One Community Hampshire and Dorset (OCHD) is delighted to share the news of a major advance for all of our Sikh communities of Southampton and across the South Coast and Hampshire regarding announcement of news that the Office of the Leader of Southampton City Council (Cllr Christopher Hammond), on behalf of the City Council, have officially and enthusiastically supported establishing a memorial to the Sikh community members who served in our British Army in both World Wars,

 One Community Hampshire and Dorset’s Chief Patron, and Chairman of the British Sikh Association, Lord Rami Ranger CBE, and Founders & Directors (Lead Initiator/Founder, CEO, and Director Pritheepal Singh, OCHD Co-Founder and Director, Chairman of Gurdwara Nanaksar, and Chairman of the Council of Southampton Gurdwara’s, Harjap Singh, OCHD Co-Founder and Director, CEO of the UK Nepal Friendship Society, Alan Mercel-Sanca) provide the following joint statement, also joined by OCHD Community Strategic Engagement Advisor, SSAI Artistic Director SOAS University of London, Dr Sanjukta Ghosh:

We salute the decision of Southampton City Council to enthusiastically back the establishment of the Sikh Memorial.  The significance of this support extends far beyond Southampton itself.  We believe the decision will be welcomed all from the highest to grassroots levels that believe in the inclusive values of modern 2020’s multicultural, multiracial, diversity respecting Britain.  OCHD is excited about the opportunities creation of the memorial will bring for a new age of education provision on the topics of equality and diversity, from schools to universities.

Lord Rami Ranger CBE,  Pritheepal Singh, Harjap Singh, Alan Mercel-Sanca, and Dr Sanjukta Ghosh

OCHD is very pleased to in regard to this very important news provide the following: Sikh Memorial Press Release

News Coverage: News of the announcement has appeared on (about 13 minutes into this hyperlink) BBC News, and ITV News.

One Community Hampshire and Dorset has now launched a fundraising page for the Memorial and related educational work, on the top menu of this website (please bookbark and share the page as further updates will be made on it): https://www.ochd.org.uk/sikh-memorial/

For further information please bookmark the news page of OCHD’s website: https://www.ochd.org.uk/news/