The annual BAPS Sponsored Family Walk & Fun-Run was held at thirteen BAPS Swaminarayan temples and centres across the UK on Sunday 6 April 2008. This year’s event was held by BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) in conjunction with Diabetes UK, the largest organisation in the country working for people with diabetes. In addition to BAPS’ multifarious charitable activities and Diabetes UK, funds were also raised for various local charities around the country. In Coventry, BAPS raised funds for Baby Lifeline, the unique charity offering loving care and support to pregnant mothers and newborn babies.

More than 3,000 participated nationally including 70 walkers at Memorial Park in Coventry. Despite the bitterly cold weather and the heavy snow fall, all participants young and old completed the walk jovially.

Judy Ledger (founder and CEO of Baby Lifeline) and her colleague Clive Skelhon (Fundraising Manager) both attended a special presentation ceremony on Sunday 20 April at the BAPS Coventry temple on Heath Road in Stoke. Also present was Anne O’Reilly from Walsgrave Hospital. Leading BAPS representatives presented the guests with vital life-saving equipment for the midwives of Walsgrave Hospital. This included equipment that detects the unborn baby’s heartbeat during pregnancy.

The presentation ceremony coincided with an important Hindu festival: the celebration of the birth of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, the deity to whom all BAPS members are devoted.

Details about the charity event can be found at www.bapswalk.org. For more information about BAPS in the UK, please visit www.mandir.org.

BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) is a worldwide community-based spiritual organisation recognised internationally for its humanitarian services. As a UN-affiliated charity, it is dedicated to fulfilling the spiritual, cultural, and social needs of people.

In the UK, BAPS is respected as one of the largest and most active Hindu organisations within the Indian diaspora. It is particularly known for the internationally acclaimed BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, London.

The temple raised £500 for equipment for community midwives at Walsgrave hospital, Coventry.

Equipment donated:

1 x Aqua Doppler - Huntleigh Diagnostics
2 x Sets of Manual blood Pressure Cuffs
2 x Digital weighing scales from SECA