Our Trustees

Viney Jung - Chair of Trustees


Ms Viney Jung is the younger daughter of Sher Jung. She is a solicitor and Notary Public by profession having completed her Law Society Finals at the College of Law Guildford. After completing her Training Contract and working for several years she started her own law firm in January 1998 in the local community where she lives in Southall, with a commitment largely to legal aid work. Viney also qualified as a Notary Public in 2009 after completing a Post Graduate Diploma in Law part time at Cambridge University. In 2004 she was appointed as a Tribunal Judge of the First Tier Tribunal (Health, Educational and Social Care Chamber – Mental Health). Viney has been a shortlisted candidate for the Asian Women of Achievement award. She is also a past winner of the Society of Asian Lawyer’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Viney has been a school Governor for many years initially at the local primary school and in the last four years as a community Governor at her former secondary school.

Mona Arshi


Mona Arshi is poet and novelist. Her debut collection Small Hands won the Forward Prize for best first collection in 2015. Her second collection Dear Big Gods was published in 2019 (both books published by Liverpool University Press Pavilion Poetry list). Her writing has been published in The Times, The Guardian, Granta, The Yale Review and The Times of India as well as on the London Underground. She was also writer in Residence at Cley Marshes in Norfolk. In 2020 she was appointed Honorary Professor at the University of Liverpool and is currently a fellow in creative writing at Trinity College , Cambridge. Her debut novel Somebody Loves You was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize.

Shabnam Sharma


Shabnam was born and brought up in Southall and is proud to have such a strong association with the town. She has lived and worked largely in West London and in the public sector (Local Authority and NHS) for over 30 years. Shabnam hails from a family which has deep association with the fight for equality and justice on all fronts, both in the UK and India. Her father was from a village in Punjab (Khat Kar Kalaan) which was also the home of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. His sacrifice and revolutionary fervour were an inspiration for her family. Shabnam still lives in West London and takes a keen interest in local developments. She is particularly interested in supporting and helping to develop the next generation of women, as they strive to achieve even more success than their predecessors in whichever field, they wish to excel in.

Karam C Mohan


Karam is a poet, short story writer and a journalist. He has written four books. He was one of Sher Jung's closest friends as they both worked together for many years in the Progressive Writers Association, Southall. Mohan holds a Master’s in Political Science, and he qualified as a Social Worker from West London Institute of higher Education in 1992. Having been on the Editorial boards of Punjab Times and Punjabi Darpan for many years, he worked for a number of local authorities in the Social Services Department. Mohan is a councillor in the London Borough of Ealing.

Giatri Sohi


Giatri Sohi (also known as Gita) is the vice chair of the charity and is the eldest daughter of Sher Jung. She trained as a teacher and worked in education for over 32 years . She graduated from Essex University in 1985 with joint honours in Sociology and Politics and then studied for her PGCE at Birmingham University. After graduation she studied and competed an A level in Punjabi with support from her father. Gita has recently retired and she now fills my time with travelling , cooking and voluntary work. She is passionate about literature and its benefits for all communities.

Pankaj Sharma


Pankaj Sharma is professor of neurology at the University of London and consultant neurologist at Imperial College NHS Trust London. He was a former president of the British Fulbright Scholars Association, co-founder and treasurer of the South Asian Health Foundation, and founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Cardiovascular Disease,


He is currently Medical Advisor of the UK national young stroke victim charity Different Strokes, Fellow of the Medical Society of London, president of the London Cardiovascular Society, and an expert external advisor to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. He is chairman of Lotus Partners Foundation, a family charity. Sharma studied medicine in London and holds doctorates from the Universities of Cambridge & London . He is a previous recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship at Harvard Medical School and holds a diploma in the history of medicine from the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and a Royal College examiner. In 2015, he was named the UK's top Asian doctor at the annual British Indian Awards.

Sanam Mehli


Sanam Mehli is the youngest trustee and is currently a student at the University of Kent who will be graduating in the summer of 2023. She is the granddaughter of Sher Jung, and just like her grandfather she has a passion for words, studying English Language and Linguistics. She never had the opportunity to meet her grandfather but is deeply inspired by his writing, his ethics and his belief in literature as a unifying force for good.
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