One look at the bright orange turban, long, long white beard, and Roop's expressive face and Year 7 knew they were in for a memorable day! Storyteller Roop Singh had the whole year group transfixed with the tale of his father's life in Britain in 1949, starting with the journey from Bombay to Tilsbury Docks via the Suez Canal. 14 days on board and 24 months of hard saving to buy the ticket.

Getting over the shock of not mud but real roads and stone and brick houses, not brown, but blonde hair and blue eyes, it wasn't long before Mr Singh had stepped into a factory line and was earning good money , he told us, £5 in large pound notes for a week's hard work. Amazing! But even the pay didn't make up for the homesickness. Where were the blue skies, the family, the temples and culture?  "So why don't we build a Gurdwara in England?" said Mr Singh's uncle. Once the idea blossomed, Roop described how his dad and great-uncle pioneered the building of the first English Gurdwara. "Have you got anything big and cheap?"they appealed to the Hackney estate agent. Roop 'built' the Gurdwara in front of our eyes, as the 30 Sikhs did all those years ago, teaching us the importance of its furnishings, the carpets and the wallpaper, the throne donated by a carpenter, the canopy ceiling. Roop's Great Auntie told his dad, "When it comes to hanging the canopy, I'm your man!"

A piece of the sacred cloth from the Golden Temple decorated the throne, and with the arrival of the Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, brought all the way from the Golden Temple by a priest, all was complete. 40 Sikhs could worship respectfully in a temple, although, as Roop pointed out, the real Gurdwara is in our body. God is inside us.

What a sight it must have been in those days, mystifying to the locals, though the flag flying outside welcomes everyone in, provided they follow the rules of washing hands and taking off shoes. We learnt so much through role-play and Roop's clever weaving together of the family history with Sikh customs and culture. In workshops throughout the day, Roop got us meditating (1 minute every day for 40 days relaxes the body and produces contentment some of us dream of); Y7 Rosa said she is going to try to achieve that. There was chapatti-making (very popular) with Miss Allgrove and Punjab folk-dancing with Mrs McCleave , and Roop's wife, Surinder, decorated our foreheads with bindis and let us loose on a treasure chest of clothes. Ever tried to tie a turban? Roop chooses to wear 3. He started the process from scratch with a 5m x 1m length of bright orange bravely modelled by Y7 Saskia. It was a brilliant day and triggered lots of enthusiasm for more research of the religion and culture. Lily, Aliyah, Zoe and Hope had fun learning the dance; their top tip is to watch the Bollywood film 'Bride and Prejudice' for the stick - dancing!  Y7 Amy concluded it was good having a different experience in school and agreed with Rosa: "Roop is a very funny man, with lots of jokes and very good at making you laugh." Many thanks to the RS department for arranging the day.

28/2/2011