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A Brief History - How it all happened |
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Valmikis started arriving in the UK to find work & some settled here
in Bedford during the 1960’s. In the late 1960’s, a number of these, now our elders, decided that we should organise our community and formed our own Valmiki Committee in Bedford. The main founder committee members were:
Over a number of years our community grew in Bedford, & across the UK. The then committee thought that our community would greatly benefit from having our own place of worship. Therefore, in 1975, the committee managed to purchase the land where our temple stands today. The committee members responsible for this milestone
included: The Trustee members were:
In 1978, the committee had changed. The new committee, now having the land to build on, decided to visit all Valmiki families at their homes to explain the idea of building a temple, & also request financial help towards the project. Thankfully, every single Valmiki family in Bedford & most of the UK made very generous donations. It is worth mentioning that we also had gracious donations from other Punjabi communities within Bedford. The committee members, who did this excellent work, were:
During this time, the Valmikis made great personal sacrifices, especially with only a very small number of our elders having a limited knowledge of the English language & relying on public transport, when a very few of our elders owned any forms of vehicle. Not to say that our current Valmiki community is doing any less, they are also making great contributions in various forms. Many first & second generation British Valmikis are following the path laid down by our founders. Every two years the Bhagwan Valmiki Committee changes. The present committee members, since Sep 2001 are:
Executive Members:
The committee responsibly is to advance the Valmiki religion through the teachings of Bhagwan Valmik Ji and the Maha Ramayana. And to increase the welfare of our Valmiki community through social & religious services, to run & maintain the temple, & hold public meetings to propagate these teachings. We also have Trustees, who are life members. The property of the Sabha is invested into Nine Trustees, who have been appointed by the committee. The current Trustees are:
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Note: All information contained within
this page is taken from the Bhagwan Valmik Sahba, Bedford documented
records & where no documents are available the information gathered is
from talking to our elders within our community.
Researchers: Ram Dhariwal, Jaswinder Kumar Kalyan, and Dalip Kumar Nahar. |