skip to main content

Heritage

Young people from local group Next Generation have recorded the stories of their family and others in the Pakistani and Kashmiri community.  Spanning almost 70 years, the story starts with those who left their homeland, embarking on a journey of many miles and recounts why they came to Wakefield and how they settled here.

The learning resource is available through My Learning website
Go to www.mylearning.org and type ‘Pakistani community’ in the search bar.

Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

How to Add Your Story

Share your photographs, memorabilia, and stories with us and help the archive grow

Photographs & documents – bring your photos to Lightwaves where we’ll take a few details, scan them and return them to you safe and sound. Share your stories – you can email us with any memories you’d like to share. If you’d like us to record your story, we can do that by video, or just a voice recording if you prefer. To arrange a photo scan or interview, contact us on 01924 200039 / 01924 383773 [email protected] We look forward to hearing from you!

“I would stand in the street watching the older kids play during the summer”

An old photograph sparks vivid childhood memories for Sajid Hussain.

I would stand in the street watching the older kids play during the summer. In particular, I would watch the 4 Ahmed brothers who lived directly opposite our house play cricket in their back garden. They used a milk crate for the wickets, one of the brothers batted, one was the wicket keeper, one was the bowler and one was the fielder. Because they had no gate in the back garden, they would hit the ball onto the street and if the ball reached the wall (behind me), it was 4 /6 runs. I watched the brothers for a number of years before I eventually joined in with them at the age of around 5. The wall was also used as goals for football with the goalposts drawn on using chalk. I also remember there being a hole in the wall with a marble in the hole which remained there for many years until some refurbishment was done. I would estimate the marble remained in the wall for at least 10 years despite the best efforts of the kids who lived on the street to prise it out. We also used to have races in the street, with the start being the end of the street and the finishing line being our back garden gate.

"Our fathers went through hard times"

What was life like in the early days of the community? Hanif Akbar shares his story of arriving in the UK as a young boy and how his collection of photographs tell us a lot about life in those early days.

"They doted on their families, that’s what kept them going, why they were here"

Najeeda Asghar’s father moved to Wakefield from Pakistan in the early 60s. Najeeda recounts the stories her parents told her of the difficulties faced by those early arrivals.

"When dustbins were wickets"

Jahangir Khan and Hanif Akbar reminisce about their early days of playing cricket.

"All your memories will be safe here"

Young people taking part in the Archive Project visited the West Yorkshire History Centre to learn more about the importance of recording and preserving our heritage. Salma Afzal talks about the visit.