Saturday, September 11, 2010

Black British History: Open Heritage W/e Day 1

Excellent events attended in Coventry
1. Tour of the oldest part of Coventry's London Road Cemetery - No early black presences have been highlighted but it was my first ever visit so I'll begin to look into it.

2. Tour of Coventry's Town Hall - 1st non-white Lord Mayor seems to have been Sucha Bains, 2004. At least two Asians have held the post since. No one of African-Caribbean presence as yet
Saw where the Citizenship ceremonies take place

3. St Mary's Guildhall - where Mary Queen of Scots was taken for brief period before her execution. No early black presences highlighted as yet.

4. Walking Tour of Coventry, from Old Cathedral (ruins). Guide was informative but held us in one place for too long. I began to faint away (I'd not yet had lunch) and had to leave off the last 20 mins of the tour to take in some sustenance.

5. Attended the exhibits in the Herbert Museum - local history groups gathered with displays etc. Most informative was the Willenhall Group who are also looking at WWII Hostels. This revealed some black presences, notably from Ghana and Iran. Most other goups there had never even considered this aspect of local history.

All in all - a good day

Off to Northampton tomorrow.

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