12/07/2021
A fabulous blog from Qaisar Mahmood, Festival Director of Sangam Festival and CEO of Communities Together and Radio Sangam, with details and background on the Sangam Festival, taking place online, in venues and outdoor spaces across Kirklees during South Asian Heritage Month, 18 July – 17 August 2021.
Since the UK governments of the 1950s and 60s encouraged people from South Asia to come here to work, our communities have made an invaluable contribution, helping to sustain the local economy in Kirklees.
My own grandfather arrived here from Pakistan in in 1960. He was a British soldier and a Burmese veteran. He paid £5.00 for a visa and borrowed the equivalent of £138.00 for his flight. He worked at Croft Mills in Heckmondwike, making Axminster carpets, renting a room in a house of single men.
Families like mine arriving in Kirklees through the 1960s lived in the cheapest areas, with low-quality housing. Back-to-back terraces with outside toilets and kitchens in damp cellars, accessed by dangerously slippery stone steps. The breadwinners worked their fingers to the bone, often taking on two jobs to make ends meet. They became nomads, stuck between two cultures. Never really accepted in Britain and foreigners in their countries of birth.
I was lucky to be supported by the generations that came before me. I was encouraged to go to the library every day and study hard. By then, factories were closing down fast and work was becoming scarce. I was the first in my family to graduate from university and went on to become an educator myself, working as an advisor to schools, local authorities and the Department for Education.
Now, as CEO of Birkby-based social enterprise Communities Together and community radio station Radio Sangam, I work on projects that help to sustain both the South Asian and the wider community. These range from events and festivals, to free educational and training programmes. In the past year, we have also delivered food parcels, run a domestic abuse helpline and broadcast important information on health, vaccinations and mental wellbeing during the pandemic.
The Covid outbreak has demonstrated how much we rely on those who work in health and social care. We owe them so much for their contribution over many years, but especially during recent months.
The pandemic’s impact on the local South Asian community has been substantial. We have been disproportionately affected by loss of life, with many working as front-line medical and key workers. Most important cultural and religious celebrations have been cancelled.
Following such a challenging period, I wanted Communities Together to give something back to local people of South Asian heritage and to encourage the wider community to become aware of and enjoy the positive aspects of our cultural, artistic and historic heritage. For this reason, we have been working hard behind the scenes to bring a brand new Festival to Huddersfield and Kirklees.
Sangam Festival: A Celebration of South Asian Heritage, will take place online, in venues and outdoor spaces across Kirklees during South Asian Heritage Month: 18 July – 17 August 2021.
Supported by funding from the Arts Council and Heritage Fund, the Festival will bring South Asian heritage and culture to a wider audience, enhancing community cohesion. Activities will be aimed at all ages and interests – and most will be free.
Festival-goers will be able to enjoy music and dance performances, film screenings and fashion shows, children’s workshops and storytelling, comedy and crime fiction, poetry and workshops, heritage events and a Peace Trail.
As well as celebrating our heritage and culture, the Festival will bring a much-needed boost to the local economy and vital new commissions for freelance artists and arts organisations.
Our Festival Hub, where many events will take place, will be in one of the Temporary Contemporary units at the Piazza in Huddersfield (opposite the library), which we are transforming with South Asian art, murals and decorations.
We hope this will be the first of many Sangam Festivals, making a valuable contribution towards the sustainability of Huddersfield in years to come.
