Dr. Shaheen Shahzadi Chaudhry Face to Face with the High Sheriff
different groups as well as your full time job as a magistrate, how do you manage to balance everything? Well, you need to prioritise and with that i decide what is important and I attend those. That’s not always easy to get right. No, especially if you’re a mother as well as a wife, hospitality must be maintained at all times in our culture but I’ve got used to it now, I’d be lost without it I think. Moving on to the role of High Sherriff, how do you feel about being the first Muslim lady to be appointed to this role? I feel very privileged and humbled that somebody has thought that I am of that caliber to become the High Sherriff and represent the city, I am truely privileged and honoured for that. I am very proud as a Bristolian that this is now happening as obviously Bristol has a bad history what with it being a slave port and only 50 years ago Bristol Omnibus and the Transport and General Workers Union were not allowing any black conductors or drivers. the changes are phenomenal, this is a groundbreaking year, especialy for us having Farouk coming in as Lord Mayor and what will follow him. Do you think this is the sign of another big change? Absolutely I think people now are open and broad minded, people are much more accepting. Despite the terrorism, despite the Islamophobia, despite all the racism, discrimination that is prevalent in certain parts of society and parts of the City, I think the goodness outweighs the negative. We need to represent more of the diversity of this city because it is rich in its culture, in its diverse people, in its language and its food and that should be celebrated. Any excuse and reason we can use, then it should be used and I think would be a facilitator to bring the diversity of this city together and encourage people from our community to come forward to prepare to become High Sheriff because it’s a non-remunerated position. What you can achieve is amazing and what you can do for your community especially the Black and Minority Ethnic Community, is worth stepping forward and getting involved. People are just people, they have different religions and different viewpoints but we are all people. This is going to be a wonderful year this year. This is going to be reflected at the High Sheriffs concert on the 14th of June at the Bristol Cathedral which I am arranging. to raise money for BYCA which is the Bristol Youth Action Charity for under privileged children between 8-13 years can have play schemes and activities in the holidays so rather than hanging around on the street corners and making a nuisance of themselves they are actually actively involved so hopefully it prevents them from getting into the criminal justice system. That’s a great idea. Have you got any other plans that we can tell people about within your position, sort of an idea of what you want to achieve by the end of the year? Yes, there’s the legal Sunday when we welcome the start of the new legal year, Judges and people from the law are involved. various fundraising events that are going to be held possibly at the Mansion House, we are just at the negotiating stages at the moment or possibly at the City Hall.
May I ask when did your family first move to Bristol? We moved to Bristol in the late sixties, 1968 to be exact. Where did you move from? We came from Cambridge initially in 1964. My father was a GPO (General Post Office) installer working in the GPO offices so we moved around quite a bit in the South West. Sidmouth, Yeovil, Taunton, Cirencester and then Bristol. So fairly local? Yes, around the South West, it was a nomadic life in those days. I attended schools temporally in the cities, we were in but my main school was Knowle Junior School, from there I got a scholarship into Red Maids School which is an all girl school, and from there to Bristol University. After reading through your brief I see that you are supporting a lot of
Dr. Chaudhry & her daughter, Zaheer Shabir, Faruk Choudhury & Mohammed Elsharif
