Ramgarhia Gurdwara – Coventry

Ramgharia Gurdwara, Foleshill Road is in fact the first ‘Sikh Temple’ to have been built in Coventry. The Gurdwara, now 1 of 3 on the same road, was opened in 1965. In fact, the first announcement of its impending opening made the front page of the Coventry Evening Telegraph in 1965. The original building was ‘a large detached house at 1,103 Foleshill Road’ which had ‘been empty for over a year’ and was ‘bought by Ramgharia Brothers about a month ago’ (roughly, March 1965) after a three year struggle to find a suitable location. The house was then transformed thanks to the ‘tremendous amount of work to clear the grounds of the house, paint the exterior walls white and decorate inside,’ in addition, ‘two first-storey rooms in the house’ were converted ‘into a room where worship will take place’. The leader of the new local community was Mr Dedar Singh (a Coventry factory worker), the secretary one, Mr Surinder Singh (a G.P.O engineer) and the president Mr. Udham Singh. The first Gurdwara built in Coventry was opened, without incident (unlike the opening of Guru Nanak Prakash a year or so later), on 11th April 1965, in time ‘for the important Sikh festival of Baisakhi which takes place next Sunday.’ The opening was attended by the Lord Mayor of Coventry, Alderman Tom Whiteman. The first Gurdwara in Coventry was shortly after opening visited by Sant Fateh Singh, on his first trip to England, and was described by the Coventry Evening Telegraph as ‘their [the Sikhs] leader.’ Fateh Singh arrived in Coventry on 20th September 1966, visiting Coventry Cathedral and the Lord Mayor of Coventry, Alderman E. M. Rogers before visiting the newly established Ramgharia Gurdwara, ‘taking part in a two-hour service in the Temple’ and then leaving to ‘visit the other Sikh temple in Coventry on Foleshill Road.’ The original building then underwent further work in 1969, with £18,000 being invested by the community, it took six months to finish renovating an existing hall, and re-opened on 9th November 1969, to coincide with 500 years since the birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. As this Gurdwara was the heart of the East African Ramgharia/Tharkan community, much of the building work was done by ‘carpenters, joiners, labourers and other tradesmen’ who ‘set to work each evening, shortly after leaving their places of employment.’ However, it was, ‘First Developments Ltd of Rugby, designed the structure to the requirements of the architect, Mr. Edward Byron, made the foundations, and erected the main structure, with roof and first floor.’ The new carpeted hall cost £900 and measured 65ft by 32ft and an additional cost of ‘£275 for carpet in the hall entrance on the stairs.’ There are a number of other references to Ramgharia Gurdwara in the following years but the most interesting include one from 1971, when the newly elected Gurdwara committee raised more than £100 (about £1000 today) ‘for the East Bengal refugees.’ Members of the committee included:

• President: Sohan Singh Bansal
• Vice-President: Charan Singh Birdi
• General Secretary: Joginder Singh Bhamra
• Joint Secteary: Jaswant Singh Birdi
• State Secretary: Peja Singh Josh
• Treasurer: Didar Singh Bansal
• Joint Treasuer: Avtar Singh Sahota
• Auditor: Sawran Singh Ubhi (14)