Belinda Briand is a Senior Nursing Sister who has worked for the NHS since March 1983 at Solihull Hospital in various specialities, celebrating forty years this year. She retired in November 2021 to return part-time. A keen charity worker since an early age which included church-associated charities, Make a Wish and Yardley and Sheldon Rotary Club. She was associated with an international project which involved rebuilding a wall at an orphanage in Guwahati. Belinda has more time now for her charity work and is looking forward to raising money for worthy causes in Assam.Neera Borkakoti, a Structural Scientist at Medivir AB, Cambridge, United Kingdom, lives in Broxbourne, London.Dr Jayanta B Sarma, Consultant Microbiologist and Infection Control Specialist at Northumbria Healthcare, Northeast England, lives in North Shields, England. A frequent traveller to Assam, he is engaged in activities there and regularly writes columns in Assamese.Mr. Bhupendra Dev Sarmah has been involved with the Assam Association of the UK for many years. He has been the secretary between 1982-84, Presidential tenure 2005-08, and he has been a very active Rotarian in the West Midlands since 2001. Mr Sarmah has been the Club President of his Rotary Club for two terms, and he has raised well over £5000 for Asom Sishu Kalyan Sadan(Orphanage), located in Jalukbari, Guwahati. During his Presidential term at UAAUK, he raised well over £2000 within three weeks, which was sent to AIIMS, New Delhi, to pay for a Dual Chamber PaceMaker for Miss Barnali Chowdhury(age 18 at that time) from Tokobari, Guwahati. Her family could not afford the money and appealed to UAAUK, and the Dual Chamber pacemaker has made Barnali enjoy the next Durga Puja to her heart’s content. Dr. Nripen Barkataki, former General Secretary of the United Assam Association of the UK, recently retired as a general practitioner who spends most of his time between Guwahati and England. During his tenure as GS of the UAAUK, he has been instrumental in raising funds to the tune of thousands of pounds for good causes such as kidney transplantation for needy individuals and victims of a bomb blast in Assam.
