Souvlakia, loukoumades and Greek dances by students from All Saints Grammar (ASG) are always a great way to celebrate a feast day.
That’s exactly what the Greek community of Belmore in Sydney did on Sunday, June 19 when they held their annual Community Fair to celebrate All Saints Day.
The festival was organised by the Greek Orthodox Parish and Community of Belmore and District ‘All Saints.’
The day began with a Divine Liturgy presided over by His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia and in attendance were a number of officials.
These included the Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Christos Karras; Member for Canterbury, Sophie Cotsis MP; Courtney Houssos MLC; Head of School at ASG, Elfa Lillis; and President of the Board of Directors of All Saints Parish, Ulysses Ntoumbos; among many others.
After the Divine Liturgy, the crowd moved into the school’s gymnasium where School Captains, Olga Liana Athansatos and George Gregory, welcomed people to the stage for a number of speeches.
Ms Cotsis spoke and congratulated the All Saints community for banding together last year to turn their gymnasium into a vaccination centre to assist during the COVID-19 pandemic.
READ MORE: ‘The only way out’: Hundreds line up at All Saints Grammar gym in Belmore to get vaccinated
“This area here, a year ago, was a health precinct,” Ms Cotsis said.
“It was one of the very few health precincts in NSW, a huge congratulations to our parish leaders for what you were able to do.”
After this, people enjoyed a number of Greek dancing performances by school students, followed by two award presentations.
All Saints Parish priest, Father Christos Triantafillou, approached the stage to hand out awards to long-standing members of the parish for their contributions over the years.
The school was then presented with an Award of Appreciation from Detective Sergeant Wolsely on behalf of NSW Police. The award was in recognition of the Community’s contribution to the Campsie Police Area Command Christmas Appeal in 2021.
To conclude official proceedings, President of the Board of Directors, Ulysses Ntoumbos, thanked everyone for coming and joining the celebrations.
Mr Ntoumbos also addressed Father Kyrillos Zisis, who will be leaving the parish to return back to his native Victoria to serve at Saint Eustathios, South Melbourne.
“We thank you for all your hard work under very, very trying circumstances with COVID. We wish you well and thank you,” Mr Ntoumbos said.
The rest of the day was filled with children enjoying carnival rides and families lining up for fresh souvlakia and mingling.
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