LGR and the future

LGR is the only Greek language radio station in the capital city of London serving the needs and aspirations of the Greek speaking community.

The most up to date figures and stats tell us that there are at least 300,000 people living and working in London who have a connection with Greece or Cyprus.

The link between Greeks and London started centuries ago when a number of Greeks from the mainland and the Aegean islands settled in the capital. These were people associated mainly with shipping. There was a large number of Greeks from the island of Chios who constructed the first Greek Orthodox cathedral in Moscow road W2.

The second wave of immigration came from Cyprus in the mid to late 50s with the encouragement of the British government who invited people from the colonies to come and work here helping with the reconstruction of the country following the second world war.

This policy encouraged a proportion of Greek and Turkish Cypriot settlers coming over. We call this second wave or the first generation. The second generation consists of people who were born in the UK in the 60s and 70s. British citizens born in the UK of Greek or Greek Cypriot parents are seen as having fully integrated into British society many of them choosing to marry people from different ethnic backgrounds. The second generation also chose to attend Greek evening or weekend school supported by the Greek government.

The first generation of immigrants from Cyprus kept very close ties with the country of origin and spoke fluent Greek. Second generation people. like myself, seem to have their foot into both camps/cultures most speak reasonably good Greek but the majority of them are native speakers of English.

A number of associations have been created to cater for the interests of the Greek speaking population but the arrival of London Greek Radio some 22 years ago so a shift and a change in the way we communicate with each other as a community. So LGR has served a great purpose with enabling us to communicate easily and in a very immediate way. There have been a number of weekly newspapers of course like Parikiaki which is still doing well and in circulation.

The most advantageous development associated with the emergence of LGR is linked with the fact that the third generation, children born after the late 70s and early 80s are able to become informed and get involved by the mere fact that they can be exposed to the Greek language and culture by simply switching on to 103.3 FM.

This is of course a significant positive in that we are now able to help the third generation discover their roots ensuring that the children born from parents born in the UK retain their cultural characteristics or at least have the option of knowing where they came from and who they and their parents are.

And it is for that reason that the LGR team know that they have a clear obligation and responsibility to do their best to inform and educate. But I know those who work with LGR have done a lot and more will be done ( hence the introduction of this new LGR community page/blog)

Those driving the changes behind the scenes include people like John Kyriakides, Nick Venedi, Giorgos Grigoriou, Vasoulla, Vasillis, Akis Iralkeou and the other members of the great LGR team the list is endless and everyone has a significant contribution to make.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVEsNs2qbho