extracts taken from http://www.ghspreston.co.uk/

 The Gujarat Hindu Society (Preston hindu temple) was established in 1965 to cater for and service the needs of the local community in Preston. Today Gujarat Hindu Society is engaging the community by providing Sport & Recreational facilities, Education, Social Services and a cultural base for the community in Preston, Lancashire. The temple runs over thirty different activities with the help of volunteers and a core staff of five members.

 Putting down Roots

In the early 60's the first Hindu families, mainly from the state of Gujarat in India came to Preston, Lancashire. They came to work in the cotton mills and to improve the standards of living for their families. Almost all communities who are migrants globally have the desire to maintain their cultural heritage Gujarat Hindu Society was no exception. The birth of Gujarat Hindu Society took place at 4 Glover Street in a small terraced house, situated in the Avenham Ward of Preston around  1965.

The building was actually the home of one of the members who very kindly allowed one of the rooms in the house to be used for the purposes of meetings and receiving correspondence. Avenham was where most of the Hindu community resided and 4 Glover Street naturally provided a convenient meeting placed. A group of approximately 12 individuals formed a committee to place cultural heritage on the agenda of the rest of the community.            

The members at this time identified a number of activities, which the society should be involved in.

  • These included the following

  • Teaching Mother tongue for their children.

  • Celebration of festivals

  • Teaching of Hindu Dharma.

  • Cultural heritage

The main difficulty being that there was no place for Hindus in Preston to come together to pray as a congregation and engage in religious activities as a community. In order to try and meet this need the members occasionally organized prayer meetings in local venues.(Preston hindu temple) They brought with them community skills that complimented the work that was already being carried out by the members.

contact the  ghsenterprise@hotmail.com for more info or more info on the hindu preston temple contact http://www.ghspreston.co.uk/