MOURNERS flocked to Huddersfield’s Sikh temple on Prospect Street to pay their respects to the founder of Bon Marche, Parkash Singh Chima.
The 86-year-old passed away suddenly on Thursday, February 11 and community leaders, friends and family all gathered yesterday to view the cortege.
Sikh leader Inderpal Singh Randhawa said: “He was respected throughout the whole community.
“He was an extremely charitable man and whenever there was a new project he was the first person to help and the first to say ‘go ahead’.”
Clr Mohan Singh Sokhal added: “He was one of the best Sikh community leaders I have ever seen in my life.
“He was friendly with everyone and never presented himself as a millionaire, he was always a very approachable man.”
Mr Chima lived at Kirkburton.
Coming to England in 1950 he sold clothes on a pushbike in the post war years and developed his business in outdoor markets around Norfolk and Cambridgeshire before a series of expansions resulted in the first Bon Marche store.
This grew into 300 national stores with a turnover of more than £200 million a year.
His funeral service at the Temple in Prospect Street was followed by a cremation in Huddersfield.
