Mr Niranjan Vakaria, The Chairman

10th February 2012

Newsletter No. 17

Dear Respected elders, brothers and sisters.

Welcome to the first newsletter of 2012! Let me begin by wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2012.
I hope this year will mirror our efforts of the last and see our Mandir go from strength to strength. In
order to highlight this I would like to remind you of our newsletter from the 18th February 2011 in which
I mentioned our aims were to complete the following:

1. Construction of a mezzanine floor for use as a reception room for wedding guests (including
shower facilities). . Done - Now completed and ready to use.
2. Installation of the lift. . Done - Luckily after negotiations with various companies we have
managed to strike a deal and managed to install a Swedish platform lift. It gives me great
pleasure to say the lift is now fully installed and ready to use. I would like to urge to all members
to please be considerate when using the lift and ensure it is used only be those who really need
it. Any misuse will not be tolerated. Any member wishing to contribute to the cost of its
installation and mark this by way of a commemorative plaque should contact a committee
member.
3. Additional storage facilities . Done. Above the lift shaft and toilets, construction of additional
storage space is now complete with a weight limit of 500 kg. It is equipped with an electric hoist
to facilitate the transport of sacred deities and other articles. Many thanks go to the Mr
Purnendu Kumar Das for his generous contribution of £2000.00 towards the cost.

This year we hope to complete the ceiling in first floor hall (Naklank Bhavan). Work is currently
underway to install a theatrical type ceiling with a modern lightning facilities and an air gap to allow us
to save a considerable amount of energy.

May I remind you all that in regard to weddings, we now have an in-house registrar to conduct wedding
ceremonies making our facilities even more appealing and also means couples no longer have to attend
the registry office to complete to legal formalities thereby saving them valuable time on their wedding
day and lifting any restriction on the number of attendees.

Many of you will have attended functions in our new facilities and I would like to request that all
members make the most of them by hiring them for their functions. A pricelist detailing the charge for
hire is displayed on the notice board in the temple and please don’t hesitate to contact a committee
member to arrange a booking.

A significant number of members have donated minimum £1151.00 (and more) to become life
members. Once again I would like to say big thank you for your loyalty and support towards the temple.
A certificate of life membership and souvenir silver coin has been presented to those who have become

life members. If you have not received yours as yet then may I request you to contact Amrish Panday
or Jagdishbhai Raval. I would also like to encourage those members who have not yet become life
members to do so at their earliest convenience.

As mentioned in our last Annual General Meeting it was decided that once the construction project is
completed we will hold an Election for Trustees and the Management Committee. I hope this year we
will be able to carry out the elections. In order to be eligible to vote in the elections you need to be a
member of the Mandir and for those who have not renewed their memberships for 2012, may I
encourage you to do so.

In other news, we once again celebrated our cultural Diwali show at the Leeds Town Hall. Guests
included Mr R. Swain (Deputy to the consulate general of India), the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of
Leeds, and many local councillors. I would like to thank all the participants and volunteers who made
the event successful and hope to see them participate again this year.

Our Durga Pooja celebrations were another great success and were very well attended by many
devotees from all over England. In addition, for the first time devotees of Kartik swami celebrated
Navratri Pooja, Saraswati Pooja - Ayudha Pooja.

I would like to make special mention and give a huge thank you to the Ram Dev Pir Bhajan Mandali who
have agreed to donated £21,000.00 for the naming of the 1st floor hall. The hall is to be named Naklank
Bhavan and to celebrate this there will be a Grand Opening ceremony on Saturday 24th March 2012.
The celebrations will include Dhwaja Rohan by Sant Bapu with religious rituals followed by the official
opening ceremony, bhajans and bhojan. Sant Bapu has no language barrier he sings bhajans in Gujarati,
Hindi and Swahili! Further details will be posted on the temple notice board closer to the time.

As usual there are a great number of events scheduled in the coming months, full details of these events
is included in the religious programme (distributed alongside our newsletter) and we look forward
seeing you all at these events. An event coming up soon which has been organised by Devotees of Sri
Sathya Sai Baba is on Sunday 19th February 2012, from 10.00am to 5.00pm titled "Heart to Heart -
Spirituality and Self-Development." This programme will include workshops, bhajans and prasadam.
All are welcome.

