Shree Krishna Temple

By Babu Govind Garala MBE

Migration of East African Asians to U.K. commenced in 1965. At that time there was no place of worship for the Hindu Community of Coventry. In 1967 a ladies group first celebrated the 9-days Hindu Religious festival of Navratri at the Old St. Marks School on Stoney Stanton Road with the kind help of Rev. Cannon Peter Berry.

Weekly prayer followed at the some site.  Though the site was inadequate, in 1970 it was acquired and substantial internal renovation was carried out. Deities were installed in 1973 and the first Hindu Temple of Coventry was opened as a place of worship for the Hindu Community. Soon after the opening of the Temple, Coventry City Council issued a Compulsory Purchase Order for the site.

An Action group was formed by the Temple trustees of 5 members including myself.  Dr. Maganbhai Patel chaired this Action group. We kept negotiating with the Council for various alternative sites.

1985 saw a break-through when the present site of the Temple was offered in exchange for the old site.  Preliminary contracts were exchanged. The building work started in 1987 and was completed in 1992.

Consisting of a Temple Hall, Multi purpose Hall and Dining Hall at an approximate cost of one million pounds, which was mainly donated by the Gujarati Hindu Community. A small Urban Programme grant was obtained for the Multi Purpose Hall.  This was a wonderful achievement for the small Gujarati Hindu Community of Coventry.

For me personally it was a dream come true for my late father Govind Hari Garala who conducted the first prayer meeting and was the first President of the Temple.  He always wanted a new purpose built Temple in Coventry.

The design of the building was awarded the R.I.B.A. - Times Community Design Award which was presented by the then patron, His Royal Highness the Price of Wales.

The organisation running the Temple is a registered charity run by volunteers and Honorary Trustees.  Beside the place of worship it is visited by Schools, Colleges, Universities, Students, teachers, Lecturers and Prison Officers for educational purposes. The multi purpose hall is used for weddings, meetings, sporting activities etc.

We kept two large religious festivals.  The first one in 1993 was the nine days Ramayan recital at Coundon Hall Park.  The second one was held in 1997 for 3 days Surya Yagna at Coombe Abbey Park.  At both festivals the participation of the devotees was from local, national and international levels.

We built two new schools in Gujarat, which was recently affected by the earthquake disaster from the funds donated by the well wishers and Congregation Members of the Temple.

My involvement has been from the very beginning, organising a nine days festival done by the ladies group to the present time.  

February 2003 (Based on a presentation to Coventry Rotary Club)

This page was last updated 31/03/03

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