Matthew was honoured to attend the the Ratha Yatra event in central London over the weekend. The event began at Hyde Park with an opening ceremony and then continued with three huge, exotically decorated 12m high chariots which proceeded along Piccadilly, through Piccadilly Circus and into Trafalgar Square.

The event is one of London’s key cultural events with over 8,000 participants from both the Hindu and Vedic community and it attracted almost 15,000 guests who were entertained with exhibitions, stalls and the distribution of 8,000 plates of free vegetarian food.

Matthew said: “The event was an important day in the calendar of the Hare Krishna movement and was organised by both the Radha-Krishna temple in Soho and the Bhaktivedanta temple in Aldenham. Both these temples are visited by many of my constituents and it was a pleasure to meet so many of them so soon after the recent General Election. It was pleasing to see so many Londoners and visitors to the capital engaging with the Hare Krishna community to learn about their religion, take part in the celebration and taste some of their delicious food!”