1. Handsworth Today

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Date:1700

Description:Text: Malcolm Dick

Handsworth represents many of the features of contemporary Birmingham:
• A change in the local economy from manufacturing to service industries. As local manufacturing has declined in recent decades, Handsworth’s economy shifted towards retail, leisure and the arts. New businesses emerged, created by and serving the needs of Handsworth’s and Britain’s diverse communities such as East End Foods, Thandi Coaches and a kaleidoscope of restaurants and shops.
• An area where different communities have settled. In the 19th century, Handsworth became home to people of Scottish, Irish and Jewish origin. After 1945 Polish refugees and migrants from the West Indies and South Asia settled in the district. In the 1980s Handsworth became the most important local place of settlement for displaced Vietnamese boat people and more recently, it has become a home for asylum seekers and refugees from Afghanistan, Africa, Eastern Europe, Iran and Iraq.
• Religious activity representing many world faiths and diverse sects. Handsworth has been the location of Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and Christadelphian congregations. The Rastafarians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the New Testament Church of Christ and Asian Christians have places of worship there. There are also Hindu mandirs, Muslim mosques and Sikh gurdwaras in the area.
• The importance of the arts within the local cultural scene. Musicians such as Ruby Turner, Joan Armatrading, Apache Indian and Steel Pulse hail from Handsworth and the area is a home to British bhangra. Photographers such as Vanley Burke, Pogus Caesar and Sukhvinder Singh Ubhi also reside in Handsworth.

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Donor ref:Chris Sutton (44/4812)

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