Dear Editor,
In a letter last month I wrote about “Flying from Brent”, and some of the other Heritage and Wellbeing projects being facilitated by Brent Museum and Archives as part of their “Being Brent” programme. There are now more “gems” from this project that your readers might like to know about, and take part in, so I’m writing to share the details with them.
Brent Heritage Tours – Willesden logo
After a number of popular guided walks during the autumn, Brent Heritage Tours are going “online” for January 2022, with three free illustrated talks on Friday evenings. Tickets can be booked via their Eventbrite pages here:
"Queen's Park - Past and Present": Friday 14 January at
7pm (to 8.30pm):
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/queens-park-past-and-present-tickets-180818451857?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
"Willesden - Past and Present": Friday 21 January at 7pm:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/willesden-past-and-present-tickets-180847889907?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
Postcard of the High Road, Willesden Green, c.1900.
"Welsh Harp - Past and Present": Friday 28 January at 7pm:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/welsh-harp-past-and-present-tickets-180984247757?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
They will be back with free “live” guided walks from February (numbers on each
walk are limited so book early if you are interested), and also have
self-guided trails that you can download to explore in your own time. More
details on their website at: https://brent-heritage.co.uk/
I hope that readers enjoyed my series of articles last month about Ram Singh Nehra and his family. The story of Brent’s multiracial and mixed-race community is one area of our social history which has not received much attention, but another “Being Brent” project is hoping to shine more light on it, with a digital exhibition planned for March 2022.
The curators of “By the Cut of Their Cloth”, local artist Warren Reilly and director of The Mixed Museum, Chamion Caballero, need your help to collect as wide a range of memories and photos as possible, to make a permanent record celebrating our community’s rich history of migration and mixing. They are holding two online “open days”, on Saturday 15 January (10am to 4pm) and Sunday 16 January (12noon to 4pm). If you have stories you would like to share, you can find more information, and “book" a private zoom meeting with them, at:
https://mixedmuseum.org.uk/news/btcotc-open-days-booking-now-live/ and,
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/by-the-cut-of-their-cloth-open-day-tickets-231641404677
I hope you will take, and enjoy, these opportunities. For more about “Being Brent”, and links to the videos already produced from a variety of projects, you can find details on their website. Best wishes,
Philip Grant.
