Recently retired shopkeeper Mr Piara Hayre and family have given us some incredible historical images from their family album towards our award winning archive during 2016-18. In 2019 we then nominated him for the ‘100 Masters of the Black Country’ an initiative by Creative Black Country as we thought he would fit the bill having set up as one the first asian shopkeepers in the City of Wolverhampton in 1961 and continuing to work there until the first lockdown of 2020. An incredible history and wisdom to work in a very hard area and through some incredible decades of change. This is testament to an almost unbelievable temperament that Mr Hayre has kept during some turbulent history. More on that some other time! Our current work funded by Arts Council England we have partnered with Black Country Living Museum in a variety of ways which you will find on this blog. We invited them to hear Mr Hayre’s story of migration and settling in the region……and now they will be using actors to act out his story in connection with their huge ‘Forging Ahead’ work! This work is in progress at the Museum and they are setting up various new buildings to recognise history and heritage of the region form the 1950s-1970s. This means representation for Punjabi’s at the museum and will encourage and open up doors for more ethnic members of the community to visit the Museum and discover what it has on offer for them. We look forward to when Mr Hayre and family will visit the Museum and meet the actors who will tell his story which will inform the visitors who attend there. BCLM is the most visited cultural venue in the Midlands so this news is extremely positive for Punjabi’s in the region.
Piara Hayre is interviewed by BCLM staff. Researcher Simon Briercliffe and educational officer Janine Downs at Mr Hayre’s home. He talks through more than 60 years as a migrant to the region and work as a shopkeeper. Inset Jim Hayre. Photo © BCVA. Possible through ACE funding.
Mr Piara Hayre at front of his corner shop on Knox Rd, Wolverhampton c1969.