Historic gurdwara
Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall
One of the largest gurdwaras outside India, serving the Sikhs of Southall in west London. The congregation grew from meetings in private homes in the 1940s and 1950s, merged into its present form in 1964 and opened its present building in 2003.
History
- 1940s to 1964
From homes to a hall
The gurdwara's own history says the first Sikhs to reach Southall came in the 1940s and 1950s and used their homes for worship. As numbers grew, programmes moved to Shackleton Hall and then to 11 Beaconsfield Road.
Sikhs coming from Malaysia and Singapore formed a second body, Guru Nanak Singh Sabha. The two stayed separate until they merged in 1964 as Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall.[Web]
- 1964 to 1967
The first gurdwara
In 1964 the merged body opened its first gurdwara at The Green, which also served as its headquarters. The site is still held, with plans for a community centre there. The history also tells of a dairy that the sangat turned into a gurdwara within weeks. In April 1967 a Khanda was brought from the Toshakhana at Sri Harmandir Sahib for an Amrit Sanchar of about two hundred people in Southall.[Web]
- 1970s to 1981
Community and public life
Wikipedia records racial tension in Southall in these years. Gurdip Singh Chaggar, a Sikh teenager, was killed in a racist attack in 1976. The gurdwara's history says it took part in the Sikh response to racism in the 1970s, and in campaigns for turbans and other Sikh practice at work and in public life. In May 1981 it fed marchers of the People's March for Jobs and gave sleeping space to 200 of them.[Web][Web]
- 1984 to 2003
The present building
The Sabha bought the Park Avenue site in 1984 and moved there in 1997, to free the Havelock Road site for a new building. Wikipedia says building began in March 2000 and cost £17.5 million, met by donations from local Sikhs. The gurdwara opened on 30 March 2003. Havelock Road has since been renamed Guru Nanak Road.[Web][Web]
- Today
Today
The Sabha reports over 15,000 worshippers and visitors a week across its two sites. Its main hall seats up to three thousand, with a second hall for a thousand more, and it puts the capacity of its langar hall at up to 20,000 meals weekly. It also set up Khalsa Primary School at Norwood Hall. Wikipedia counts ten gurdwaras in Southall, home to London's largest Sikh community.[Web][Web][Web]
What the sources disagree on
- The 2003 opening
The gurdwara's history says the then Prince of Wales inaugurated it on 30 March 2003. Wikipedia gives the same opening date but says his visit took place in June 2003.[Web][Web]
- How large it is
Wikipedia variously calls it the largest gurdwara in London, one of the largest outside India, and the largest outside Asia. The gurdwara describes itself as the leading gurdwara outside India. These rankings have not been independently confirmed.[Web][Web][Web]
Images
Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Southall, as uploaded to Commons in August 2005 by the photographer.
Sukh (Commons user), by 2005. Public domain. Source
