As part of their Institute of Cultural Practice (ICP) placement two Masters students have assisted the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust in the collection of oral history for the Heritage Lottery Funded ‘The Legacy of Ahmed Iqbal Ullah’ project.

The project will culminate in an exhibition at Manchester Central Library on the 14 October, Ahmed’s birthday, marking 30 years since his racially provoked murder. The students have produced documentation for individuals’ and groups’ oral history recordings, containing memories pertaining to activities which have been linked to Ahmed since his death. For instance, the recordings and their documentation relate to the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Memorial School in Bangladesh and work which has been undertaken by a range of professions in Manchester since Ahmed’s murder in 1986.

The students have also conducted their own oral history recordings, obtaining both the memories of those who had previously been interviewed in greater detail, and those who had been unable to attend earlier reminiscence oral history group recordings.

They said: “Interviewing individuals from differing professions and recording their memories from Bangladesh and Manchester since 1986, has opened our eyes to how a tragic incident can motivate passionate people to make real change. We have thoroughly enjoyed participating in the projects’ activities which will be archived and presented in the exhibition. We hope that visitors and researchers will be inspired as much as we are by the work for community cohesion which is documented in this important oral history project.”