from deprived neighborhoods.

HM the Queen was then given a talk on Drug Misuse and was shown a Brief Case of Imitation drugs. She was most impressed to see the range of drugs and what they looked liked.

The Duke of Edinburgh also chatted and learnt more about the services of Muslim Khatri Association. He said today technology is very important and was glad to see that we are offering free Internet service at our community centre.

HM the Queen then moved on to see a live demonstration of Henna painting which is one activity that is carried out at the MKA centre.

She spoke to Shagufta who said:
'HM the Queen saw the live demonstration work of henna painting and said that it was very beautiful. So I offered HM the Queen if she would like henna painting doing on her arm. She said that She had a very tight schedule but the next time she need Henna painting she knows where to come.'

Yahya Thadha, holding trustee for MKA, said:
'It was a huge honor for the Muslim Khatri Association to Meet the Queen and a huge credit has to go to DirectSupport.'

'We were give a short notice that we had been selected to set up a stall in front of 1000's and 1,000's of people in the middle of the City centre and we had no material to display. Direct Support once again responded in a fast & professional manner and helped us to develop a professional display.'

'It is this bright visual display that caught the eyes of HM the Queen who immediately changed direction and walked to our stall. The fact that we were all told that there is no guarantee the queen would visit any stall, the help of Direct Support ensured that HM the Queen visited the UK online MKA Community stall and listened to work of MKA with great interest.'

This photo was taken 5 minutes before the queen visit. It shows that it was impossible for us to leave out the laptop because of continuous happy rain we had. Also security would not allow the header on the promoter stand to go above 4ft high so we had to improvise.

August 8 2002