To ensure you continue to receive newsletters please make sure your membership is up to date, for
those who need to renew please do so by contacting Palji, Amrish Panday or Jagdishbhai at Temple.
You can also do your bit for the environment and receive your copy of the newsletter by E-Mail.
To register please send a request to vtsvakharia@hotmail.com.

The management committee would like to take this opportunity to pay their respects to members of the
community who have sadly passed away. Our thoughts are with the families and relatives. Let us pray
and remember our loved ones.

Naniben G. Chauhan Govindbhai Lallubhai Parmar

Sushila N. Datta Balubhai Patel

Haribhai Prabhubai Parmar Laxmiben D. Sharma

Chandrakantbhai Jagjivan Parmar Diwaliben C. Sonigra.

Prabudasbhai P Parmar

Best Wishes

Niranjan J Vakharia

Previous Newsletter

Newsletter No. 16 23rd September 2011

Respected Elders, Brothers and sisters

Jai Shree Krishna

I hope this newsletter finds you in the best of health and happiness!

It gives me a great pleasure to begin this newsletter by updating you on the most recent advances in our new upstairs hall. As you will be aware, there has been a long standing need for a lift to allow those unable to climb stairs to enjoy our upstairs facilities. I am pleased to announce that we have ordered a bespoke lift from Sweden, which we hope to install in October/November in the new function/dining hall. This will be a tailor-made lift and be specially fabricated to our specifications and mark an important step in reaching our goal.

The Utara room upstairs has also been completed, which includes a shower and changing facilities intended for use by the bride/groom during wedding ceremonies. In addition, a suitable place has been created for the safe storage of our Maa Durga deity and other Devis after the coming Navaratri celebrations.

The car park has undergone a significant transformation and is now much improved having been resurfaced. I would kindly request that when parking your car please do so with due consideration for our disabled and elderly members. Please avoid blocking other members cars, however, if this is necessary (in an emergency) please leave your name and mobile number clearly visible in your windscreen so you can be contacted in the event your vehicle needs to be moved.

With god’s grace we have had a number of bookings for the new hall as we now have beautiful facilities to host marriages with civil registrations and a number of other functions. The increase in demand is in no small part thanks to our fully equipped kitchen. I would like to invite all members to make use of the facili􀆟es and support our Mandir.

During the forthcoming Navaratri celebrations we will be accepting membership renewals for the year 2012. At the time of renewal please ensure you give an up-to-date address to ensure delivery of newsletters. (Life members need not worry unless they have recently moved house). Please retain your receipts and let us know if you are happy for us to claim gift aid relief.

For the third year running Durga Pooja Committee are going to celebrate Durga Pooja festival on the 1st floor of the new hall and you are all invited to attend, please refer to the religious programme for timings.

For the first time Murugan Swami devotees are going to celebrate Navratri pooja.

The programme is as follows:

All 9 days of Navaratri (28th September – 5th October) 6.45pm to 7.30 pm.

• Durga pooja - 28th - 30th September

• Lakshimi Pooja - 1st - 3rd October

• Saraswathi Pooja - 3rd - 5th October

• Vijayadasami - 6th October

If you wish to sing any special songs on these days at the pooja please do come prepared and let us know.

On Wednesday 5th October - we will have a special pooja for Saraswati Maa - where we get the opportunity to place children’s books, and tools of work etc in front of Saraswati maa to get her blessings. This is hugely celebrated in India as Ayudha Pooja. It will begin at 7.30pm and there will be opportunity for children to perform singing, dancing or play musical instruments at the temple. Please contact Mr Pathmanathan if you want your child to take part.

On Thursday 6th October (Vijayadashami) we will have pooja in the morning from 10:00 – 11:00am during which young children may take their first steps in education - Eadu Thodanguthal where children (at the age of startng school) will bless their education by writing with rice at the temple. Please contact Mr Pathmanathan if you want your child to take part in this. This is also a blessed time to start any new venture.

Once again we will celebrate our Diwali Cultural programme in the Town Hall on Sunday 30th October 2011, the tickets will be available during the Navaratri festival and thereafer in the Mandir.

Shortly after our election, the management committee and I promised you that if every member of the family donated £500.00 we would ensure that our dreams of a beautiful new function hall would come true. I encourage you all to come and see for yourselves what we have achieved with your generous donations and support. In the next year we hope to have a general meeting and decide our future direction regarding electons for the management committee and trustees.

