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It’s South Asian Heritage month

Gulzar Waljee (nee Shivji) outside Royal Surrey County Hospital 1962, with permission

Free to be me

From Tuesday 16 July to Thursday 15 August, Surrey History Centre is celebrating South Asian Heritage month.

The campaign aims to commemorate South Asian cultures, histories, and communities, and promote an understanding of the diverse heritage that continues to link the present day UK with South Asia.

From our food and clothes to our music and language, South Asian influences are in all parts of British life.

Share your South Asian heritage stories

This years theme is 'Free to be me', celebrating the stories that make up our diverse and vibrant community. You can check out some of the existing stories we already have in our archives.

If you have a South Asian connection with the county, why not add your story to the archives? Doing this will help to ensure this important area of our local history doesn't go unrecorded. To contribute, please contact the History Centre via shs@surreycc.gov.uk.

British Ugandan Asians at 50

A touring exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of the Ugandan expulsion 1972 to 2022 is coming to Woking.

On 4 August 1972, the Ugandan dictator General Idi Amin served 90 days' notice on roughly 70,000 Asians to leave the country. The first evacuation flight from Uganda landed at London's Stansted Airport on 18 September 1972.

In the autumn of 1972, a total of 28,606 refugees came to the UK. Around half of this number were hosted for up to six months at 16 resettlement centres in England and Wales.

The touring exhibition kindly loaned by the British Ugandan Asians at 50 project tells the story of this expulsion, the traumatic evacuation, and the challenges of making a new life in the camps and beyond.

Hobbs Barracks, near Lingfield, was one of the camps and has contributed material to the display at the Surrey History Centre.

This free display is available during normal opening hours. Please see our website for further details.

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