It was after the unexpected success of the first friendly football tournament in 1998, organised by Ramesh Thakali, Min Prasad, Min Bahadur Gurung "saila", Himal, Kamal, Dipak, Chandra, Surya, Nabin and Hitkaji, that the seed for establishing a Tamudhee Association in the UK was really sown. Though the tournament was organised on such a small scale, the turn out of spectators, predominantly Nepalese, was just overwhelming. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day taking the organizers by surprise as this was indeed contrary to their expectations. This positive turnout was an immense boost to the idea of forming an association.
Gaining much confidence and impetus from this, a small "Lhochhar Celebration" (Gurungs' New Year) was organised in the Gurkha Village Restaurant in North Camp in Farnborough on 2nd January, 2000 instigated by Professor Chandra Bahadur Gurung. The restaurant was then owned by Min Prasad and Min Bahadur Gurung "saila" who kindly let the venue for free. Again, despite organising the event without much fanfare, the event was a great success with lots of people joining in the merriment to welcome the New Year. It was the success of "Lhochhar Celebration" that spurred the organizers to form an ad-hoc group formed there and then under the chairmanship of Min Prasad Gurung to start paving the way in establishing the association.
The ad-hoc group wasted no time and immediately began to work in earnest from day one and came up with a simple vision and objective after holding a series of meetings in the Gurkha Village Restaurant. After much deliberation, they felt that the association should be formed to uplift the social and welfare state of it's members, to observe and maintain our tamu traditions and culture, to help those in social and financial predicament and to organise events that would not only help to bring the tamu community together but also to entertain and welcome all other Nepalese citizens in the UK. With these clear vision and objectives in mind, the association was aptly named "Tamudhee Association UK" and established in January, 2000. It was formally registered under the Company Act in England and Wales in the same year.
Since its humble beginning, Tamudhee has really grown in stature within a span of just 5 years. It now has 255 ordinary members and 205 life members and this number is rapidly increasing each year. Tamudhee has gone from strength to strength and has built a high reputation for its organising ability in raising funds for charitable causes by holding various charitable events, organising major events like Lhochhar Celebration, Gurkha Cup Tournament and BBQ each year and helping those who have been unfortunate enough to fall into social, welfare and financial predicament. The turnout for each event has been truly astounding. So much so that the Association is having to look for bigger venues in the future to accommodate such a large diverse crowd. The Association has also donated money from its own treasury to various charitable causes both in the UK and in Nepal. Besides financial donations and support, the Association continues to provide close moral and welfare support to its members in need.
From the outset, Tamudhee has always been a non discriminative Association and welcomes anyone, no matter what their race, religion, colour, sex or creed, to their various functions. Tamudhee now stands proud of its achievement and is held in very high esteem as one of the outstanding Association in the UK by those who have come to know and recognised the Association.
