Our Story
Our aim is to arrange Friday (Jumma) prayers for the Muslim community of Tewkesbury and surrounding areas where there is no mosque.
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Tewkesbury Islamic Society started after a sudden closure of Nirala restaurant that ran Friday Prayers for nearly 20 years. As Friday prayer is compulsory for Muslims to attend in congregation (Quran 62:9-10), we had to look for a place.
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Fortunately, we found Tewkesbury CofE Primary School Community Centre. The school headteacher and the governing body fully supported and accepted our request to book the community centre room every Friday between 13:00-14:00. Although we started booking the place, we soon realised that being a school it is not open all year round, what will happen during school holidays? So we approached and requested the school caretaker if we could have the room to be available during the school holidays. The caretaker mutually agreed on the basis that we inform him in advance our booking dates and he will inform us in advance which days/weeks he is unable to open the centre due to his holiday booking. Once this was agreed, we started collecting voluntary donations to support the expenses.
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At first, we didn't have prayer mats to put on the floor, instead we used double bedsheets kindly given by the trustee of Gloucestershire Islamic Trust, one of the bedsheet was folded to make a prayer mat for the Imam. As time progressed, we bought three carpet pieces from Weavers carpet shop in Gloucester and replaced the bedsheets. Later we bought a separate (dedicated) prayer mat for the Imam. We also setup our Twitter and Facebook Page. We now have our own dedicated Tewkesbury Islamic Society Bank account so we can pay the room hire, caretaker fee and Imam's expense directly from our account.
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After seven wonderful and blessed years at Tewkesbury CofE Primary School, the school kindly informed us that they needed the community room space back to support essential educational intervention programs for their pupils. We are deeply thankful to the school, the leadership and the caretaker for their support and hospitality over the years.
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With this transition, we had to find a new location to hold our Friday prayers. And so, the search for a place began once again!
While searching online, we stumbled upon Wheatpieces Community Centre. Shortly after contacting them via email, their centre manager offered a viewing and we secured a room. We have now transitioned to Wheatpieces Parish Council & Community Centre, where we look forward to continuing our weekly Friday prayers together as a community.