A SWINDON Buddhist group that has raised funds for the British Heart Foundation handed the cash to volunteers yesterday morning.

The Buddhist Community Centre, established in 2012, has been involved with various charities throughout the years and recently decided to give a donation to the foundation after recognising the work it does for the local community.

Buddhist centre representative Jum Bahadur Gurung, also known as JB, handed the BHF the £201 raised from donations made by members of the group.

Popular community champion and former Gurkha JB said: “We think the British Heart Foundation is one of the most important charities in Swindon and we want to encourage as many people as possible to support it.

“Everything we have managed to raise came from members of the group who donated voluntarily. It was they who decided where the money should go and everyone agreed on the BHF.”

The group has previously raised cash for various organisations including the British Red Cross, the Nepalese Association of Wiltshire and for victims of the April 2015 earthquake in Nepal.

The cash was raised from a recent Puja, or prayer programme, that was hosted by members.

JB said: “The aim of the Puja is to spread peace and avoid conflicts in the world, which is what the Buddhist believes.

“Everybody is welcome to get involved with the programme. We don’t want to leave anybody behind in the community.

“I like to give as much of my time as I can to helping the group – I don’t want to be sitting around doing nothing.”

Tomas Kaspryan, store manager at the British Heart Foundation, said: “We are really grateful to this community for their support and generosity in giving us this donation.

“However, it’s not just financial donations we are looking for. We want to make sure the BHF is open for everyone and people should be able to donate anything they want.

“The connection between us and the community is really important and we want to put the shop on the map and develop really good relations with people in Swindon.

“The BHF isn’t just another furniture store. We want to show people just what we can do for Swindon and how we can fit in with the local community.

“We are grateful for every donation, even if it is just £1.”

The British Heart Foundation is the nation’s best known heart charity and the largest independent funder of cardiovascular research in the UK.

For more information visit www.bhf.org.uk.