West Midlands Heritage Trail

Black Country pilgrimage: a short film by Raminder Kaur, Gabriele Shenar and Tarun Jasani

• Video transcript

  Prepared by Gabriele Shenar

  Filmed during launch of Places of Worship Heritage Trail, Smethwick, in May 2024, an interfaith activity supported by the Faithful Neighbourhood Centre (FNC).
  Soundbites from:
  Canon Dr Andrew Smith: Director of Interfaith Relations for the Bishop of Birmingham at Church of England Birmingham.
  Reverend David Gould: Vicar, Holy Trinity Church
  Kulbhushan Rai Prashar: Representative of Durga Bhawan Mandir
  Shobha Sharma: Representative of Durga Bhawan Mandir
  Harvinder Singh Sehespal: Representative of Baba Sang Ji Gurdwara
  Shaikh Nasir Akhtar: Head of Dawah, Tarbiyah & Outreach, The Abrahamic Foundation
  Debbie Black: Member of West Smethwick Methodist Church

  Galton Bridge area, beginning of Places of Worship Heritage Trail.
  Soundtrack playing, soothing, calming. Title appears, white text against black background: Black Country Pilgrimage.
  Soundtrack playing, long-shot of road and group of pilgrims, road sign “Galton Bridge”.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith: My name is Andrew, I work for the Bishop of Birmingham, as director of Interfaith Relations and I put this [the heritage walk] together with lots and lots of help and other people.
  Close-up of Places of Worship Heritage Trail map.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith (off camera): Good old Galton Bridge.
  Sign Galton Bridge and Cycle way.

