Trishna Singh

Trishna Singh was born in Glasgow on 21 October 1953. Her father, Puran Singh Pall, migrated to Britain in 1936 and worked as a pedlar. He served in the British Army's Royal Pioneer Corps during the Second World War. Her mother, Sant Ajit Kaur Pall, migrated to Britain in 1948. She was the fourth of seven children, and the family lived in the Oatlands area of Glasgow. At age 11, Singh and her family moved to Pollokshields, where her father became a prominent and active member of the Indian Workers’ Association, the Indian Film Association and the Sikh gurdwara, and their home often became the site of meetings and networking. Singh left school aged 13, without any formal qualifications.

Singh moved to Edinburgh after her marriage to Harpajin Europe Singh Kusbia (known as Johnny) on 29 July 1974. Here, she became friends with Sheila Dhariwal, a community worker employed by the local council to improve Sikh women’s access and participation in community projects. In her early years in Edinburgh, Singh and her family members would meet Sheila and other South Asians at the International Women's Centre, which was founded in 1969. During this period, Singh became one of the first women to take on the important role of reading from the Guru Granth Sahib at her local gurdwara, often during special occasions.

After the death of her 6-year-old son, Rungu, in 1984, Singh sought to engage in community outreach. In 1986 she became involved with Leith Home-Start, an organization which was founded by Margaret Harrison in Leicester in 1973. Home-Start worked to create connections between parents and families, so they could support one another through difficulties such as postnatal depression and isolation. Singh was a board member of Leith Home-Start and, as part of this role, produced a paper on the needs of the Sikh community in Edinburgh with the support of Sue King, a social work student on placement with Leith Home-Start. King developed a needs analysis for women from the Sikh community in Leith as part of her final dissertation. This was then presented to Edinburgh City Council as an initial funding application for the first Sikh women’s group in Scotland. The Leith Sikh Community Group was subsequently founded by Singh and other Sikh women in Edinburgh in 1989. During the early 1990s Singh became an outreach worker for Edinburgh City Council, making her the first Sikh woman from the Bhat community to work outside the home or a family business.

The Leith Sikh Community Group became Sikh Sanjog in 1999, when the organization became a limited company. Sikh Sanjog’s first premises was 15 Smith Street in Leith, Edinburgh. The aim was to support Edinburgh’s Sikh women through educational and recreational activities. Their core funding came from Edinburgh City Council, as well as a variety of trusts and foundations. Sikh Sanjog remains the only organization in the UK which works to meet the needs of Bhat Sikhs, and specifically Bhat Sikh women. Their activities have included organizing the first Vaisakhi Parade in Edinburgh in 2005 and launching a social enterprise community cafe in 2008, the first and only social enterprise founded and run by Bhat Sikh women in Scotland. Sikh Sanjog has been a safe space for many Sikh families in Edinburgh, with young people often using their services. After thirty-five years of service, it continues to be the only Sikh family support group in Scotland.

In 2012 Singh became an honorary chaplain for the University of Edinburgh. One year later, on 21 November 2013, she helped launch the university’s first Sikh association, in collaboration with Sikh students. On Friday 13 June 2014, Singh was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list.