The Ölüdeniz Friends are seeking sponsors to help fund the replacement of their costumes and if you know of a suitable company or individual they would love to hear about it.

Jen Lewington member of the Ölüdeniz Friends dance group, or Ölüdeniz Yarenler in Turkish, is seeking sponsors to fund in full or in part the replacement of their costumes. She writes:

Originally the group was formed about 4 years ago, having been asked to perform for just one night at the 2007 Ölüdeniz Festival.

That one night was the start of something very exciting, as we were inundated with requests from TV and newspapers for interivews.

We started off doing mainly traditional folk dances, but latterly we have progressed to mostly singing traditional Turkish folk songs.

The group now comprises 5 members: David Groom, Stuart James, Jenny Lewington. Shirley Vaughan and Margaret McAloon, all retired residents of Ovacık, near Fethiye.

We have been fortunate to have travelled all over Turkey to appear at numerous festivals and on local and national TV channels.

We have performed in Izmir, Istanbul, Bolu, Kastamonu, Uşak, Taşköprü, Anamur, Kars and Sarıkamış to name a few locations, plus at many local schools and festivals in the Fethiye area. We believe that we are the only ex pats in Turkey performing in this fashion, and we have been amazed and honoured at the wonderful reception and hospitality shown to us by the Turkish people.

One our main aims is to promote tourism, not only for Ölüdeniz, Fethiye and the Muğla area, but also for the whole of Turkey.

Future events are the Ölüdeniz Festival, on 1 – 3 July, and then a trip to Rhodes on 11 – 13 July.

At the moment we fund many of our expenses ourselves, as we are not paid for our performances.

We are in desperate need of new costumes and other items, so if anyone would like to sponsor us, no matter how small the contribution, we would be very grateful.

We would advertise any sponsors on our display board which we take to all our performances. Any offers of sponsorship can be made to the following people:

Çoşkun Karabulut – 0542 254 4650 (Turkish contact)

David Groom - 0537 985 9021 (English contact)

We also have a website address – www.oludenizliyarenler.com.

We thank you for your support and will keep you informed of our projects in the future via www.fethiyetimes.com, the Aegean Independent newspaper, and our own website.