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Belgrave Memories

 

The Belgrave area of Leicester is situated to the north of the City. It was once a separate village but has been swallowed up by 'Greater Leicester' until it is now an area whose boundaries are difficult to define.

At present the area is often thought of as being 'Asian', which is to say mainly Gujurati Hindu, in character, and the 'Golden Mile' along the Belgrave Road reinforces this image to a national and international audience. However, while the majority of the local population does have a Gujurati Hindu background, this perception does not tell the whole story of the people who live in Belgrave. There are people from a variety of ethnic, religious and national backgrounds living and working in and around Belgrave, and it is easy to forget the diversity of these communities when thinking of modern Belgrave.

In 2006 the East Midlands Economic Network Ltd received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to run an oral history project which aimed to capture voices from the peoples of Belgrave. The result is an archive of interviews with over 80 people which covers many aspects of life in the Belgrave area since 1945. The transcripts of these interviews have now been published as 'Tales of Belgrave' while a summarised version is available as 'Belgrave Memories'. Both are available from the East Midlands Economic Network Ltd.

This web exhibition presents short extracts from some of these interviews, a variety of photographs and documents collected during the project, and links to books and websites where you can learn more about Belgrave.

The East Midlands Oral History Archive at the Centre for Urban History, University of Leicester, is pleased to host this website for the East Midlands Economic Network's 'Belgrave Memories' project.

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Sound Clips

Hear extracts from some of the interviews.

Photo Gallery

Look at photographs of Belgrave and some of its people.

More information

Further information about Belgrave.

Information about the people involved with this project.

 

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Last updated: 16/09/2007
East Midland Oral History Archive Web maintainer
This document has been approved by the head of department or section.