Next week seems to be filled with celebrations of one kind or another.

We start off with Christmas on Monday, then on Wednesday the Muslim community celebrates Eid Al Fitar, the last day of Ramadan - the month-long fast.

Wednesday is also Shawal, the next month on the Islamic calendar.

The recital of the whole Koran was completed during the evening prayers on Wednesday at the Castlefield Centre, on Thursday at Townfield House in Totteridge Road and will be completed tonight at the Jubilee Road Mosque and Jamia Rehmania, with special ceremonies to mark each event.

The congregations stay longer during these special evenings, which are marked by religious poems in praise of God Almighty and his prophet and talks from scholars about topics relating to Ramadan.

Refreshments, sent in by the Muslim community at large and some Muslim businesses in particular, are served to the congregations.

Special thanks and prayers are also offered for the month of Ramadan and its blessings and for the fact that most of the Muslim community has been able to spend some time in offering prayers and making charitable donations rather than in idle chit-chat.

Eid prayers will take place at the Jubilee Road Mosque, its two branches, at Jamia Rehmania in Castlefield and the Islamic Centre in Totteridge Drive in the early morning. A Very Happy Christmas and Eid to all.

"PATTERNS of family life have become increasingly diverse over the past 30 years among white people in Britain and North European countries.

"Family relationships are said to be moving away from 'old fashioned values' towards 'modern individualism' (and) different minorities are strongly represented at both ends of the spectrum," says a report produced by Richard Berthoud of the Institute of Social and Economic Research of the University of Essex.

Some of the salient points of the report say that the key feature of family life in communities originating from South Asia is the very high rate of marriage.

According to the report around three-quarters of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women are in partnerships by the age of 25, compared with about two-thirds of Indian women and just over half of East African Asians and white women.

Moreover, virtually all South Asians with a partner are in a formal marriage and the proportion who have separated or divorced is less than half that recorded among whites.

The report also finds that a clear majority of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women look after their home and family full-time rather than take paid employment.

But these traditional positions are less common among the growing number of women who are obtaining good educational qualifications.

Apparently among married Pakistani and Bangladeshi women, born or brought up in Britain, the proportions of full-time home makers changes with educational qualifications.

For example, 74 per cent with no qualifications were full-time home makers, while it is down to 52 per cent of those with qualifications up to GCSE level.

That goes down to 22 per cent with qualifications above GCSE.

The fact that the Asian women stay at home results in a lower standard of living for their families, even when the husband is in employment, but they do have a family life.