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OUT & ABOUT<br />
“<br />
The project also delivered creative<br />
activities inspired by the World Cultures<br />
Collection to families, schools and<br />
communities<br />
”<br />
in Tenter Street in Masbrough which<br />
was also home to immigrants from<br />
Ireland, Italy, Yemen and Poland.<br />
These communities brought diversity<br />
to Yorkshire through language,<br />
culture, music and food. Zanib’s<br />
childhood memories are the epitome<br />
of many mid-century Rotherham<br />
families: of children playing marbles,<br />
hopscotch or football in the street;<br />
the clanking sounds and billowing<br />
smoke coming from the steel<br />
factories; milk floats, coal lorries and<br />
the rag and bone man heading down<br />
the street. And of course, weekends<br />
spent at Clifton Park or on her<br />
dad’s allotment.<br />
“My favourite memory is going<br />
to Clifton Park, visiting the museum,<br />
and seeing Nelson the lion. We<br />
would sit near the bandstand and<br />
listen to the brass band practising<br />
while my brothers played football.<br />
After my father was made redundant,<br />
he leased an allotment and spent<br />
many hours growing his own food<br />
and spending time with his Italian<br />
and Polish friends. In the summer,<br />
he would go to the allotment in the<br />
morning and take his sandwiches,<br />
not coming home until the evening,”<br />
Zanib says.<br />
Back home in Pakistan, Zanib’s<br />
father didn’t have the opportunity<br />
of an education. Aged 12, he left<br />
his home in Mirpur to work as a<br />
rickshaw driver in Karachi to support<br />
his widowed father who was injured<br />
in the Burma War. He finally learnt to<br />
read the Qur’an aged 50 and taught<br />
so many people in Rotherham<br />
and Sheffield. In 2002 he also set<br />
up a school in his hometown for<br />
boys from poor families, funded<br />
by donations from family and<br />
close friends some of whom live in<br />
Rotherham. Haji Ghulam Rasool<br />
passed away ten years ago but the<br />
school still educates around 70 boys.<br />
Zanib loaned some of her father’s<br />
belongings to the project along with<br />
a poem she wrote about him and her<br />
memories growing up.<br />
“Imagine knowing you’re leaving<br />
home for a long time; what do you<br />
take in just one suitcase? It’s like<br />
Desert Island Discs. But my father<br />
made Rotherham his home; he<br />
had strong values and work<br />
ethics and encouraged us to give<br />
something back.”<br />
To complement the new<br />
displays, the project also delivered<br />
creative activities inspired by<br />
the World Cultures Collection to<br />
families, schools and communities<br />
to create new resources for the<br />
Walker Kitchen.<br />
Local ceramic artist Caroline<br />
Lee worked with the English<br />
Conversation Group to create bright<br />
and bold ceramic tiles to represent<br />
their own heritage and memories,<br />
and jugs and pots with Apna Haq<br />
inspired by the ceramics within<br />
the world cultures collection. The<br />
Kashmiri and Yemeni Older People’s<br />
Forum created paintings on canvas<br />
with Islamic calligraphy artist Uzma<br />
Rani.<br />
There has also been a storybook<br />
produced by illustrator and picture<br />
book maker, Rose Feather, called<br />
Where Our Stories Live which<br />
is based around objects in the<br />
home and kitchen. Rose worked<br />
with 60 children from Coleridge<br />
Primary School, young people with<br />
disabilities from the Sense Centre,<br />
as well as families from African,<br />
Polish, Roma, Slovak, and Pakistani<br />
communities. The groups shared<br />
their stories and memories of<br />
traditions and created illustrations<br />
of themselves eating their<br />
favourite foods or of the artefacts in<br />
the museum.<br />
“It was very uplifting and I was<br />
blown away by the creativity and<br />
generosity of everyone involved.<br />
People in Rotherham want to talk<br />
about their heritage and they do so<br />
with so much pride,” Rose says.<br />
The free book will now be<br />
available to take away and read<br />
from the Walker Kitchen along<br />
with an activity pack that has also<br />
been produced.<br />
DISCOVER OBJECTS,<br />
EXPLORE STORIES,<br />
AND MAKE CONNECTIONS<br />
See the full collection at Clifton Park Museum<br />
WANT TO GET INVOLVED?<br />
The Rotherham Museums, Arts and Heritage team are always looking<br />
for stories and objects to add to the museum’s collection, particularly<br />
around work, industry, sport and hobbies.<br />
Contact Learning and Audience Development Manager,<br />
Christine Evans, for more details 01709 336330<br />
Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 4pm, and Sunday 10am to 4pm<br />
Also open Mondays during school holidays<br />
Last admission 30 minutes before closing<br />
www.cliftonpark.org.uk<br />
aroundtownmagazine.co.uk 23
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