NEWSLETTER NO 1, 16 July 2007
Inaugural message by Niranjan Vakharia, Chairman Leeds Hindu Temple
 
Respected Elders, Brothers and Sisters
Jai Shree Krishna and Jai Shree Ram
As you are aware the Leeds Hindu Temple Management committee elections were held on Sunday 17th June 2007 to manage the affairs of the Hindu Temple for the coming two years. Following counting of the votes, six successful candidates were elected for the management committee. It gives me great pleasure in announcing the outcome of the elections and respective committee positions as follows.
Niranjan Vakharia______ Chairman
Ushaben Bhardwaj______Vice Chair Person
Chiragiben Solanki______Secretary
Pal Sandhir____________Treasurer
Kishore Dhabi__________Committee Member
Narahari Joshi_________ Committee Member
 
On behalf of the committee, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the members who came on the day of the election to cast their vote and show their support, We would also like to extend our special thanks to the electoral board for thair role in the election and all the volunteers who helped facilitate the process on that day.
The election process this year highlighted some important issues with regards to membership as it became apparent that some members were not eligible to vote on the day due to their membership being expired. As per the rules of the constitution of the Hindu Charitable Trust (HCT) this meant the electoral board had no choice but to prevent these individuals from voting. To ensure this does not happen in the future we recommend members check the status of their membership to ensure that it is valid at all times. If in doubt, please do not hesitate to contact a committee member who will be delighted to answer you queries.
Please note that according to the constitution annual membership runs from the 1st January to the 31st December of the same year regardless of when you renewed the membership. The committee will attempt to collect membership contributions at our annual navratri function to run from January to December.
As usual Temple facilities i.e. the community-hall, kitchen and dining hall are available for hire. Any enquiries should be directed to Mrs Usha Bhardwaj (0113 230 7106) or the priest at temple who will be happy to help.
Our immediate aim as a committee is to fulfil the religious requirements of our community and continue to celebrate the religious events throughout the year. We also have a number of other activities in our future plans however, it is important to remember that such activities should not be a burden on our financial resources. Preservation and appropriate use of Temple funds (generated primarily from donations) is considered very important and as a committee we have an obligation to ensure such funds are not misused or indeed a situation arises where the temple is unable to meet the running costs.
A large number of members have expressed their desire for renovation/re-building of the kitchen and dining hall with a subsequent view to proceeding with development of a community centre. As the prospective renovations will require funding all donations are very gratefully received. Please note that it is considered very important that the Hindu Charitable Trust retains sovereignty over the property owned which may be relinquished if grants are sourced from other areas. Therefore, in order to prevent this it is vital that funds are generated from within our community.
Due to time constraints we were unable to print translations of this month's newsletter in Gujarati and Hindi. The management committee would like to offer our sincerest apologies and in future hope to publish newsletters in English, Hindi and Gujarati
If you prefer newsletter by e-mail instead of hardcopy please write to us with your e-mail address, we will add you on our e-mail shot list at our earliest.