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Sheffield's Gurdwara is small - but as Surinder Dhillon explains, this is because the Sikh population in the city is not very large.

"Our Gurdwara, the temple, has one big prayer room for the congregation, a dining room, a kitchen, toilets of course, and also some living room accommodation for the priest.

"It's open more or less 24 hours a day, because people can come and pray any time, day or night - so the priest has to be resident.

"Free food, what we call 'langar' in Punjabi, is served for everybody who comes to the prayer, irrespective of their religious background, doesn't matter which colour, religion, ethnic background… everybody is welcome to have free food."

Every day is made by God

"Generally the service is every Sunday. For Sikhs there is no special day for service, for praying. We believe every day is made by God - so it doesn't matter which day.

"I lived in the Middle east, in a Muslim country, where Friday was a public holiday - so our Sikh community used to have a big service on the Friday. In India, you would have a service every day in the morning and evening.

Sheffield Gurdwara, Ellesmere Road North

"Elsewhere in this country where the Sikh population is larger than in Sheffield, the Gurdwara would have a service every morning and every evening.

"I've been told that some of the Gurdwaras would have the congregation filling the hall at four in the morning every day - so people would go to the Gurdwara before they go to work, come back from work and pay respect in the evening as well.

"In India this is normal - in Sheffield the Sikh population is very small and people don't live near the Gurdwara, so we have a service every Sunday.

"Sometimes in summer we'd have the service every evening as well but sometimes, some weekends, we have a special service which lasts three days - that means reading of the whole of the Guru Granth Sahib, which is our book of scriptures. It's 1430 pages and takes 48 hours to read it continuously.

"So people will read it day and night, starting on Friday morning and finishing on Sunday morning - so that would be a three day continuous service. The Gurdwara would be open day and night, food would be served day and night."

Sikh celebrations

"For special Sikh festivals, the congregation would generally pay for it but sometimes one family would like to pay for the lot - all the expenses - the food and everything for three days, perhaps because they are celebrating their child's 18th or 21st birthday, getting a degree, getting married or other such occasions - or just to thank God almighty through service by helping those who come to worship.

"For occasions like this, friends and relatives will come from all over the UK."

Surinder S Dhillon

The Sikh community

"The Sikh community in the Sheffield area is fairly static. Most of the Sikhs are in business, but some people from the south are coming to Sheffield (businesses here cheaper than in the south) so there is a small change in population.

"There are not a great number of professionals here - some doctors, a dentist… but most of the people are shopkeepers in business.

"Some places around the area like Bakewell, Chesterfield, Rotherham - the Sikh families also come here so that makes up the numbers. We also have strong links with communities in Leeds, Leicester and Manchester."

Worship at the Gurdwara

"The Sikh Gurdwara service is always very relaxed and casual. People come and go as they wish. They come when they can and are there before the end of the service, especially families with children.

"The scriptures are all poetry so the service really means singing the hymns - very special attention is given to music.

"Generally three people will sing hymns, and in between, the lead singer will explain the meaning of some of the hymns.

"Sometimes, on an historical date, somebody will give the deeper meaning, the importance of the historical event in Sikh history - to inform people about that. Generally there's singing, talks, sharing food and thanking God."

Seva and helping other people worship God

"People who work here at the Gurdwara are all volunteers - other than the priest nobody is employed.

Inside Sheffield Gurdwara

"This working and helping we call 'seva,' which means service. People feel that by doing seva, they are helping other people worship God. You don't only want to worship for yourself - you want to make it easier for others to worship as well.

"God under Sikh philosophy is one. It doesn't matter what religion you are, what faith you are. We are not a proselytising religion. We have no missionary system. We believe different faiths are different routes to the same destination - complete equality because every person has a soul.

"Our body has two parts - the physical side and the soul. The soul is indestructible and it is part of God, a soul is in everybody.

Everybody has a part of God in them - so nobody is superior, nobody is inferior - it doesn't matter what colour or ethnic origin."

Surinder Dhillon