About Our Temple Continued…
In 1978, the committee had changed. The new committee, now having the land to build on, decided to visit all Valmiki families at their homes to explain the idea of building a temple, & also request financial help towards the project. With the grace of Bhagwan Valmik Ji, every single Valmiki family in Bedford & most of the Britain made very generous donations. It is worth mentioning that we also had gracious donations from other Punjabi communities within Bedford.
By this time a hierarchy of voluntary responsibility had been established to form the official committee, and this evolved with the following Valmiki’s:
| Chairman | The late Mr Niku Kalyan |
| President | The late Mr Bachana Kalyan |
| Vice President | Mr Dalip Kumar Nahar |
| General Secretary | Mr Swaran Singh |
| Assistant Secretary | The late Mr Joginder Paul Dhariwal |
| Cashier | The late Mr Geja Ram Sahonte |
| Assistant Cashier | Mr Kartar Chand Sahonte |
| Auditor | Mr Mahendar Lal Kalyan |
| Cultural Secretary | Mr Jasbir Singh Kalyan |
| Main Preacher | The late Mr Madho Singh Kalyan |
| Executive Member | Mr Gurmeet Singh |
| Executive Member | Mr Chone Lal |
| Executive Member | Mr Amarjit Singh |
| Executive Member | The late Giani Bhagat Singh |
| Executive Member | The late Mr Balbir Dutt |
| Executive Member | The late Mr Ram Chand Nahar |
During this time, the Valmiki’s made great personal sacrifices, especially with only a very small number of our elders from a rural background and being generally unfamiliar with the language and culture of Britain.
Also relying on public transport, when only a handful of our elders owning any vehicles themselves. Not to say that our current Valmiki community is doing any less, they are also making great contributions in various forms. Many first & second generations British Valmiki’s are following the path laid down by our founders and of course Bhagwan Valmik Ji.
The BVS, Bedford constitution states that every two years the Bhagwan Valmiki Committee is required to be re-elected by the Valmiki Community.
The present committee members for the term of 2018/20 are:
| Chairman | Jasbir Singh Kalyan |
| President | Tarsem Kalyan |
| Vice President | Mrs Jaswinder Kalyan |
| General Secretary | Shashi Sahonta |
| Asst. General Secretary | Tejinder Sidhu |
| Treasurer | Nirmala Sahonte |
| Cultural Secretary | Kartar Chand |
| Executive Member | Raja Ram Sabarwal |
| Executive Member | Mrs Gejo Dhap |
| Executive Member | Amarjit Sahonta |
| Executive Member | Tejinder Nahar |
| Executive Member | Tarlok Gharu |
| Executive Member | Abishek |
| Executive Member | Ryan Gill |
| Executive Member | Rooplal Kalyan |
The committees’ responsibly is to advance the Valmiki religion through the teachings of Bhagwan Valmik Ji and the Maha Ramayana. Also to increase the welfare of our Valmiki community through social & religious services, to run & maintain the temple, & hold public meetings to propagate these teachings and advice the community of recent achievements and the current status
The property and land of the Sabha in Bedford is invested into three Trustees, who have been appointed by the committee, and these Trustees will remain unchanged unless requested by the Valmiki Community.
Trustee Kuldip Sahonte
Trustee Bakrishan Meeda
Trustee Prem Kalyan
Note: All information contained within this page is taken from the Bhagwan Valmik Sabha, Bedford documented records & where no documentation was available, and the information has been received from talking to our elders within our community.
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Bhagwan Valmik Ji Birth Anniversary Celebrations