Fifty years ago in late 1972, Idi Amin expelled 70,000 Asian people from Uganda. 28,200 came to Britain and several hundred of these were accommodated for 6 months in the old army base at Tonfanau near Tywyn, Meirionnydd.
Through its ‘British Ugandan Asians at 50’ project, funded by the National Lottery, the India Overseas Trust is interviewing people who volunteered at the camp, or were themselves residents there. We are also very keen to find photographs taken at the time, and other memorabilia such as letters, posters, leaflets, items from Uganda etc. All these will go on a new website and will also be permanently archived at the Living Refugee Archive so that students and the general public can access them for free. So,
• Did you volunteer at Tonfanau Resettlement Centre in 1972/3? Perhaps you were a teacher, a driver, an activities organiser, or donated clothes or children’s toys, or perhaps you worked for an organisation like the WRVS or the Round Table.
• Were you a resident there? What was your experience like? Where did you go after Tonfanau?
If you are a member of either of these groups, and you are willing to be interviewed for up to an hour on camera, we would love to hear from you. Please also get in touch if you don’t want to be interviewed but would still like to tell us about your experience, or if you have any memorabilia from Tonfanau that you would like to share.
The interviews will take place on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th March 2022 at Neuadd Pendre, 4 Brook St, Tywyn LL36 9DP. If you have memorabilia to show us, please bring them on either of these days between 10am and 4pm. Your possessions will be professionally photographed and returned to you. If you are not available on those days, please email us with your stories.
For more information please mail the Project Administrator, Warwick Hawkins, at [email protected] or call 07747 612327.
