Insight

A photograph from the 12th Annual Hindu Memorial Service

12th Annual Hindu Memorial Service

Since his employment with Dignity back in 2005, North West London Funeral Director, Ashwin Galoria has arranged a memorial service for the families within the Asian community who have entrusted their loved ones to Dignity

Shradh, Ancestors remembrance week within the Hindu calendar, determines the date of each year’s service. More and more families attend each year, including many who have insisted on returning to the event in following years.

Part of the service includes the offering of food. This is later packaged into bags called Prasad for the attendees to take away with them.Other colleagues who have helped Ashwin on the day include, Alpa Parmar, a Funeral Service Arranger from J A Massey in Harrow, Donna Sweeney, a Funeral Service Arranger from H G Brown & Sanders in Heston, Sasch Hassani, a Funeral Service Operative from Spicers & Son in Southall and Davi Delboni, a Funeral Service Operative from Asian Funeral Services in Wembley.

Tina Hill, Business Manager

“Ever since I can remember Ashwin has drawn over 100 people to this service, having arranged and conducted the funerals for many members of each family. He is a man who is always available for the community, quite often visiting families in the comfort of their own homes late into the evening and over the weekend.

His care and commitment is reflected in the number of people here today. For personal reasons this year was especially poignant for Ashwin. I am always overwhelmed by the atmosphere of the service and the depth of the prayers.”

Aside from the memorial service, Ashwin has also managed to collect £1450 of donations for the British Heart Foundation, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Asthma UK, Children with Cancer UK, Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity, Shooting Star Children’s Hospice, Help For Heroes, Jinendra Foundation and Akshaya Patra which sponsors 22 children in India for school meals for a whole year.