Leeds West Indian Centre Celebrates 40th Anniversary with Historic England
Historic England is joining the Leeds West Indian Centre's 40th anniversary celebrations with an exhibition featuring images from the venue's opening event in 1983.
For the past 4 decades, the Leeds West Indian Centre (LWIC) has been providing educational, cultural and social events and activities for the communities of Chapeltown and Harehills.
The LWIC will be marking its anniversary on Saturday 14 October with a community event at the venue, including photographs from the Historic England Archive that capture the centre’s opening event. The images offer a fascinating slice of local social history, with men smoking and playing dominoes, young children playfighting, and a youth steel drum band performing.
The anniversary event will also feature speeches from notable community leaders and performances from local DJs and a steel band orchestra. A photographer will capture the occasion, and the images will be added to Historic England’s Archive to complement the existing collection, offering a ‘then and now’ comparison. Local residents will also be able to share their stories and memories of the Leeds West Indian Centre.
Aseye Negedu from the Historic England Archive discovered the images from amongst its collection of 650,000 photos.
I love these photos. They remind me of my own cultural background and I love that they are of people in action doing a variety of activities, which is less typical of our known collections in the Archive. The images for me reflect a historical moment in Black British history and illustrate why West Indian community centres were developed in different parts of the country during the early 1980s. I love the fashion, the hairstyles and the smiles and joy that is reflected in them too.
The 40th anniversary event is taking place on Saturday 14 October from 11am to 4pm, with free entry. Leeds West Indian Centre, 10 Laycock Pl, Leeds LS7 3AJ.
