SCHOOLS which have been delving into local history are reminded that we invited them to submit reports of their own research into any aspect of this, for possible publication in our NIE column and to form an important archive for reference by future generations. The initiative was part of the launch of our own educational resource "East Lancs, from the Stone Age to the Space Age," still available to schools. This is not a competition, but a chance to see your own work in print. Please send fully corrected work, either typed or neatly hand written, to Rita Shaw, NIE Coordinator, Lancashire Evening Telegraph, High Street, Blackburn, BB1 1HT. Any photographs accompanying articles will be returned. Reports could be about any aspect of local life - people, places or events, and from relatively recent times to the dim and distant past. First hand accounts, as the piece on his own family history by Blackburn student, DIPESH CHUDASAMA, of Pleckgate High School, Blackburn, published today, are particularly welcome.

Family's effort to settle, and their future hopes

"My mother and father moved to England from East Africa, specifically from Tanzania, due to unrest in that country.

"They came separately, my father arriving in 1964 and my mother in 1977 and they didn't meet each other until they were living in Blackburn. "My parents remembered their arrival in Britain as a time when they felt very lonely. There were not many Asian people living in Blackburn then and those who were here kept themselves to themselves. In fact most of them felt like aliens in a land full of people of a different colour and culture, and many Asians even felt under siege.

"My father's family lived on Peter Street and he went to Most Street School where there were very few Asian pupils. My mother was older when she moved and started work in a factory in Manchester where her family settled. There were some Asian workers already in the factory.

"Life was difficult for them at first because there was a lot of racial prejudice in the country. Asian people found it hard to get jobs and had to put up with name calling and even violence. Although some prejudice still exists today, Asian people are now treated much better and have contributed to the culture of this country.

"Asian words such as kushti and nirvana are in common use, Indian music is popular and, of course Indian food can be bought and enjoyed everywhere.

"I see Asian and western culture progressing together into the next millennium with all people recognising that we have a lot to offer each other."

DIPESH CHUDASAMA, aged 12, Pleckgate High School, Blackburn

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.