About us
Malayali (also spelled Malayalee; another equivalent is Keralite) is the term used to refer to the native speakers of the language Malayalam, originating from the Indian state of Kerala. The Malayali identity is primarily linguistic, although in recent times the definition has been broadened to include emigrants of Malayali descent who partly maintain Malayali cultural traditions, even if they do not regularly speak the language. While the origins of the Malayali people are in the state of Kerala in India, significant populations also exist in other parts of India, the Middle East, Europe and North America. According to the Indian census of 2001, there were 30,803,747 speakers of Malayalam in Kerala, making up 96.7% of the total population of that state. Hence the word Keralite is often used in the same context, though a proper definition is ambiguous.
Yorkshire Malayali Club was founded in 2007 by a group of Malayali (Keralite) families who settled in and around the west Yorkshire Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees and its operations started from the Historic town of Huddersfield. The founder members of the club were mainly from the towns of Huddersfield, Halifax and Wakefield. The main purposes behind its creation were to provide a platform for malayali’s in these towns and surrounding localities to gather together for religious worship, recreation, artistic and cultural performance, socialising, sports & games, organising pilgrimages and excursions, and also to facilitate integration with people from other communities.
Whilst trying to demonstrate the ethnicity of our Kerala culture and impart a good understanding of our heritage and cultural values to the youth in our community YMC aims to understand and support the cultures and values of other communities in the society that we are a part of. YMC believes that cultural integration is the key to a stable society.
Even though YMC is not a religious organisation it adheres predominantly to Christian faith solely due to the fact that all of its members are Christians.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Malayalam Holy Mass Centre at Our lady of Lourdes, Huddersfield: With its 100% Christian membership, YMC felt the need for satisfying the religious and spiritual needs of its members since the beginning. Being a migrant community there were struggles initially to participate in religious ceremonies in our own language due to the availability of Malayalam speaking priests locally. YMC members who were always maintaining a cordial relationship with the local churches managed to secure a place of worship through the Catholic Parish of the Holy Redeemer, Huddersfield in? 2010 and since then a monthly celebration of Holy Mass in Malayalam on the first Sunday of every month became a reality that was well received by YMC’s members and non-members alike. This humble but bold step taken by the YMC is now being rightly rewarded by the appointment of a permanent Malayali Priest from Kerala for our Malayali Christian Community and Huddersfield became one of the 7 Holy mass centres within the West Yorkshire Malayali Christian Community.
Ukrainian Social Club: YMC has been able to develop and maintain long-lasting relationship with the Association of Ukrainians in the Huddersfield Town. It all started when YMC began to organise its events regularly at the Venue provided by the Ukrainian Social Club and currently many of YMC members are social members of Ukrainian Social Club as well. YMC is thankful to Ukrainian Social Club authorities for providing us one of the best venues of its kind the Yorkshire. The Huddersfield venue is set within almost 3 acres of private land, and boasts 2 large playing fields and private car parking.
Malayalam language Project for Children: Well received by the members since it kicked off in June 2013; YMC is proud to announce that the participant children has attained a steady progress and exceeded our anticipations. The key focus of this project is to enable every Malayali child to be able to read and write in their native language; Malayalam.