A new space in Haslingden

We had an exciting day as we've managed to sign a 3-month lease on a pop-up centre right in the heart of Haslingden - 69 Deardengate! It's the little shop squeezed between Impressions mens hairdressers and the Quick Save convenience store! It once used to be part of Haslingden's National Westminster bank. 

There's lots to be done before we can move in...and with the month of Ramadan about to start we've decided not to open up until later in the summer. But from June onwards we'll be cleaning, painting and furnishing the premises in readiness. 

The idea is to be a community space where people can meet, hold classes and workshops, and have small exhibitions. It's not a large space by any means, and so the focus will be on providing a room and sessions for women from the South Asian communities. Arry Nessa is coordinating the project with support from Horse + Bamboo; if anyone wants to know more then please contact us on 01706 220241 or bob@horseandbamboo.org. Watch this space...!

The Pakistani House

I just had to add this comment and the accompanying image that appeared in Bryan Yorke's Blog (mentioned in my previous post):

"Saw your "My Memories of Haslingden's Early Asian Settler's" this morning and was thrilled to see the house on Lower Lane, which I remember well.  We lived in the row behind (the part of Hud Rake which you can see in your second picture of the house), so I often passed it.  The house became beautiful and exotic looking when they moved in. Yes I agree, around 1958-1959.  I did a sketch of it at the time, then this painting.  This was from when they first came to live here. Was your photo, where the house looks whitewashed, from before or after? Very interesting article." Heather Holden.

Our thanks to Heather and to Bryan Yorke for permission to copy this and Heather's fine painting.

A year away...

Haslingden, late 1950s, photograph courtesy of RM Nostalgic Railways. The period when the first of the immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh were beginning to arrive in Rossendale to work in the cotton textile mills that were short of a labour force, especially for the unpopular shifts - usually the night-work. 

If you were trying to find this scene today you would be stuck. The station was closed in 1964, the railway disappeared and its route is now the A56 Haslingden By-Pass, opened in the early 1980s. The chimneys have been demolished too.

We also have agreed with the Whitaker (Rossendale's Museum & Art Gallery) to work towards an exhibition in exactly a year's time celebrating the history of the South Asian Community in Rossendale. We've also started planning the next stage of Different Moons, and soon expect to begin working on new projects within Haslingden.   

A day at school

To St. James CofE School with Shamshad Khan for the first session with a class of the older children. I collected Shamshad from Bury; drove to Haslingden and introduced her to Linda Roberts, the Headteacher. I then left Shamshad so she could prepare the room in advance of the class arriving.

I came back to the school at 2pm, and by then Shamshad was close to the end of her second session of the day, each of which was with a group of 14 children.

Here (in the photo above), some of that group welcome me. Most have matchboxes balanced on their heads. The matchboxes hold a tiny note, and next week when they return it should also hold some special pieces of information - the  meaning of their name; the first word they spoke; and a lullaby that was sung to them in their crib or bed. In doing this we hope we will begin to introduce the older members of the family to the project, and for the different generations in the household to share precious memories. 

The next thing I noticed was an old parchment-like book, singed at the edges, and dried roses spread out on the floor in front of the children, and I found Shamshad using these to prompt the shy ones in the group to talk and describe what was in front of them.

A good day, and a good start to Different Moons.

At the bus stop

I came to live in Haslingden in 1966 because my teacher at art school, Dave Pearson, lived there. I immediately liked it - very much. From the age of 9 I had lived in Stevenage, a New Town where almost everything was new, and clean, and at right angles. I loved the messiness and wild character of Haslingden. 

Later, when I had my own cottage just outside of the town I went back to the south for a year to do an MA in London. But I would often drive up over night to stay for weekends, and find myself travelling through Haslingden in the early hours of the morning. I remember the queues of Asian men at the bus-stops. At this time the Asian community were almost invisible in the area and, although I knew immediately that this was the night-shift from the failing cotton mills, I felt surprised, and so I wondered what it must be like for these men to live this odd nocturnal life, living and working in the shadows, far from their homeland.

Now the Asian community in Haslingden is busy, confident and highly visible, in fact the only new businesses opening in the town seem to be Asian owned. My neighbours at Dave Pearson's old studio are Asian families, and I pass pleasantries with the old men on their way to and from the mosque. Still, I wonder about the stories of how their families arrived in the town 40 or more years ago. 

The young children of the Asian families now speak English as a first language, and naturally have their own concerns. This is certainly their homeland. 

Different Moons is an opportunity for me to find out more about those late-night bus queues, but far more importantly I hope that it will be a way for today's school generation to connect with their parents or grandparents stories and their memories. Across the generations and perhaps across and between different languages. 

This is a project currently unfolding.

For a wonderful link to quotes about the moon go to this link.

"A big moon - for a small town".