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Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara – Southall 2005

Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara: On Saturday 1st October 2005 I enjoyed a tour of the largest Sikh Gurdwara in Europe. Building had begun in 2000 and the temple opened at the end of March 2003. The tour had been arranged by art and urban historian Mireille Galinou for the now long-defunct and much missed group ‘London Arts Café‘ – and you can still read more about on the web site I wrote for it, although the group came to an end in 2008.

Here is what I wrote about the visit in 2005 and a few of the pictures I took at the Gurdwara – there are more on My London Diary.

October started with a fine day, and I went to visit the largest Sikh Temple or Gurdwara in europe (and the fourth largest in the world) which opened a couple of years ago in Southall, along with a group of friends from the London Arts Café. We were shown around the building by one of the Sikh volunteer guides and also the architect, Richard Adams of Architect Co-Partnership, which had won the open competition to design the building. He had worked fully with the Sikh community to produce a building suited to their needs, and it does so impressively: clean simple surfaces, powerful colour in the windows and light streaming into the central stairway and lobby from the large window and glass roof areas.

The Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara serves the community, both for workship and for other needs. As well as a vast prayer hall officially capable of seating up to 3,000 people (and actually holding rather more at major festivals) there is a fine marriage room, and various other facilities including a Langar (Dining Hall); this free community kitchen can serve over 20,000 vegetarian meals over a festival weekend.

The Gurdwara had a powerfully religious atmosphere. On entering we followed the customary practice of removing our shoes, covering our heads with the scarves provided and washing our hands before commencing our visit.

At various points both our guide and the architect explained how the building served the basic Sikh tenets of service, humility and equality, and also the spiritual guidance from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the religious writings which are were appointed as spiritual head of the Sikh religion, the Eternal Guru, by Guru Gobind Singh around three hundred years ago.

Although the architecture and the prayer hall in particular were impressive, what made the strongest impression on me was the kitchen, especially the team of women working together. The food was excellent, a real pleasure to eat, although my still rather painful knee made it easier for me to stand and eat at one of the tables rather than in the traditional manner seated on the floor. Although food is free, those eating may perform some service to the temple in thanks for their food, or give an donation of some kind, which we gladly did.

Southall is now Britain’s holy city, apparently with places of worship for over 50 religions or denominations. Brother Daniel Faivre’s ‘Glimpses Of A Holy City‘ published in 2001 after more than 20 years of living in Southall gives a good insight into some of this diversity.

Unfortunately Brother Daniel Faivre’s 104 page spiral bound book published in 2001 is no longer available. The Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara is, according to Wikipedia one of ten Sikh Gurdwaras in Southall, which also has two large Hindu ‘Mandir’ temples, six Mosques and “more than ten Christian churches including 5 Anglican, one Roman Catholic (St Anselm’s Church), Baptist, Methodist and several Pentecostal or Independent.” In the 2021 Census, 28.5% of the population were Sikh, 24.1% Muslim, 22.6% Christian 22.6% and 14.2% Hindu.

More pictures on My London Diary include some taken in Southall after leaving the Gurdwara.

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Streatham, Spain and Guantanamo – 2006

Streatham, Spain and Guantanamo: Three events in London on Saturday 15th July 2006, a festival, a commemoration and a protest.

Streatham Festival Children’s Parade – Streatham

Streatham Festival held it’s first ever Children’s Parade, children working with artists from Arts Community Exchange and Kids’ City to create sculptures, banners and puppets for all to see.

The parade was led by drummers Ancestral Hands and a cycling stilt-walker brought up the rear as it went along Streatham High Road to St Leonard’s Church.

One of my pictures from this parade was used in the remarkable The Streatham Sketchbook by Jiro Osuga and Mireille Galinou with photography by Torla Evans which was published in 2017 by Your London Publishing. Still available, this was described by Graham Gower of The Streatham Society as “superb and one the best books to be published on Streatham as a place – if not the best.”

more pictures

International Brigade Commemoration – Jubilee Gardens, Waterloo

I’ve attended and photographed a number of the annual commemorations of those who went to fight the fascists in Spain in 1936-9, but this 2006 event was the most memorable. Here’s what I wrote about it in 2006.

Several hundred people attended the annual commemoration at the International Brigade Memorial in Jubilee Gardens London Organised by the International Brigade Memorial Trust on Saturday 15 July.

