In a visit organised by Back Heathrow, senior members of Heathrow’s executive team paid a special visit to the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall Gurdwara on Tuesday 9th September. To deepen and celebrate the airport’s historic ties with the area’s Sikh community.

Parmjit Dhanda, Executive Director of Back Heathrow and himself a Sikh from West London said:

“The success of Heathrow is in no small part due to the people who worship here and their families. They came here to work and have made this airport the national success story it is today. We are delighted to bring senior Heathrow staff to meet members of the congregation, share food and ideas about the future growth of Heathrow Airport, and what it can do for them. The level of constructive dialogue was fantastic and I’m sure we’ll be back here again soon.”

Becky Coffin, Communities and Sustainability Director at Heathrow said, “This was such a wonderful and important visit to this beautiful Gurdwara. The community here not only benefits from the huge number of jobs linked to the airport, but Heathrow itself couldn’t function without the hard work of thousands of local people from this local community. I’m very grateful to the Gurdwara committee and the volunteers of the Siri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara – I am sure this relationship will continue to grow.”

Navraj Singh, who chaired the Q&A session with the Heathrow team said: “I was proud to host senior Heathrow staff and Parmjit's team from Back Heathrow, who have many members in our community. We are involved in a lot of charitable work and giving, so we were pleased to hear about the Heathrow Community Trust. There was also a lot of interest in the 'Heathrow Academy' because we need jobs and apprenticeships for our next generation. Our community has helped to build our airport and we want our kids to have the very best opportunities there in the future." 

The Heathrow team also shared a meal with the Gurdwara’s congregation and paid a visit to the very impressive prayer room. Back Heathrow is a local community campaign that represents over 100,000 residents.

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• Image 1 illustrates the attendees of the meeting
• Image 2 from left to right: Becky Coffin (Communities and Sustainability Director), Parmjit Dhanda (Back Heathrow Executive Director), James Holmes (Head of Local Strategic Engagement) and Navraj Singh of the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall Gurdwara - enjoying a meal together before the meeting starts
• Image 3 from left to right: Guy Williams (Back Heathrow Head of Organising), Becky Coffin (Communities and Sustainability Director), Parmjit Dhanda (Back Heathrow Executive Director), James Holmes (Head of Local Strategic Engagement) and Navraj Singh of the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall Gurdwara