DIWALI CELEBRATION EVENT SHOWCASES SOUTH GLOUCESTESHIRE’S INDIAN COMMUNITY HERITAGE A special event featuring Bhangra drummers, Indian dancing, Henna art and traditional Sari dress was held at Bradley Stoke Community School on 21 October to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of light. Representatives from South Gloucestershire Council, including Chair, councillor Sanjay Shambhu and Leader of the Council, councillor Toby Savage, joined members of South Gloucestershire’s thriving Indian community and local MP Jack Lopresti, for an evening of Indian culture and entertainment to mark the occasion.
The year-long project was launched by the Council’s Heritage Service in the Spring and captures and celebrates the stories of people from India who now call South Gloucestershire home. The exhibition forms part of a pilot project which encourages people from the Indian community to share their experiences of migration and to work with local museums to gather and document their oral histories.
Chair of South Gloucestershire Council, councillor Sanjay Shambhu said: “As a proud British Asian and Chair of the Council, it has been fantastic to see how the local community and partners The Diwali celebration event supported by the Olympus Academy, is part of ‘This have collaborated for this special celebration to mark Diwali. I would like to is Your Heritage – Stories from thank everyone involved in creating and the South Gloucestershire Indian performing at the event which helps to Community’ project, which is funded by enhance people’s knowledge of Indian the Arts Council National Lottery heritage within our communities. Projects Grants, in partnership with Avon Indian Community Association and South Gloucestershire Museums Group, Gloucestershire Archives. 34
