A new centre for Hindus in Swindon has opened after the closure of the temple in Cheney manor.

The new Hindu Centre is in Wyvern House in Theatre Square opposite the Central Library.

Ravi Venkatesh said the venture was something of a co-operation between Hindu Samaj Swindon, the town’s oldest Hindu organisation set up 50 years ago and the Swindon Temple Co-ordination group which was set up soon after the closure of the temple in Cheney Manor in October 2021 after a series of break-ins.

After a seven-year lease agreement was agreed upon with Swindon Borough Council to use the former office building in August volunteers worked hard to get the building ready for the opening at the start of the month.

Mr Venkatesh said: “It took some 3 weeks for some dedicated volunteers to get the Wyvern House in a reasonable state for the Grand Opening which took place last weekend. The Swindon Hindu Centre is for all communities of Swindon to utilise and the prayer room can be used by devotees to come and pray.”

The new institution has a stairlift to allow those who might struggle with stairs to get to the centre and prayer room on the first floor.

Hundreds of devotees visited the centre on its first weekend as a number of councillors including the Mayor of Swindon and Councillor Abdul Amin were present.

Mr Venkatesh said: “We were extremely honoured to have the Mayor of Swindon take some time off his busy diary to visit us and partake in the Aarti (religious ritual of worship) and engage with the devotees during his visit. The Mayor has shown his full support for this venture.”

Mr Venkatesh added the representations of Hindu deities used in the centre have been donated by the Adhen family.

He said: “The SHC are eternally grateful to the family. We thank them for entrusting the keeping of the Deities from the first Hindu Temple in Swindon founded in 1997 at Irston Way to us.

“The late Kiran and Gurmeet Adhen established this first Hindu Temple in their garage and in their humble way welcomed devotees to their temple.

"We were delighted to welcome Gurmeet and daughter Kuvee to the opening of the Swindon Hindu Centre and perform Aarti to inaugurate the Deities in their new home.”

Initially, the centre will open every Sunday between 12-2pm but as refurbishment work progresses the plan is to have the centre open more often and for longer.

See the centre’s Facebook page at facebook.com/SwindonHC for more details and further news.