School History and Background
Gujaratis in general and Kutchis in particular have for generations been sea faring people. By the turn of the 20th century many of them had travelled to East African countries in search of new areas of employment and business opportunities. They always desired to maintain, promote and propagate their own culture, tradition and religion. They firmly believe that desire can be best achieved through their mother tongue - Gujarati. The then British governments in these East African countries incorporated the Gujarati language as one of the curriculum subjects up to higher school levels.
In the early 1960's due to social, economical and political changes in these East African countries many Gujaratis emigrated from East Africa to the U.K. In the early years due to smaller number of Gujaratis the schools in the U.K did not cater for the Gujarati language, however the Gujaratis wanted to retain their culture and language. As their numbers grew larger, various people with similar ethnical, social, cultural and religious upbringings got together into groups and bought places where they could meet, exchange views, organise festivals and propagate religious preaching.
In 1975 people originating from Kutch, then living mainly in North-West London bought and renovated a large disused church on Willesden Lane, NW2 for use as place of worship. It was converted and officially opened as a temple in late 1975. On one side it also had a small hall which was used for social and wedding functions. The temple committee being aware that mother-tongue Gujarati is an essential tool in fostering religion and culture decided to organise Gujarati classes t weekends in the social hall. Some young volunteers offered to teach Gujarati free of charge. The temple undertook to bear the full cost of textbooks, pens, writing books and so on. Thus Shree Swaminarayan Temple, Willesden Gujarati School was operational by the end of 1977. A few years later an adjoining property was bought to cater for ever growing number of students.
With the passage of time as the number of congregates at the temple and students in the school grew larger it was decided in 1986 to demolish the existing temple and the adjoining building and build a new three storey temple complex combining traditional Hindu Temple architecture with British design. During the construction period of the new temple the school activity continued uninterrupted elsewhere, as did the religious activity. The temple was completed and officially opened by His Holiness Acharya Maharaj Shree Tejendraprasadji Pande on Friday 29th July 1988 in the presence of learned Saints and devotees from Bhuj, Ahmedabad and other parts of the world.
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