The Islamic Supplementary School

A few weeks ago I was invited to a meeting of the Islamic Supplementary School in Haslingden, and was impressed by the families and their children who had created this group in a short space of time to enhance their learning and teachings from the Koran. I was made very welcome, and talked with some of the leaders at the school about 'Different Moons' and how we could use their knowledge in helping put together an exhibition about the history of the south Asian community in Haslingden and the Rossendale Valley. 

Another useful link came through talking with Professor John Hyatt who lives in Haslingden and is the Director of MIRIAD, the Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design. John was once a Trustee at Horse + Bamboo, and I often bump into him at art events locally. I know he, and MIRIAD, have strong links with Asian artists, and I asked him about textile artists who might be able to feed into Different Moons in the way that the poet Shamshad Khan has with her writing. John put me in touch with Alnoor Mitha who told me that in 2014 the Asia Triennial will be taking place in Manchester and the region. One of the artists involved will be Nadim Chaudry, from Nottingham and with Punjabi roots, whose stunning work can be seen on his website at http://kashifnadimchaudry.com/portfolio/ . I'm looking into whether we can in any way involve Nadim with Different Moons.

Moving here

There's a very interesting website 'Moving Here' which documents the main groups of people who have migrated to England during the past 200 years. There's an extensive section on South Asian communities and it begins to explain some of the features of the groups that came to Lancashire and other small milltowns in the  period after the end of the Second World war. You can visit the South Asian pages by clicking on this link, http://www.movinghere.org.uk/galleries/histories/asian/asian.htm

The site includes some fascinating photographs. The one above is an early photograph - an on-board prayer time on SS Bengalen, taken in 1910 when south Asian seaman were know as lascars, a word I associate with Victorian novels. It also has a 'trace your ancestors' facility. 

At Haslingden Library

Yesterday's meetings at Haslingden Library were fun, and very useful. My neighbour at the studio, Nusrat, came along and brought a few of her friends. I introduced them to Shamshad and outlined my ideas for the Different Moons project. The group of us then had a good humored and wide-ranging discussion. Among many things, memories of parents; childhood reminiscenses; the state of the country - and poetry. As we talked it became clearer that the idea of an exhibition, celebrating the south Asian community in Rossendale, with one aspect of it being about the history of that community but another a creative programme revolving around poetry and textile work, would be both well received and effective in bringing people together.

Towards the end of the meeting we were joined by Leesa Amin, who talked more about her youth groups, during which it emerged that the library had been fire-bombed, and that rather than respond by adding more security measures the librarians asked for a free-for-all youth room with PCs and other facilities. This - the Headspace - has been a great success, and when we visited Shamshad met two of the young girls she remembered from the work at St James School. One promptly told her that she had gone to on to find out the meaning of her name (a task Shamshad had suggested) and that it was ' strong'. For the work with the 11-19 age group Shamshad suggested that she worked alongside a rapper/poet, Avaez Mohammed,  who she knew from Blackburn.

Later we were joined by Esther and went to the new Positive Start centre in Rawtenstall. Here we met with Shaju Ahmed; heard about developments at the centre, and discussed ways in which the two organisations could work together to find funding for the project. All very impressive. 

A day of meetings...

Tomorrow I've a series of meetings that I hope will set Different Moons on a clear route forward. The idea of aiming for an exhibition about the local south Asian heritage community has been well received in informal discussions, and both the Whitaker (Rossendale's museum) and Haslingden Library have expressed an interest in hosting aspects of it. So the first meeting will be with Shamshad in which we'll look at how we can create an exhibition which is both informative and has at its heart a core of individuals stories and reminscences about their personal experiences. 

Then we're meeting some of the interested partners at Haslingden Library, including Nusrat Rahmen from the sewing group, and Leesa Amin who runs the youth group at the library. After peeking in at the youth group we'll head down to Rawtenstall to talk to Shaju Ahmed from Positive Start. Positive Start is a Rossendale-based organisation set up "to support and assist young people, particularly from a disadvantaged and Black Minority Ethnic groups..." It was set up in 2003 and has recently raised the money to open a new youith centre in Rawtenstall. Esther met with their committee a few weeks ago and explained the ideas behind Different Moons. They were highly enthusiastic, and tomorrow we end the day by following up that first meeting.

Memories and Mehndi

Esther and I met up with Shamshad Khan last week to discuss how we will carry out the next phase of Different Moons. We agreed to continue developing the project together, with Shamshad leading on working with local Asian heritage groups to uncover individual stories, particularly from the period of emigrations to Lancashire, of memories of the journey from the homeland and of first impressions of Rossendale.  We felt it would be useful if she could accompany me to meetings with some of these groups - the existing youth groups, the Islamic Supplementary School, and the women/s sewing group, for example.

One of the young artists - Habiba Shenza - who I met during phase one of the project came to the Boo this weekend, and provided Mehndi, henna painting, for our visitors (see above). The whole period the building was packed with visitors, and Habiba, who came along with her sisters and cousin, was busy for the whole afternoon.

Into the next phase

There's been a short break since we completed the workshops at St James School in Haslingden.  We've collated the various reports on the workshops, and had a number of meetings about how to move on to the next phase of Different Moons, specifically where to go to for financial support - oh, there was also a couple of weeks break in Spain. Very nice. 

Shamshad Khan will continue to be at the heart of that part of Different Moons that is about discovering and remembering stories from within the Asian Heritage communities in Haslingden. Meanwhile Esther and I will be going back to those contacts I've made within the community to look at how they can benefit from and support the development of the project. 

One by-product of the Spanish holiday was to see how widely new technologies are used there. Even in fairly out-of-the-way towns with relatively low tourism, QR codes and Layar are used extensively in museums, tourist and cultural settings to provide information and web-links. I was even easily able to find English-language web-pages on the wildlife of Extramadura by walking down to the plaza and scanning in codes from the tourist office window. It all worked easily too - makes me convinced this is the way forward in disseminating the work we do in the project.

A lullaby

From the first of Shamshad's sessions at St James yesterday:

tari, tari, tari, tari
sucacori waari
amy wala na varki
pya chugu chugu gari

He wanted to clap, clap, clap
He wanted some old chappatis
His Mummy doesn't give it him
So then, he cries...