Church Road, Hanwell, Bus stop E3 and Church

Last Wednesday I tried to go to three different places in London, and did not reach any of them. I will not reveal to you how stupid the Man in Blue sometimes gets, but only show the result of the first incident that upset my plans.   

An accident had happened just past the junction with the Lower Boston Road blocking the 607 from Southall I was on, and also the 207, 427, 83 and E8. I walked from near the accident bypassing the Hanwell Broadway, which was completely ‘taped off,’ by using side streets and ending up on Church Road. The E3 from Greenford also made us wait and therefore I had time to notice the Church which on an official looking notice announced a Methodist Church and on a small notice announcing a Pentecostal Church. Although both Churches like signing, otherwise they are not the same thing at all !

On the way back I travelled on the same route, thinking that by now the tapes would be removed, but discovered that buses were going into Boston Manor Road and then made a sharp right turn into  Lower Boston Road, which caused a wonderful long queue with many buses in it.

I had a long conversation with Puneet Singh from Northolt, from which hopefully even this stubborn old man learned something.     

 

Hayes, Middlesex, Library, Gurdwara, Church

Library, Golden Crescent, Hayes 
On my way to Bristol I had some time to waste and I decided to spend that time usefully by paying a short visit to the Hayes Gurdwara. I got off at Hayes and Harlington station and walked from the station to the Golden Crescent via St Anselm’s Road and Nield Road. Next to the Gurdwara is this nice building of the Hayes library.

Ramgarhia Sikh Association
Golden Crescent
Hayes, Middlesex UB3 1AQ 

On the left the divan hall, on the right the langar hall and the office

The Palki Sahib

More general view of the divan hall
All you need in a Gurdwara is here, apart from sangat. This simple building, simple divan hall, no frills palki all serve the purpose better than all the gold and marble in the world !

The Immaculate Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church
On the way back I went via Botwell Lane and Station Road and came past this church. The name of the church reminds me of what was written underneath a picture of Mary in a Roman Catholic Church in Simla : Via Mary to Jesus, via Jesus to God.

I am very happy that Guru teaches that we should go straight to God. The Guru is the signpost, not the mediator.

While I took this picture a car stopped next to me and out came John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington.

Updates on my flicker photo account

I took hundreds of pictures during my trip to Belgium and the Netherlands, some of them have been posted on this WebLog, but almost all of them have been uploaded to my flickr account, organised in four sets. There are a wide variety of pictures in the sets, of course a good few of trains and trams, but also of countryside, beach, city scapes, etc etc. There are even pictures of one Belgian and one Dutch Citroen Deux Chevaux, the only car I ever loved.

Benelux August 09.1 St Truiden 

From St Pancras to St Truiden on 05/08 and from St Truiden (Halmaal) to Ieper (Ypres) on 12/08 and everything in between. The Gurdwara, the city of St Truiden, the country side, flowers, country lanes, horses, cattle, flowers, and a large non-flying bird are amongst the subjects of my pictures.

115 pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622046344528/    

Benelux August 09.2 Ieper

Ieper (Ypres) 12, 13 and 14 August. From my arrival in Ieper late afternoon 12/08, all day 13/08 and my travel to Den Haag on 14/08.

Pictures of historical Ieper, reconstructed after the almost complete destruction of the city during World War I , the bulwarks, the Menen Poort (Gate), the many names of fallen soldiers (including those of the Indian Army) on it and the party from Hounslow Singh Sabha coming to Ieper.

61 pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157621976532703/ 

Benelux August 09.3 Netherlands

From 14/08 till 24/08 part 1

Both Den Haag (The Hague) and Amsterdam have trams and I travelled by train from Den Haag to Amsterdam, so I am afraid that there are many pictures of trains, trams, stations etc. But there is also the Den Haag Singh Sabha and the divan held in a school, the interesting wall paintings on buildings along the tram and railway tracks near Den Haag CS.

And I still love Amsterdam, and show you something of my view of the city, including some peculiar houses in the north-west of Amsterdam and a notice on ’spelen zonder hondepoep’.

Geef mij maar Amsterdam, dat is mooier dan Parijs !

106 pictures of which 46 are of my excursion to Amsterdam on 17/08

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622147381380/

Benelux August 09.4 Netherlands

From 14/08 till 24/08 part 2

The last of the Benelux sets. Apart from the trams and Randstad Rail and the trains and more trams again there are some interesting pictures of central Den Haag, the Houses of Parliament, the Haarlem Bulwarks, a huge collection of push-bikes behind Haarlem station and the village of Sloterdijk, near which is the Amsterdam Gurdwara.

The set has now (12/09 19.30 BST) 77 pictures and there about 38 more to come.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622146891077/

Enjoy !

Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

Bristol 28 and 29 July II

The second part of my tour of Bristol Gurdware on 28 July

As I said on the previous posting, I do like this building

On the previous posting you can see both Nishan Sahibs of the Gurdwara, one attached to the porch, and one to the left of it, on top of this marble clad plinth. I like the family dedication.

 Sri Guru Singh Sabha
301-303 Church Road,
St George, Bristol BS5 8AH

The Palki Sahib with a young Singh doing path during the Sikh Missionary Camp

Near the Gurdwara on Fishponds Road this Methodist Church that looks like a shop

Shri Guru Nanak Prakash Singh Sabha
71-75 Fishponds Road
Eastville, Bristol B5 6SF

The Church of God of Prophecy
Tudor Road
I have not yet worked out what message the congregation meeting in this church is trying to give us

More to follow

Bristol 28 and 29 July I

On the 28th and 29th of July I was in Bristol. On the 28th I went from Southall to Bristol, did a tour of Bristol Gurdwaras and ended up at the Sikh Missionary camp at the end of the afternoon. On the 29th in the morning I did two sessions with the older campers, had langar and went back to Southall. Most of the pictures were taken on the first day.

On the way to the Ramgarhia Gurdwara I walked past this masjid

The Central Mosque looks like it once was a church

Ramgarhia Gurdwara
81 – 83 Chelsea Road, Easton, Bristol

A close-up of the same

Gurdwara Sangat Bhat Singh Sabha
11 Summerhill Road, St George, Bristol BS5

Nishan Sahib
A wonderful little building I think

Both these Gurdwaras were firmly closed on a Thursday afternoon

More to follow

Dudley Gurdwara

Before attending the Sikh Security Forum in Birmingham on  27/06 I had just enough time for a bus trip to Dudley and back by bus to take some pictures of one of the local Gurdware.  

Sri Guru Nanak Singh Sabha Gurdwara
118 Wellington Road
Dudley DY1 

Simple brick buildings seem to be the norm for most purpose build Gurdware in the Midlands. 

 

I took the 79 bus from near Snow Hill station to Dudley, giving me a slow but scenic trip along the Soho Road and through Smethwick.

On the way back I noticed that the Baba Deep Singh Gurdwara at the top of Soho Road had all new, all wonderful premises and that the baba dera at the bottom of the Soho Hill was still in the same unfinished state as the last time I saw it.  

 

York Minster II

Meditation from York, Walking in York, Market in York, York Minster, York has been  an inspiration to me. I hope you find York as inspiring as I did. 

A bit dark, the Minster is looming over us …

The small church shown on the first set of pictures seen from the side entrance of the Minster

Minster, church and tourists

The Minster is massive !

It almost looks like an outcrop of rock

That is it folks, end of the York story !  

Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

York Minster I

We went for a walk in York during the annual chaplaincy conference and I have posted two postings on Simran in York, two on going for a walk in York and one on a market in York and a market in Leeds.

This third posting is about the fabulous York Minster, which is a beautiful building and in which we listened to ‘Evensong’ which was even more beautiful !

Look at all the tourists who are not looking at the Minster 

Beautiful trees, beautiful Minster, too many vehicles with internal combustion engines

 
A better view of the Minster, with the entry that was not used for us ordinary mortals

Next to the huge Minster there is this ordinary sized church

Ramgarhia Sikh Gurdwara, Neville Road, East London

Ramgharia Sikh Gurdwara
10-14 Neville Road,
Forest Gate, London E7 9SQ

This is a picture I took quite a while ago, before this Gurdwara was even open. This new Gurdwara is near Upton Road.

The Ramgarhia Community Centre,
also on Neville Road, but nearer Green Street 

The Plashet Road side of the Gurdwara 

The Plashet Road entrance is to the left of the Nishan Sahib

 

A very different Palki !

 

Places of Worship in Southall

Church of God, Norwood Road, Southall
Next to Guru Nanak Darbar, opposite Guru Amardas Gurdwara 

You would think that all Churches, Masjids, Gurdware etc were of God. I strongly suspect that this is an Evangelical church and that the congregation thinks that all Christians who do not go to their type of church are on the path to hell. You will understand that we poor souls following the Guru Granth have not a hope to reach God from their point of view … 

Masjid, Montague Waye, Southall
None to be worshipped but Allah, Mohammed is His Prophet

None to be worshipped but God, the Guru Granth is Her/His prophet. Sounds like a sound principle to me, if we were all to stick to this principle it would end the ‘rule’ of babe and other false Sikh ‘prophets’.   

Baptist Church, Western Road, Southall

Baptist Churches tend to be on the more ’serious’ side of Christianity. Some Baptists have trouble working together with other Christians, others will work with other Christians but might be reluctant to work with people of non-Christian traditions.