Coming to Coventry is a partnership project between The Herbert and the Asian Mental Health Access Project. It is a development of our previous work to record and celebrate the history of Coventry’s South Asian community. The project has collected a wealth of fascinating stories and created an exhibition, book and website.

Through our previous activities we realised that many early Asian migrants were passing away and taking their memories with them. We felt that it was important to record these stories before they were lost forever. Coming to Coventry focuses on the pioneers who arrived in the city from the 1940s to the 1960s.

During the project we spoke to over 60 people and collected more than 600 photographs and artefacts. They give a vivid insight into the development of the Asian community in the city. This material will be added to the Coventry Archives collections early in 2008 and will then be accessible to the public. Much of it also features in the Coming to Coventry book, on sale in The Herbert shop at £7.99. A Coming to Coventry touring exhibition is now available for loan from The Herbert, and is suitable for schools and community venues.

The project website www.coming2coventry.org is always changing. In future we hope to develop it for interactive use and to do more work with schools on this fascinating subject. For further information about the project, contact Stacey Bains on 024 7629 4766 or email stacey.bains@theherbert.org