Northampton Hindu community's search for new home is over

Neelam Aggarwal-Singh said the excitement in the community had been phenomenal

A group of Hindu worshippers has finally found a new home after more than a decade of searching.

They had hoped to build a new temple, or mandir, in Northampton but were unable to find funding for the project.

They are now converting an old Christadelphian hall in the town into a mandir.

The first religious ceremony at the new venue takes place on Monday to mark Annakut - which means "a mountain of food" and is part of Diwali.

The Indian Hindu Welfare Organisation (IHWO) was set up in 1996 to enhance the lives of Northampton's Hindu community and develop partnerships with other groups.

The new mandir is close to Northampton town centre

From 2005 to 2012, the IHWO was based at the council-owned Rectory Farmhouse, but it had to move out because there were problems with the building.

During its time at the Farmhouse, the IHWO came up with a £10m plan to create a mandir in Lings Farm in Northampton.

The planned £10m mandir and community building is still the IHWO's long-term aim

The project included sports and leisure facilities and sheltered housing as well as the worship space.

Some nearby residents opposed the scheme as they were worried about a possible increase in traffic and pressure on parking spaces.

Permission was granted for work to start in 2012 but funding proved hard to come by. The IHWO took a lease on Weston Favell Parish Hall and continued to fundraise.

Then, in September, the Christadelphian hall in St Michael's Road came up for auction and the IHWO bought it.

The IHWO is well known for the Diwali festival in Northampton, which includes giant puppets parading through the streets

Neelam Aggarwal-Singh, from the IHWO, said: "People's prayers have been answered and I never realised how much this means to people - the excitement in the community has been phenomenal.

"Schools are getting really excited because, until now, we have not been able to accept school visits because we didn't have a mandir and we have been sending them to Wellingborough, whereas now I have schools asking 'can we have a visit to the mandir?'"

An open day introduced the local community to the new mandir in Northampton

The IHWO has already staged an open day, but the first religious event will be Annakut.

As part of the festival, devotees prepare and offer a large variety of vegetarian food to the god, Krishna, as a mark of gratitude.

Ms Aggarwal-Singh said the plan to create a new building had not been dropped.

"What we have done now is a stepping stone exercise," she said.

"We are still working [on the new-build project] in parallel to this."