Soon our dream will come true and I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all members who put their trust in the management committee to deliver all of the facilities we now enjoy.

Previous Newsletter

Newsletter No. 15 20th July 2011

Brothers, Sisters & Respected Elders,

Welcome to the July 2011 newsletter. I hope it reaches you in the best of health and that you are
enjoying the summer holidays. The holidays provide an ideal opportunity for everybody to join in
the religious activities and also a chance for the children to learn about our culture and traditions.

A BIG THANK YOU

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all the members who have showed their faith and
trust in the present management committee and donated generous amounts of money. In
conjunction with the gift aid scheme we have been able to obtain a refund of nearly £25,000 for the
year end April 2009. This would not have been possible without your valuable support. In order for
us to be able to gain the full benefit from the gift aid scheme please ensure any donations made in
the Bandar and enclosed within an envelope to be completed with your details (available from
Panditji).

UPDATE ON OUR NEW COMMUNITY PROJECT

The first floor hall is to be named the NAKALANK BHAVAN hall. This is following the generous
donation of £21,000 promised by the Shree Ramdevpir Bhajan Mandal and Garba Group. A ceremony
will be held in the near future.

The first floor toilet facilities have been completed to a very high standard and the back changing
(utara) room is under construction and will have a shower, locker and changing room facilities for
visiting wedding guests. Construction of the storage room adjacent to kitchen is also in progress.

In the kitchen we now have a hot plate for roti making; our sincere thanks go to all the members of
Punjabi Mahila Mandal for making this possible with their kind donation.

The car park has also now been cleaned, laid with hard scalping, sprayed with tarmac and finally
topped with grit to avoid slippage during bad weather and snow fall.

Negotiations are also currently ongoing for the installation of a lift which will cost approx £23,000,
as usual any donations to help with this will be gratefully received.

Over the past few months we have seen rapid progress with our new community hall and temple.
Members will also note that the main temple has gone through a maintenance phase. Painting of the
main hall and outer hall has been completed. It has been noted over the past few years that there is a
regular build up of soot in the main temple, in order to prevent this we kindly request that the
burning of agarbatti is not carried out. In addition, it has also been observed that excessive mustard
oil has been poured onto Hanumanji, please could all members exercise caution in this matter.

OTHER IMPORTANT MATTERS

Management committee like to request as follows.

1 Please park your car with due consideration for other users. Don’t forget to leave your name or
mobile number CLEARLY on display in the event of your vehicle causing an obstruction (Use of
car park is at your own risk, and the management accepts no responsibility)
2 Children must be supervised by parents especially in toilet area and outer hall. Playing in the outer
hall often disturbs the religious programmes.
3 Please do not request take-away of Bhojan Prasadi until all the members present have finished, as
refusal often offends.
4 To speed up disposal of used dinner plates, please be kind enough empty any leftover food in the
appropriate bins and to stack the plates properly. This will help to reduce the volume of waste we
create and allow us to save money on waste disposal.
5 Please remember all members helping are volunteers so please treat them with courtesy and
respect. Volunteers are always welcome to help with the arranging of tables prior to langhar and
cleaning of the dining hall and utensils afterwards.

REMEMBER IT IS YOUR TEMPLE TOO!!

REGULAR PROGRAMMES

. Jalaram bhajan and bhojan is held on every second Thursday of the month. If you wish to sponsor
the bhajan please contact Panditji (Please disregard any rumours of cancellation unless expressly
informed by the management committee).
. Mata ki Chowki is to be held on the first Sunday of every month, starting from Sunday 7th August.
Sponsors are invited, so please contact Panditji.
. A special talk will be given by Smt. Jaya Row on Friday 12th August 2011 at 7.30pm. She features
regularly on Aastha television channel and is world renowned. The topic will be the “Message of
the Bhagavad Gita”, given in English, and so we would encourage all members and their children
to attend.
. The 2011 Diwali cultural programme is to be held on Sunday 30th October 2011. If you wish to
participate, please contact Chiragi Solanki (Secretary) on 07738 943589 between 1st September to
11th September 2011. REMEMBER TO GET IN TOUCH TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT.