UK is one of the most culturally diverse countries on the planet. We have all types of specialities brought in from other cultures such as new cuisines and fashion trends. Places of worship especially not only bring variety into our town but unite communities of a certain faith together.

Take the Bromley Temple for example, which recently opened in March 2014. Bromley Temple is a non-profit organisation for the large population of Hindus in Bromley, and there are gatherings every month where 150 people attend on average.

Dr Sunil Gupta, one of the founding members talks about their vision for the temple, “We realised that our Hindu community was getting bigger and the nearest temple was more than 15 miles away. We needed something to enhance social interaction in our community and connect with our religion, and Bromley temple was the answer.”

Bromley Temple allows the community to celebrate festivals together where the gatherings have numbers up to 500 people. With a big Hindu festival Diwali passing, I was invited to the massive celebration on Saturday 18th October. With approximately 400 people attending, the event was a major success with a talent competition, dancing and dinner.

Alka Kaushik, one of the winners of the talent competition says “People who have just joined our community get an opportunity to enjoy themselves and socialise with each other. It is always one of my favourite events of the year as I can celebrate Diwali with everyone rather than just at home with my family.”

Bromley Temple is still raising funds for future events and gatherings. With more people coming into the community, the temple is expecting lots more numbers in the events and is planning to have weekly activities rather than monthly. 

By Maitrika Gupta, Newstead Wood School