Today I
- Volunteered at the toddler group at the Irish Forum
- Had a mentor session
- Met with Sebastian who is part of the Polonia Group who organises events connected to Polish culture throughout the year
- Watched 'Blinded by the Light'
The toddler group! Love the Luton Irish Forum. Its a warm and inviting building near the centre of town that organises and hosts Irish cultural events, workshops, social events, as well as providing welfare support, advocacy, and information. Its open to everyone to use and receive support. Its a really wonderful place where heritage and culture is shared and there is support for some of the worst issues people may be facing under austerity.
I get a really warm welcome from everyone, and enjoy meeting all the volunteers (mainy who have volunteered for years at the weekly toddler group), parents and carers (mainly women today), and all the kids. The group is a good chance for parents to catch up over tea, as well as for the kids to run around and play. Each week is an activity, and today is gingerbread decoration. I notice that on St Patricks Day the group will be walking down from the Irish Centre for the parade. There seems like a really great sense of solidarity here, and I look forward to coming back next week.
Later on I meet Sebastian from Polonia - Polish Community Group. We meet up in Gospoda - a really good Polish restaurant - where I have delicious fried potato cakes with sour cream. Its brilliant to hear about Sebastian's work and I love hearing how he started this work, which happened after living several years here and noticing a need to share Polish cultural events and support for the Polish community. Its really inspiring to hear how they have been influenced by other cultural events and organisations in Luton including the Luton Mela - an organisation sharing South Asian culture, and The Irish Centre - sharing Irish culture. We talk about the relationship between cultures, and how Polish and Irish culture share a lot in terms of Catholicism, as well as oppression from neighbouring countries, and in having fun. He says each group will often get involved in each others projects.
Sebastian and the Polonia group have organised so many events in Luton - they raise a lot of money every year for charity by putting on gigs and other cultural events, and they organise carnival where he brings entire brass bands from Poland. We speak of Luton as a town of festivals. Its really interesting to hear about the obviously important role they play in Luton.
Later on I watch Blinded by the Light (beware - spoiler alert!). A film based on journalist and writer Sarfraz Manzoor's experience of growing up in Luton as a teenager in a family who have emigrated from Pakistan. It shows the context of Luton in the 80s, particularly how racism was rife, and unemployment and job losses (his father looses his job at Vauxhall Motors) under Thatcher. In part the film focuses on Javed's (the character based on Manzoor's experiences) love of writing, and love of Bruce Springsteen's music. The film uses Springsteen's music to underline thoughts and feelings that might be shared across culture, time, and place. It is part musical, bringing in joy and hope, and there are some really sweet and funny scenes.
I like how the music is both personal and shared in the film - there are quite a few scenes of Javed with his walkman and headphones getting into the music, but there are lots of scenes where the music is celebrated together - Roops (played by Aaron Phagura) first tells Javed about Springsteen, there are scenes of them running through Luton singing and dancing together with friends and strangers, and Javed often quotes Springsteen's lyrics to his friends and girlfriend.
You see shots of the green fields outside the town and the motorway and you get this sense of the borderlands and that beyond Luton. The film ends with Javed leaving Luton to go to University in Manchester, and is full of hope, reconciliation, and joy, but I wonder how this plays on the idea that success is leaving Luton? I also wonder why there wasn't more made about him leaving his girlfriend (Javed seems to forget about her quite quickly at the end). Yet I found the film enjoyable to watch and with hope, and gave me insight into the history of Luton in the 80s. I just had a look at the trailer on youtube and read the comments afterwards - its really heartwarming to see how much people love it.
Luton Irish Forum - http://lutonirishforum.org/
Polonia Polish Community Group - https://www.facebook.com/PoloniaPCG/
Blinded by the Light trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1YFA_J5JBU&vl=en
