• The first ‘branch’ of the Bombay YMCA was established ‘in far away Bandra, full of jungles and mosquitoes’. It was in December 1885, when the steam locomotive hauled people to the Bandra terminus and horse-drawn victorias took officers to their homes. Meetings of the Branch were held twice a week in a spacious room at the residence of a railway officer, William Jervis. One of the meetings held on Sunday mornings at 11 was known as the Sabbath School and was attended by about 20 children.
  • The first efforts to form a nucleus to start a branch were made in 1886. Thereafter efforts were made time and again to start a branch at Bandra but without success. In 1958 an Adhoc committee set up at Bandra organised spiritual and intellectual programmes in the homes of members.
  • Attempts to buy a property in 1961 failed. In 1977 another infructuous effort was made to launch the Bandra branch. Finally, the Board decided to start activities of the Bandra branch at the Khar Danda Centre in 1992. The first meeting of the members of Bandra branch was held at Khar Danda on August 1, 1992.
  • The first major effort of the branch was to organise ‘Shanti Geet Yatra’, a Christmas Carol extravaganza in December 1992. It was only on September 30, 1993, that the Board took the decision to make Khar Danda Centre the venue for the Bandra branch.