B R ANCH REPORT
Wellingborough
It’s a great pleasure to submit this article in this
very special edition of Sandesh to mark the 40th
Anniversary of Shree Prajapati Association (UK).
Pre SPA The first Prajapati families arrived in the Wellingborough area in
the late 1950s from India and East Africa. As the number of Hindu families in
Northamptonshire grew during the 1960s, there was a pressing need to unite them all
to preserve our Hindu religion and culture. The driving force behind this was the late
Vallabhbhai Mistry who was instrumental in setting up a local organisation to promote
religious events and activities for all Hindu communities in the area.
Mighty oaks
from little
acorns grow
A new dawn The number of Prajapati families began to grow in the early 1970s,
both locally and nationally, therefore the natural progression was to set up a body
and this culminated in the formation of SPA (UK) in 1975 at a meeting held in Ashton
under Lyne. At this meeting, Northamptonshire had two branches, Wellingborough
led by Vallabhbhai and Mulchandbhai, and Northampton led by Chhotubhai and
Devchandbhai. For many years, both branches were separate and not active at a local
level but fully engaged in HQ activities.
After serving the community for a few years, Chhotubhai had to step down due to
other commitments and Devchandbhai took the helm. He served the branch very
well working closely with Wellingborough, however he had to curtail his services
due to family circumstances. This left a vacant post and no one was willing to step
in and take over. Northampton without any feedback from HQ via a local Samaj
representative were missing out on all the news and activities at a crucial time
when SPA nationally were making enormous strides. At this stage, Vallabhbhai and
Mulchandbhai contacted the Prajapati community in Northampton and started to
include them in all future activities. In 1981, Vallabhbhai moved to Bradford and his
post was filled by Nareshbhai Lad and together with his father in law, Mulchandbhai,
they kept the branch going.
Vallabhbhai
Even with such a small branch and with less than 30 families, Wellingborough were
proud to host the 10th anniversary SPA (UK) programme in 1985 welcoming members
from all branches. In 1991, Wellingborough had a major setback with the passing of
Mulchandbhai which left a huge void as he was the backbone of the branch. His place
was taken by his eldest son Navinbhai and the branch stayed active but at a low level.
Re-birth In 1994, the young Prajapatis of Wellingborough saw the need to take
a more active role and bring all the Northamptonshire youths together. This new
energy resulted in the first properly elected committee which meant the branch was
no longer reliant on a small number of individuals and could also utilise the wider
skill sets and ideas of committee members. Within six months, all of the Prajapatis in
Northamptonshire were under one umbrella as Wellingborough branch.
As participation in Sports Day grew, the branch started winning trophies on a regular
basis especially in Badminton. Branch members also started regularly attending the
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Mulchandbhai