The Masjid-E-Noor Mosque

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Two council houses were fused to form the Masjid-E-Noor mosque. The properties were purchased by the Gloucester Muslim Welfare Association (GMWA), that formed in 1961, and a permanent site for congregational worship was established in 1974.

Suleman Kholwadia, a founding member, hopped to South Africa with a collection tin and raised £8,000. The GMWA bought the houses for £500 and used the rest to restructure the building for large congregations, to install an extended washing area (Muslims must wash limbs and faces before each prayer) and to buy more properties to establish a regular income. The remainder was banked for daily repair, maintenance and utility bills.

Councillor Harry Worrall is named in particular as a prompt and helpful supporter of the young Gloucester Islamic community and was crucially instrumental in the purchase of the council houses.

Suleman's son, Rashid was the first Gujarati Muslim to marry in Gloucester on April 21 1971. The Chequers Bridge administration at first refused to book an appointment for a Muslim wedding. However Councillor Harry Worrall stepped in and promoted greater understanding. The wedding eventually numbered 800, mostly non-Muslim guests, including councillors and county dignitaries.

Prayer facilities on Suleman's arrival in the county in 1957 were non-existent. He and his brother, Ismail, stepped onto English soil in 1953. They worked in Nottingham briefly, then Birmingham and moved to Gloucester in 1957 as the first Gujarati Muslims to enter the county. As more men arrived, they hired a room and each member of the fledgling prayer committee paid two shillings and six pence monthly towards the rent. Suleman purchased a house for a home at 65 Blenheim Road for £1200 and this five-roomed property at one stage would house thirty Muslim and Hindu men at the same time. Eventually, families joined the men and Suleman's son, Rashid, would be the first Gujarati Muslim child to enter the English educational system.

One committee member, Abdul Huq Patel, a professional barrister, established a cemetery plot for the Muslim community in 1965. For many years, only babies and infants were laid to rest there and it would be 1968 before the first adult would require a grave. The mosque would eventually be demolished, to be rebuilt, capped with a dome. In the early days, there were seven committee members. Today there are eleven members who are selected annually by vote. The President and the secretary are elected every five years. Current congregations can exceed 660 individuals on special days of the year and the mosque can be crammed to bursting. In recent years, the Muslim community has mushroomed with new immigrants from the Middle East, the Balkans, and Bangladesh joining the Gujaratis at communal prayer.