Between 1936 and 1939 over 35,000 men and women, from more than 50 countries, volunteered for the Republican forces. Of the 2,300 who came from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth, over 500 were killed.

Volunteers came largely from working class areas across the country. most were members of communist organisations or otherwise active in the trade unions and other socialist bodies, and their average age was 29.

Seventy years later there are relatively few still alive and active enough to attend the commemoration, but it was good to see seven there. They were Jack Jones who chaired the event, Sam Lesser who spoke and read, as well as Bob Doyle, Paddy Cochrane, Lou Kenton, Jack Edwards and a surprisingly spry Penny Feiwel. As usual there was a reading of the names of those known to have died since the previous year’s meeting.

Rodney Bickerstaff’s address raised the problem of keeping alive the memory of those who responded to the call to help the Spanish republic, but attendances at this annual event seem to have increased over recent years.

There was certainly more media interest than on previous occasions, in part because of the attendance of the Spanish Ambassador and his wife, reflecting the increasing interest from Spain; he also gave a brief speech. As was pointed out, it would have been nice to have a representative of the UK government also present.

As usual, the event concluded with the singing of the ‘Internationale’.
More pictures on My London Diary

Shut Guantanamo now!

The National Guantanamo Coalition had called for a national demonstration in London to protest the deaths of three Guantanamo detainees earlier in the month.

A group of protesters, mainly from the ‘Save Omar Deghayes’ campaign, but also representing other organisations, walked across London from Marble Arch to the new Home Office building in Marsham Street to hand in the petition calling for an independent enquiry into the three recent deaths at Guantanamo. The petition also calls for the immediate sending of all detainees to countries where their basic human rights would not be abused, an immediate closure of Guantanamo and other prisons where those held were denied proper legal process and for proper access to detainees by family and medical personnel.

It was a long, hot and dusty trek across London, particularly tricky for those with pushchairs as we navigated the Hyde Park subways, and we were all glad to arrive (thanks to helpful directions from the police) at the Home Office. The front of the building was like an oasis, shade, green grass, water and trees.

The police did make us get off the grass and also made some effort to stop the display of placards and banners, but most of these remained visible. They had also attracted some attention from the crowds around Buckingham Palace as we passed by.
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Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara 2005

Sixteen years ago on Saturday 1st October 2005 I was fortunate to be able to go with friends from the now long defunct London Arts Café on a visit to the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara completed in Southall in 2003 with the building’s architect Richard Adams of Architect Co-Partnership and one of the Sikh volunteer guides. The temple, built with over £17m of local donations was said to be the largest in the western hemisphere, intended to be “a temple second only to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, with a life expectancy of a minimum of 100 years“.

The architects had won the commission in open competition and working with the Sikh community and had produced what I described as “a building suited to their needs, and it does so impressively:clean simple surfaces, powerful colour in the windows and light streaming into the central stairway and lobby from the large window and glass roof areas.” I hope my pictures convey something of this.

Here’s some of the text I wrote about the visit at the time, when I was posting entirely in lower case:

the sri guru singh sabha gurdwara serves the community, both for workship and for other needs. as well as a vast prayer hall officially capable of seating up to 3,000 people (and actually holding rather more at major festivals) there is a fine marriage room, and various other facilities including a langar (dining hall); this free community kitchen can serve over 20,000 vegetarian meals over a festival weekend.

the gurdwara had a powerfully religious atmosphere. on entering we followed the customary practice of removing our shoes, covering our heads with the scarves provided and washing our hands before commencing our visit. at various points both our guide and the architect explained how the building served the basic sikh tenets of service, humility and equality, and also the spiritual guidance from the sri guru granth sahib, the religious writings which are were appointed as spiritual head of the sikh religion, the eternal guru, by guru gobind singh around three hundred years ago.

although the architecture and the prayer hall in particular were impressive, what made the strongest impression on me was the kitchen, especially the team of women working together. the food was excellent, a real pleasure to eat, although my still rather painful knee made it easier for me to stand and eat at one of the tables rather than in the traditional manner seated on the floor. although food is free, those eating may perform some service to the temple in thanks for their food, or give an donation of some kind, which we gladly did.

southall is now britain’s holy city, apparently with places of worship for over 50 religions or denominations. brother daniel faivre’s ‘glimpses of a holy city’ published in 2001 after more than 20 years of living in southall gives a good insight into some of this diversity.

More pictures on My London Diary.

All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated, are taken by and copyright of Peter Marshall, and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.