Golden Anniversary Celebrations

26 July, 2026

Rt Hon. our MP Jeevun Sandher and His worshipful Mayor, councillor Colin Hamilton, Mayoress Emma Lowe, Mike Jones, Honorary Freeman of the Borough and his wife Marj Jones and other dignitaries, invited guests and Geeta Bhawan community members-

On the behalf of GB managing Committee and Trustees, warm welcome to our Golden Anniversary Celebrations. Special thanks to our guests who have travelled all the way from Nottingham, Northampton, London, Coventry and Manchester to join us in our celebrations.

2026 marks 50 years of our GB which is Hindu Temple cum community centre in Loughborough. See the coincidence, the first Satsang was held on Sunday, 26 July, 1976 at the St. Peter Social Centre at the Storer Road. Today, after 50 years, 5 decades, half a century, it is 26 July and is Sunday again. Not only that, we were in the grip of heatwave then and, here we are in the grip of heatwave again. The history repeats.

Ten years ago, in 2016, we celebrated our 40th Anniversary amidst 200 attendees who travelled from far and wide. I did mention the brief history of GB which is available on our website.

As I stand here and reflect on the half-a-century journey of GB, it fills me with great emotions, pride and gratification. It was the early 60s, when the majority of my community arrived in this country as economic migrants. Soon after we felt settled, we were looking for a communal space to meet and pray.  None of us have the expertise, time and money-no blueprint either as how to establish a place of worship and a place to get together for socialising.  To raise funds, I remember, going from home to home, not only in Loughborough but also in the neighbouring towns asking for donations for GB. Our ladies attending wedding ceremonies of their friends will ask for donations for their temple. Members visiting India will make sure they bring books, musical instruments, other articles of faith and other essentials for GB. It was a long journey of challenges, yet rewarding to establish a communal place to get together for praying and other activities. In the early days, I remember how our dedicated members will cook food for 60-80 people and transport it to St. Peter Social Centre along with photos of Gods, musical instruments and white floor sheets to sit on. As it wasn’t our own place, this practice was confined to last Sunday of every month and lasted for 7 years till we moved into our present premises here in Lemyngton Street. We are very grateful to Mr Mike Jones who was instrumental in acquiring the present premises on long term lease from Leicestershire County Council. Also a substantial grant of £34,000 was given to render the building fit for our religious and community centre.  Planning permission from the Borough of Charnwood to convert the premises as a place of worship, writing constitution and registration with the Charity Commission (so that we could avail the benefits of a registered charity), were the others hurdles to cross over. 

 

Having achieved the above, the next challenge was to install ‘Moortis’ (Deities) for the devotees to worship. The centre staged Moortis of Radha Krishan were the first to be imported from India and installed at the rear of Main Hall. The only hall we had for 25 years which doubled up as a prayer hall and a dining hall. With the built of Prayer Hall in 2008, other Moortis of Goddess Durga and of Lord Rama, his brother Lakshman and his wife Sita were installed to complete the Prayer Hall in its present glory. Building of worship hall, its refurbishment, installation of deities- all was done by the generous donations of our members. The list of donors is displayed in the Entrance lobby. Great many thanks to our members who have happily given their services as to look after the Moortis, conduct pooja rituals and then cooking communal meal for hundreds of attendees, cleaning and cleaning afterwards to maintain high safety standards of food hygiene. Members of our maintenance team undertake, where possible, DIY to provide state of the art facilities for the centre.  We are a shining example of community solidarity, devotion and focussed dedication that has resulted in us having the present premises.

Communication with our members was initially done by hand written list of programmes, photocopied and then delivered door to door on foot by our volunteers. Lately, this task is easily done via email and WhatsApp messages.

Since the celebrations of our 40th anniversary in 2016, we have lost some of our key members who have left a vacuum not easy to fill. However, with the younger members on board, GB activities have continued apace and the last ten years have seen additional religious and community events. Since last year, every Tuesday evening we have recitation of Hanuman Chalisa taking place without break. We are thankful to Mr Rajesh Sharma and Ashwani Krishan for manning the programme.  To outreach the wider community, GB has its own dedicated website and Facebook pages looked after and being regularly updated by Mr Dipak Mistry and Miss Anjali Passi respectively.

 

In the year 2020, the year of lockdown didn’t dampen the devotion and dedication of our members.  We celebrated the birthday of Lord Krishna in the park on Maxwell Drive, devotees sitting 2 meters apart and only dishing out banana as the blessed food. The community was so generous to raise a substantial sum of £3473 for the. NHS workers who risked their lives to look after the Covid patients.

 

As for the 40th Anniversary, I requested messages from our members, supporters and well-wishers. There was an overwhelming response and we have to date received congratulatory messages of goodwill from 50 odd people. Some messages are from our ex members who are no longer living in Loughborough- I call them GB alumni - sent their messages citing their fond memories of their experiences at GB. If I put them on TrustPilot, it will be 5 star across the board.  All these messages have been collated, edited, printed and stored in a folder for everyone to read. Eventually these will be downloaded on to our website for everyone to cherish and having a dip in the history of GB any time in the future.

 

All the messages read great and are very complimentary of the activities we had at Geeta Bhawan. They all mention how GB has helped them to make lifelong friends, provide a place to get together. It was interesting to read their fond memories of our Independent Day celebrations where they enjoyed fancy dress competition, short plays etc. They also mention about the sports activities we had every year in the park where they competed. All the messages are very inspiring and motivating. What I found our members are so expressive that it looks from the flow of their writing that they want to keep going on and on. Thank you very much for responding to my request. I am very proud of you.

 

There are about 1 million Hindus in UK, that is around 2% of the population, yet the number of Indian Doctors is 18%. Geeta Bhawan , Loughborough is equally proud to have supplied a large number of doctors, pharmacists, opticians, nurses, teachers, accountants and engineers.

 

I have a lot to recollect and share with you but the time doesn’t allow me. I will have to finish by saying huge thanks to our founders, volunteers, ex trustees, committee members, supporters and donors. Special thanks to our ladies who not only run their own household but also do a lot for GB by coming early morning to cook a meal for 100 odd people, sing devotional songs, decorate and dress Deities and perform other religious duties. They are our unsung heroines. Heartfelt thanks to the members of present committee, who are wearing badges, and other volunteers who have worked tirelessly day and night for today’s landmark celebrations to take place. Wish we could reward each of them. Let’s have a round of applause for them. Last but not least, thanks to our dignitaries, guests and GB community for joining us in our celebrations.

We wish GB a bright future. The next 50 years belong to the younger generation to whom we handover the reins of responsibility. I am confident they will make sure GB stays a beacon of faith, fellowship, devotion, spiritual wisdom and solidarity.

At the end, let us thank God for his guidance and blessings, after all it is His place. 

Dr S R Chhabra

Hon. Secretary