From The Tribune, India - NRI completes son’s dream project

NRI completes son’s dream project
Dedicates school to Lehrian village
Sushil Manav, Fatehabad, March 17

Mota Singh, son of a Sikh farmer from Buwan Kothi village here, completed his graduation in science and left for England for further studies in 1963.

After settling in that country, he went on to become the councillor of Warwickshire, the county of William Shakespeare. Later, he became the mayor of the Royal Limington Spa.

His son Gurpreet, fondly called Gilly by his friends, worked for Inquest, a charity fighting for the cause of those, who die in custody in England. He married an Italian woman, Debbie, but the couple organised ceremonies of their marriage at his native village in December 2005.

Overwhelmed by the warmth and hospitality of villagers during their month-long stay, Gilly and Debbie resolved to open a quality community school for the local people in their native village and float a trust, Buwan Kothi international trust, and get it registered in London with a family friend, Deborah Coles, as its chairperson and many Indian and English friends of the couple as its members.

Gilly (36), who died on March 17, 2007, donated 13 of his organs, including eyes, kidneys, liver, heart and lungs.

Gilly Mundy’s father Mota Singh, who is still the councillor of Warwickshire for the past over 24 years now, left no stone unturned to complete his son’s dream project.

Exactly one year after Gilly’s death, the family today dedicated a state-of-the-art school to the local people, Gilly Mundy Memorial Community School, at Lehrian, a village in the vicinity of their native village, Buwan Kothi.

Anil Wilson, who recently resigned from the post of the vice-chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, was the chief guest of the occasion, while Bhim Singh Dahiya, a former vice-chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, presided over today’s function.

Primary classes have already started running in the school, while senior secondary classes will be soon introduced once the expansion of the building is complete.

Mota Singh and Debbie told The Tribune that ever since Gilly’s death, his friends and family members had worked tirelessly for completing the project visualised by him.

Mota Singh said on July 14, 2007, at a memorial function held in London, over 400 friends and family members of Gilly assembled and raised enough funds for the purchase of 13.2 acres for the school.

Sheila Alone, an English friend of Gilly, would run in the London Marathon on April 13 to raise Rs 28 lakh for the school, while around 40 friends of Gilly associated with his NGO would organise a cycle march from Oxford to Gilly’s birthplace Limington Spa on July 20 to raise Rs 15-20 lakh.

The trust was also planning to organise a football celebrities’ match on August 8, with which they hoped to generate enough funds for the project.

Mota Singh said having dedicated the school to the people, it now belonged to the people and would be run by a society comprising of local people with no commercial motives in mind.