pakistan23

Summary of project

 

Heritage Pakistan came about as a mistake. Indeed, the project was simply an idea – ‘what if?’ that matured into a project. Much of the ‘what if?’ could not have been developed into a project if it wasn’t for the hard work and encouragement by the Heritage Lottery Team.

 

The project was to preserve and collate information about the arrival of the Pakistani community into Southampton and the difference this has made on the culture of the city. The project would celebrate the culture and heritage of the Pakistani community in the City of Southampton since their arrival in the 1960’s to Present Day. The end of the project was to celebrate the successes of the community and how they have contributed to the local area and to preserve the heritage of this community in different media forms.

 

The project recognised that many early migrants to Southampton were now dying, taking their personal histories with them so the project aimed to record those important memories before they were lost and to celebrate the history and achievements of Southampton’s Pakistani community.

 

Interviews and photographs were collected for a book, exhibition and website, as well as oral histories and a video documentary.

 

Aims of the project

 

The project had two main aims

  • To research and make a detailed historic chronological record of the personal histories of members of the Pakistani community who had arrived into the city in the ‘early days’ (1947 onwards) and the establishment of the community in Southampton since then.
  • To celebrate those histories and achievements and to tell the stories to a wider audience through an exhibition, book, website and documentary.

 

Project Management

 

The project was managed by Awaaz FM Community Radio. Awaaz was commissioned to do the project over a one year period. The project was planned to raise awareness, open days to collate information, workshops to collect memorabilia and home visits to access those unable to attend. The project plan was also to broadcast to the wider community using equipment purchased by Heritage Lottery money to broadcast on the FM dial.