Events

Forgotten Army Roadshow, Oldham: Event Report

Around 70 people gathered at Gallery Oldham for a day of storytelling, creative making and community conversation, brought together by British Future and the Royal British Legion to mark the contribution of South Asian soldiers in the World Wars.

Upon entering the gallery, members of the community admired the striking 120kg bronze sculpture by artist Mahtab Hussain depicting five soldiers representing the Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Catholic and Gurkha communities who served in the First and Second World Wars. Commissioned in partnership with the Southbank Centre and the Royal British Legion, and supported by Arts Council England, the sculpture has toured nationally from Liverpool to the National Memorial Arboretum – and throughout the day in Oldham it drew warm, often emotional responses from visitors encountering it for the first time. For many attendees drawn from Greater Manchester’s South Asian communities, standing before those five bronze figures was itself a quietly significant moment.

During the morning segment of the day, children took part in an art competition themed around spitfires and the role of South Asian pilots in the Second World War, following a presentation that brought that history alive in an accessible way. The Spitfire is one of the most iconic images of the war, and the revelation that South Asian pilots flew and fought in these very same planes clearly captured imaginations across the age range.

The afternoon segment consisted of a range of speakers and performers. Ibrahim Chishti, an Oldham local whose two grandfathers both served in the British Indian Army during the Second World War, spoke eloquently about how eye-opening it had been to discover his family connection and the importance of remembrance. See here for the full BBC article covering Ibrahim’s story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4glrlg6n4yo?app-referrer=deep-link

Jubeda Khatun, a spoken word poet from BlackFest, followed with a performance that brought its own texture to the afternoon, weaving creativity and community voice into the afternoon programme. She was followed by Harry Boota, a retired British Navy sailor, who spoke about his own experience of service and what it means to carry that identity as a British Asian, connecting the wartime history on the gallery walls to living memory and present-day belonging. The audience were then treated to a dance performance inspired by the life of Noor Inayat Khan — the Indian-British Special Operations Executive agent who became the first female wireless operator dropped into Nazi-occupied France, and who was executed at Dachau in 1944. The performance, choreographed and delivered by Sonali Pall, brought a stillness to the room.

The day closed with a panel discussion that drew together three voices with distinct but complementary perspectives: Rahila Bano, a former BBC reporter; Dr Shamim Miah from the University of Huddersfield; and Jyoti Vithlani, an active member of the local Hindu community. The discussion ranged across why South Asian service has remained so marginal in mainstream remembrance, what education and public institutions could do differently, and – pointedly – what British Asian communities themselves can do to claim and share this history more actively. The audience, many of whom had personal family connections to the history being discussed, contributed throughout with questions and reflections of their own.

Feedback from attendees reflected the strength of the day. 80% rated the event very good or excellent, and 90% said they would like to see more events of this kind. Perhaps most telling: nine in ten respondents said they had not previously attended an event on the South Asian contribution to the World Wars – a sign that the Roadshow is genuinely opening up a history that has been too long overlooked.

British Future and the Royal British Legion are encouraging South Asian families in the UK to share their own family stories of service in the world wars at www.myfamilylegacy.org.uk – where you can also read many stories already submitted, bringing to life this remarkable history of service and sacrifice.