‘Sowfall Innit !’ South London April 2004

‘Sowfall Innit !’


I was attending a meeting at St John's Church, which included a look at the area – a walkabout Southall. The Old Parish Church is now the ‘St John’s Young Peoples Centre’ sited on the corner of Weston Road and King Street, between a small ‘square’ with a statue of a ‘Henna Hand’ complete with seats and pigeons and the old church hall which is now a Hindu Temple, with plans for impressive improvements.Built around 1840, the Church looks old and unused in the midst of a derelict graveyard. There is a plaque high on the door with a ‘Church Lads and Church Girls Brigade’ shield. A large, blue explanatory Notice Board proclaims ‘The Parish Church is St John’s in Church Avenue (opposite) You & your family would be welcomed at Sunday Services. Morning Service at 11.00 am Asian Christian Fellowship at 4:00pm Evening Service at 6:30pm. See notice board in Church Avenue for details’

New St Johns was built in the early 1900s to cater for the increased number of Railway workers from Wales and Ireland. It is more friendly ‘A Parish Centre’ with a clearly evangelical board ‘One Church One Lord JESUS CHRIST Worship Him here’ Church Avenue is a cul de sac, fairly inaccessible, but the back entrance on Havelock Road hosts the largest Sikh Gurdwara in the country.Southall is a very mixed ethnic area. The new Rector of St John’s, Rev. Mark  has been in the area for just over a year. He informed us that in the Parish of 23 thousand, there are 7000 Sikhs, 4000 Muslims and 3000 Hindus.Kenyan, Sierra Leone. Whilst the Sikh Gurdwara dominates there is a significant mosque of 1500 around the corner. Traditionally the largest immigrant communities were from North India and Pakistan. As these moved out they are being replaced by new groups from Afghanistan, Kosovo, Central Asia, Iran and Iraq. Southall is a vibrant, rapidly changing community.

Rev Mark emphasized the importance of a Christian Presence in such an area. His congregation is itself mixed, including a lot of Asians who came during the ‘white flight of the 1960s’ The parish is involved in running language classes for Afghans, Somalis, Tamils and some Iranians. They run ‘masala groups’ with an emphasis on hospitality; and have a vision for health care and pre-school work.

  

Dave and Ann Bookless, also based at St Johns run a ‘Christians in Conservation’ project called ‘A Rocha: Living Waterways’. Launched in 2001, it has ‘a vision for environmental renewal and community regeneration’ in Southall and Hayes, which includes a Country Park, Environmental Education Project, Nature Reserve and Floating Classroom’

A Rocha is hoping to move its offices to a new development - the gasworks site where the council is planning to build 4000 homes on 70 acres

I had been to Southall before to the Kings Hall Methodist Church - on other side of railway - to visit another partner organisation ‘CLAAS’, run by Pakistani, Nasir Saeed. They advocate on behalf of the persecuted Christian minority in Pakistan. Impressive and necessary work.

Walkabout

We continued our walkabout. Up past Southall Baptist Church and Christian International Community centre; then a derelict pub ‘The Bricklayers Arms’ up for sale. Past Featherstone school, a large, 60s-looking comprehensive school, with its huge gates ; then the Central Mosque ‘None to be worshiped but Allah…. Mohammad is his prophet’

The King Street / Hammond Street crossroads is fascinating. A sort of interfaith cross-roads. On one corner a Car park with access to both Southall Church of God and Guru Nanak Darbar. On Kings Street a row of Asian shops: ‘Sunrise Bakers’ specialists in Birthday and wedding cakes; ‘Pooju Wooji’, specialist design wear; ‘Reena’s’ Wholesale and retail; ‘Two Tel Telcomms’ Low cost International and local calls; and ‘A £OUND OR TWO’ - a cheap sell everything type of market shop.

On Adelaide Road the ‘HSBC’ Bank built 1903, representing the god of mammon, and on Norwood Road an boarded up building the ‘Site for Sri Gura Amarddass Gurdwara’. Down Kings Street, Fiona and Tony’s Irish Pub ‘the Black Dog’ seemed strangely out of place in this little corner of Asia.

Most people living in the area work in 'Heathrow city' but have an ambivalent relationship with the Airport which brings prosperity, but is also fundamentally changing the environment. The Green is the main thoroughfare to the Railway station. There is a well used community centre, a large Office block which Ealing borough council is converting to the largest public library in London. Past an Afro Caribbean Music Hall and dance centre to St Anselm's Catholic Church and Parish Centre. Just down the lane, past a power station that looks like a railway signal box. There is a Somalia Social centre. This is in an area now dominated by Somalis and Kosovans.

On the other side of the road a War memorial fronts Osterely Park, on the left an old park building and on the right the oldest building in Southall a Tudor Mansion now used by the council. ‘In grateful memory of our local heroes who gave their lives in the Great War 1914- 1918 1939-1945’ There was not the usual list of names of fallen comrades.

Later we went to the main shopping area in Southall, past a Bollywood style cinema emporium and found some arcade shops. Opposite the ‘Kabul Restaurant’ was an Afghan music shop. I was able to talk to the guys there in Dari. They were delighted to meet someone who had been to Kabul, Mazar-e-Sherif and Jelalabad, where they all came from. They jokingly told me that I should also visit Kandahar to meet the Taleban ! (They are in UK because they fled that very regime during the war years). We had a good, albeit brief, time - a friendly connection was made. And they presented me with a CD of Afghan music as a keepsake. ‘Don’t forget to visit Kandahar’ they joked as I left. I wondered if this is what is meant by 'doing inter-faith in Sowfall' ?


From your own correspondent

South London April 2004