Local Community and Resources
There has been a small South Asian community in Kingston for many years. In 1971 they made up only 1% of the borough population but this number increased to 17.8% by 2021.
By 1981 the number of residents of South Asian heritage was enough to protest against the British Nationality Act which changed their status. In the same year a Sikh nurse, Tajwinder Kaur, won her court fight to wear trousers as part of her uniform in Kingston Hospital, paving the way for women in other areas to be able to wear trousers, instead of skirts, as well (for example as teachers, police women, doctors, school girls, sports women, etc).
In 2000 Shiraz Mirza became the first Mayor of Kingston upon Thames with South Asian heritage.
Kingston is home to approximately 12,000 Tamils, the majority of whom originate from north eastern Sri-Lanka. The Tamil language is the second most commonly spoken language in the borough.
In 2016 Kingston was twinned with Jaffna in Northern Sri-Lanka, where the majority of population are Sri-Lankan tamils. In 2016 former Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran visited Kingston and signed an official Memorandum of Understanding and on 22 January 2022 at a celebration of Tamil Heritage month and the festival of Thai Pongal, a plaque was unveiled in New Malden marking the twinning with Jaffna.
Tamil Heritage month is celebrated during January and a community celebration now annually takes place in New Malden.
There are two Tamil schools in Kingston, the oldest, Kingston Tamil School was formed in 1986 to teach Tamil language and culture. It runs classes in Tamil language, music and dance on Saturdays from 8.45am to 1.45pm at Tolworth Girls’ School, Fullers Way North, where the school is based.
Kingston borough is also home to the Tamil Journal, Tamil Information Centre, and the British Tamil Cricket League
There are many ways that you can get involved in our ongoing work to celebrate our rich South Asian heritage and encourage diversity and community building in the borough.
There are several local charities that you can get involved with: