Oral historyThe volunteer interviewers havebeen busy and between them theyhave conducted 149 interviews.The interviews cover a time spanof over 60 yearsand we havespoken to peoplewho relocatedto Peterboroughfrom variouslocations in theUK, including London, Newcastleand Scotland.Interviewees come forward for manydifferent reasons to tell their storyand usually find the experiencevery enjoyable.“I wanted to represent the peoplewho came to Paston in the early 70s.We had our own special problemsmoving to a New Town: we had toform a resident association to getthings, the doctors, phone boxes,bus routes...” Anne Steward, FYOinterviewee.ved for futWhat’s yourstory?“We must preservelocal history for thefuture.” Gordon Low,FYO intervieweeWe are keen to talk to people who arrived in theUK from overseas, in particular from the EU,South Africa, Zi<strong>mb</strong>abwe, Afghanistan and Iraqduring the 1990s and 2000s.More recently we have interviewedthose that have migrated fromaround the globe such as, Uganda,Jamaica, Afghanistan, Poland, andPakistan.my home in England.”Almas Ladha, FYOinterviewee.“Because I am fromUganda, I wantedpeople to knowwe came here andsettled and I madeThe interviews alsoprovide an excellentprimary source forme<strong>mb</strong>ers of the publicto discover more aboutPeterborough’s social history asone interviewee explains:“I thought that my views wouldprovide a useful oral record forfuture researchers.” Toby Wood,FYO interviewee.Each interviewee receives an audiocopy of their story which ensuresthat their family history is preservedfor. future generations.Our team of transcribers andproofreaders have also been busytyping up thousands of pages,summarising interviews andchecking over the transcripts sothat they will be available for use inSpring 2014.“I reme<strong>mb</strong>ered alot of things thatI had forgotten.”Joan Thomas, FYOintervieweeThanks to ourvolunteers, visitorsto Local Studiesand Archives atP e t e r b o r o u g hCentral Library willbe able to listen tosnippets of audio, identify interviewsof interest via summaries and readentire transcripts. This will leaveresearchers and local residentswith a valuable resource for manyyears to come.We would also like to add to our collectionof stories from people who migrated fromPakistan, Bangladesh, the Caribbean and theCommonwealth countries in the 60s, 70s and80s.During this period Peterborough experienced anincrease in its population as peolple moved to the cityfor housing and employment opportunities and wewould like the archive material to reflect these diversecommunities and their stories.If you, or someone you know, migrated to Peterboroughand would like to share your story contact beverley.jones@vivacity-peterborough.com or call 01733864632. www.vivacity-peterborough.com www.easternangles.co.uk
Aneta Weigelt’s story shows just what can beachieved with hard work and determination...“I was born in 1980 in Poland: I left in October 2005.I’d just completed university (I’d got a masters degree)and I wanted to work in my profession. I didn’t eventry to find a job as a teacher in Poland. I had somepractice for a few months, and that’s it really… So Iwent to Scotland, to Fort William, and I spent one yearthere.“I was going by coach, 37 hours from Poland. Ireme<strong>mb</strong>er I was exhausted; it was so tiring and somany hours in a bus with all immigrants going to work.I didn’t think, ‘I’m going to stay [in the UK] and live’ -now it will be nearly eight years.“I looked through the window and I looked at thelandscapes, and I realised that it’s the same, nothingdifferent to be honest. When I came to Scotland I sawall beautiful mountains and then I realised that it’ssomething special and I am in a completely differentplace. For me it was like a dream. It was somethingspecial and lovely. And I had a completely differentimpression when I came to England, when everythingwas just flat, dark, nearly everything the same colour…It was the winter, so maybe that’s why I had thisimpression… but I wasn’t in love in England when Icame here [laughs].“I decided that I like this country, especially Scottishpeople, but because I didn’t work in my professionit was very difficult for me to get a job in a school. Iused to work in a hotel, as a housekeeper, after thatI worked in a bakery; I did various jobs, they were allseasonal. So my friends said, ‘Why don’t you cometo Peterborough? There’s plenty of immigrants andplenty of schools, and maybe you can try to get a jobas a teaching assistant.’“My partner knew that my profession is very importantfor me, and he knew what qualifications I’ve got, and Ididn’t want to waste it, waste my time, so we both decidedto leave Fort William and come to Peterborough. So itwas in Dece<strong>mb</strong>er 2006 when we came here.“I was hoping to find a better job. I wanted to work as ateacher and do something what I love. I always wantedto be a teacher, even when I was a very little girl… Atthe beginning I reme<strong>mb</strong>er that it wasn’t easy, we livedwith our friends, and we couldn’t find a job for a long,long time, and me and my partner did various jobs insome warehouses or even in factory.“After two or nearly three years, finally I found a job ina school. But I had to wait a little bit for it. And I knewthat I had to learn the language first, it was somethingto do step by step. But I was quite positively thinkingabout the city and what I can achieve here.“In 2009 I became head teacher of [the Polish Saturday]School. […] At that time the school was at the Polish clubin Stanground. We had an access to three classrooms,and very very small library. I went to the City Councilto get some help, and finally we managed to find anew location and it was at Thomas Deacon Academy.In October 2009 we opened a new school - it was likeopening a new school despite it existing from 1951.In the Polish club we had about 40 students on thelist, but when we moved to TDA we had over 200 andone year later we had 330. After we moved to St JohnFisher School our nu<strong>mb</strong>er of students increased up toover 500.“My school is a place where people meet, when theymake some friends. At the moment we’ve got lessonsfor children. We’ve got 504 students; we rent 27 roomsat St John Fisher School. The youngest children arethree years old, and the oldest one is 19, so we’vegot nursery, primary school and high school. It’s acomplementary school, so we teach children Polishlanguage and grammar, history and geography ofPoland. We also have some music lessons, and afterschool clubs. We would like to do something for ourparents, and we’re thinking about providing Englishlessons, or some after school clubs but it’s somethingon our list to do in the future.”www.vivacity-peterborough.comwww.easternangles.co.uk
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