Wat Phra Singh UK Temple - Runcorn, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 20.449 W 002° 44.270
30U E 517455 N 5910217
This temple, that has a parent temple in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, was opened in 2013 in a building that since the 1840s had been a pub called the Waterloo Hotel.
Waymark Code: WMQCXP
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 02/07/2016
Views: 1
Their
website has the following information...
"Our parent temple, Wat Phra Singh, is located within the ancient city walls of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, and in 2011 it celebrated its 666th anniversary. In commemoration of this auspicious occasion and in memory of the late Abbot, Luang Por Nuu, who passed away in 2009 at the age of 96, a group of supporters wrote to the new Abbot, the Venerable Phrasinghavisri Sopan Sopano, in late 2011 asking for permission for us to establish a new temple in Northwest England. Our request was discussed at the General Committee of Wat Phra Singh and later with the Council of Northern Temples in Chiang Mai where it received unanimous support. A further request was made to the Venerable Luang Por Rajchabhavanavimol at Wat Buddhapadipa in Wimbledon in his role as President of the Council for Thai Buddhist Monks in the UK who has also expressed his consent.
In June 2012 Phra Kru Charin and Phramaha Thirasak of Wat Phra Singh travelled to the UK to stay in Helsby, Cheshire until more suitable temple accommodation could be found. Phra Kru returned to Wat Phra Singh where he was able to report favourably to the Abbot that there was a proven need for, and enthusiastic support of, the new temple project.
We received tremendous support from both within and beyond the Thai community and held regular events such as Chanting Ceremonies, Meditation practice and Bintabhat.
We received our registration as a charity on 28 August 2012, and then in February 2013 were granted registration under the UK Border Agency PBS Sponsorship scheme to allow us to obtain visas for monks.
We continued to search for suitable premises where we could establish our temple, and in September 2012 found The Waterloo Hotel in Runcorn which seemed to meet our needs perfectly. With the generous help from our parent temple and the ongoing generosity of our many supporters we made an offer to purchase the property and eventually the charity took ownership of the property in January 2013.
Phramaha Thirasak and Phramaha Dhiravaj took up residence at the temple in July 2013 followed by Phra Pradud who arrived in December 2013. To meet monks' increasing duties we were then honoured to welcome Phra Kru Withanworakit and Phra Jittipol who arrived in May 2014, giving us five resident monks.
With your engagement and support we have achieved a lot in a short time, and we continue to work towards firmly establishing your temple for the benefit of the community ....."
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