I have been to ... the Shree Kutch Satsang Swaminarayan Hindu Temple in Plumstead

It was Diwali - the Hindu Festival of Light - on Monday, and Sue and I were part of a group who were invited to attend the local Hindu temple, the Shree Kutch Satsang Swaminarayan Temple.

We arrived just before 9.45am, and Sue and I were directed to the respective men's and women's entrances. Once inside, we removed our shoes before entering the temple. A service was already in full swing, and we were invited to sit and watch. At that point, the shrines (sinhaasan) that contained the deities (murtis) were concealed behind curtains, but soon after 10.00am the two priests pulled the curtains back and revealed them. The service continued until just before 10.30am, at which point the men were invited to go into the women's half of the temple. We were then joined by a group of school children from a local primary school, and one of the satsangis (devotees) explained the basic beliefs of Hinduism and the importance of the various deities. She told us the stories of the main gods, the most important of whom as known as the Trimurti and their consorts, the Tridevi:

• Trimurti
• Brahma (The Creator)
• Vishnu (The Preserver)
• Shiva (The Destroyer)
• Tridevi
• Saraswati (The wife of Brahma)
• Lakshmi (The wife of Vishnu)
• Parvati (The wife of Shiva)

She also mentioned:

• Hanuman (The Monkey God who helped Rama - the seventh avatar of Vishnu - and his brother Lakshmana search for and rescue Rama's kidnapped wife, Sita - an avatar of Lakshmi. This story is told in the Ramayana, one of the two epic texts of Hinduism.)
• Ganesh (The Elephant-headed God, who is the son of Shiva and Parvati.)

Before we left, were all given a small gift and allowed to take photographs.

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The site of the temple was formerly an army drill hall, but by 1986 it was no longer in use and was derelict. As Woolwich and Plumstead had a growing Hindu population, many of who came from India and Kenya, the site was bought for £45,000 by a group of Hindus who wanted to build a temple. Once the land had been acquired and the site had been cleared, building work began, and by 1988 the temple was completed and it was inaugurated on 20th to 28th August.

By the 2010s the original building was proving too small for the congregation, and in 2017 it was remodelled and expanded. The building now houses the largest Hindu temple in Southeast London and Northwest Kent as well as a nursery, a supplementary school, a large function room, and provides Gujarati Shaala and music lesson as well as services for the elderly.