SWINDON Hindus laid on a feast of flavour, dance and song to celebrate the launch of their new community library.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Vince Cable was one of the guests of honour on Saturday, brought along by Kishan Devani former deputy chairman of the London Conservative Party, who had just announced he was switching to the Lib Dems.

Praising the members of the temple for reaching out into the wider community with their support for charities like Macmillan Nurses and their efforts to help the homeless, Sir Vince drew a parallel with one of the big themes of Christmas.

He also spoke of his own experience of bringing up a mixed-race family in the UK during the 1960s. Since then immigrants had flourished in the UK and people had become more tolerant. But he added: “I think within the last two years with the Brexit debate, things have gone backwards.”

A proud chairman Pradeep Bhardwarj, said the whole centre project only started 18 months before but it had big ambitions.

On the 20- acre site at Cheney Manor it wanted to create a huge showcase for India’s talents, from food and sport to dance and business.

“I have always believed temples are not just places of worship. It is a lot more than that.” He said that in India they used to be centres of education and trade.

Although there had been Indians and Hindus living in Swindon for the past six decades, until the new centre was opened they had nowhere of their own to gather and socialise as well as worship. It meant many had to celebrate their traditions in isolation.

The plan was to create four arms – religious, social and cultural, community and charity – that would give not just spiritual support but also allow them to teach their children their traditional dance and music.

It would also help them support the wider community with free kitchens, donations to the homeless, teaching meditation to employees of local firms.