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| RIP Harkirtan Singh-Raud. |
More than 1,500 mourners lined the streets of Manchester to say farewell to a ‘kingpin’ of the community.
People from across the country came to pay their respects to Dr Harkirtan Singh-Raud, from Fallowfield, who died last week, aged 46, after a short illness.
Funeral-goers recalled his many achievements, including being awarded an OBE for his services to education in 2005 – he was a lecturer at John Moores University, in Liverpool.
He was also one of the country’s first Sikh magistrates.
Dr Singh-Raud had been standing as a Labour candidate for the local elections in Stockport but died two days before the count took place.
Hundreds of family and friends gathered at the keen Manchester United supporter’s home on Birchfields Road, Fallowfield, and watched as his cortege made the short journey to the Sikh temple in Monton Street, Moss Side.
The procession then moved on to Southern Cemetery for a private service. His nephew Jarnail Singh Raud, who described Dr Singh-Raud as ‘a kingpin’, said so many people wished to attend they changed the date of his funeral to accommodate the extra numbers.
He said: “In 46 years he achieved so much, but he was always striving to achieve more. He wanted to be the first Sikh with a turban in the House of Lords and I have no doubt he would have got there.
“His family were so proud of him, particularly when he got his OBE from the Queen at Buckingham Palace. The smile on his face that day said it all – it meant so much to him. He was the kingpin in our family and in the wider community – he was an inspirational man.
“Just six weeks ago he was meeting Gordon Brown at Number 10, we just can’t believe he’s gone and we don’t think we will ever recover from his loss.”
Dr Singh-Raud was the youngest of 10 children born to Fouja Singh and Shibdesh Kaur-Raud – who were some of the first immigrants to arrive in Manchester from India in the 1950s.
After graduating from Salford University, he worked at schools in south Manchester in the 1980s and 1990s.
He achieved a masters degree from Cambridge and a PhD from Liverpool John Moores University, where he worked as a senior lecturer in science education until his death.
His colleagues described his career as ‘outstanding’. Dr Singh-Raud died last Tuesday. It is believed he had an ear infection, which developed into jaundice and septicaemia, leading to pneumonia.
He leaves behind his wife Rani Kaur and their two young daughters, eight-year-old Harsimran and Aman, seven.