  Outside New Hope Christian Centre.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith: The longest single-span bridge in the world when it was built 200 years ago… So let’s head that way.
  Left pan from group to road.
  Pan left to New Hope Christian Centre.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith: This is the first stop on our trail. And some of the places we are gonna go to are big and well-visited and some are small but faith-full congregations, and so part of what we are gonna see is the different ways people are worshipping, and their faith communities are. And this is the New Hope Community Christian Community Centre. It is part of what is called the Pentecostal Tradition, particularly the ELIM Church within the Pentecostal tradition.
  Close-up of heritage trail map.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith: So it is quite a small congregation with two congregations. In the morning, they have one that is predominantly Caribbean and also some white British folk, and in the evening it is a Tamil congregation.
  Exterior and interior of The Hindu Cultural resource centre Durga Bhawan, Smethwick.
  Pilgrim group walking towards Durga Mandir on Spon Lane S, Smethwick, Durga Bhawan temple in distance.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith: And this was originally the Spon Croft pub. They bought the old pub.
  Exterior of Durga Bhawan Temple, pilgrims at entrance door.
  Entrance hall of Durga Bhawan Temple, shoe rack, pilgrims take off shoes.
  Close-up golden sign “Hindu Cultural Resource Centre Sandwell, Durga Bhawan, Inaugurated in honour of Sanjay Puri, by Mananiya Nathu Ramji Puri, Philanthropist and Industrialist of Puri Foundation, 30th June 2002.
  Inside temple, communal area, Andrew is welcomes with floral garland.
  Andrew Smith: Oh, thank you that is a great honour.
  All present applaud, pan right to pilgrims seated a table.
  Representatives of Durga Bhawan Temple standing during reception speech by Kulbhushan Rai Prashar.
  Soundbite:
  Kulbhushan Rai Prashar: Eventually, the pub went for sale, we bought that, and we made the decision to put a temple on that building. But that building was solid building. But somebody put it on fire. So we had to demolish that. So many hard period go by… but we are, we believe that things happen, those things happen that God want.
  Inside temple sanctuary, various gods at shrine, Hindu family, girl rings bell, various of Hindu worshipers performing ritual act in front of gods.
  Soundbite in front of Ganesha statue.
  Shobha Sharma: (with group of pilgrims during short tour of temple sanctuary) Anything we start off, we start off with Ganesha. And then we move into… this is Lord Shiva… bathing him with milk and water.
  Hindu woman performs ritual act, bathing Lord Shiva with milk and water.
  Statues of Hindu gods.
  Soundbite:
  Shobba Sharma: This is the main goddess, she is the wife of Lord Shiva.
  Shobba Sharma: We have Guru Nanak Dev ji and Guru Gobind Sing ji here…(Shobba folds hands in prayer) Hinduism and Sikhism are quite closely related, we celebrate all the same things.
  Shobba Sharma: (standing with Muslim woman in front of picture) Guru Nanak Dev ji was a Hindu first… the he took a little bit of Islam and a little bit of Hinduism and then 500 years ago Sikhism was born.
  Hindu worshipers and non-Hindu pilgrims are sprinkled with holy water.
  Longshot of worshipers and people leaving temple sanctuary after aarti (prayers), Hindu man distributes puja.
  Outside Jamia Mosque Oldbury Road.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith: This was a working men’s club selling alcohol… and it is now a mosque. They offer two Friday services on two sermons and one is always in English, as with most mosques now as it makes the younger generation understand their faith.
  Marshall Street Smethwick.
  Long shot of blue plaque Malcom X, pan left to pilgrim group.
  Pilgrims: MalcomX.
  Soundbites:
  Andrew Smith (not in picture): We’re gonna walk that way round…
  Debbie Black: Malcom X. He was killed in 1962…. I was nearly three, three and a half. But my mum saw him because we lived down the street.
  Andrew Smith: In 1965, …. And a party came here.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith: He was invited by Mr Avtr Avtar Singh Johl, former general secretary of the Indian Workers’ Association. He was the man who made the invite. And it was partly, and this is a bit like what you were telling me earlier, when you were telling me about the plan for segregated housing wasn’t it.
  Andrew Smith (not in picture): They said he was opposed, he opposed the segregated housing idea.
  Pilgrim takes picture of blue Malcom X plaque.
  Soundbite:
  Shobha Sharma: There was a lot of unity, people in the 70s and 80s. People used to go to pray together, we used to go to churches. People would come to our Gurdwaras and temples and everything. There was nothing… and then people started exploring identity and religion and like that. But it was really good. The community was good.
  Andrew Smith: There was that good bit … but then there was under that, there was this racism going on.
  Pilgrim in grey blouse: yeah, yeah.
  Andrew Smith: It was really quite severe, I remember Lenny Henry on the telly one time … because he was near here… This is how bad it was, we had to have Malcom X come… (all laughing)
  Close up front door, various of houses in Marshall Street, over shoulder pilgrims walking down Marshall Street and commenting on housing styles
  Debbie Black: There was a corner shop down here
  Pan left, close-up sign Marshall Street, Smethwick B 67, Sandwell.
  West Smethwick Methodist Church, Holly Lane.
  Sign Holly Lane, group standing near sign, people chatting, man crossing ST Pauls Road.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith (off camera): people are talking about Malcom X being here and that, but there was round the corner there was a church and a youth club where they came together … that is really an important part of the story isn’t it.
  Inside Methodist church, congregation singing.
  St Pauls Road.
  Exterior of Islamic Learning Centre Topsham Road/St Pauls Road.
  Pilgrims walking in St Pauls Road.
  Baba Sang Ji Gurdwara.
  Exterior of Baba Sang Ji Gurdwara, tilt down, pan right to group waiting outside gurdwara.
  Inside Baba Sang Ji Gurdwara, door with sign Langar Hall, pan right to group, Andrew and Shobba.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smiht (to Shobba): You want to lead the way, so we know what we are doing… and then we can sit in the corner on chairs.
  Over shoulder Shobba walking into Langar Hall, sound of prayer, various of people eating in langar hall, group so pilgrims eating seated on floor, close-up of plate and food
  Inside lobby of Baba Singh Ji, group walking upstairs.
  Soundbite:
  Harvinder Singh Sehespal: We tend not to do our bath towards Siri Guru Granth Sahib because that is a living spiritual leader.
  Harvinder Singh Sehespal: Waheguru Jee Ka Khalsa Waheguru Je ka Fateh. That is our traditional Sikh greeting, and it’s all to do with Waheguru. In our believe system, Waheguru is the one God and we obviously believe that different prophets, different messengers are all respected, and they are all mentioned in the Guru Granth Sahib. This gurdwara site is unique because the community got together in 1993, 94 and they purchased the building Empire which was quite a historic theatre and if everybody is happy to going up the stairs, there are a few stairs, I can show you the Sach Kand. What you will see, is like beds, on an actual bed we place the Guru Granth Sahib out of respect, cover it with a duvet, look after, make sure you know it is an airconditioned room, with the utmost respect.
  Cutaway beds in Sach Kand, bedroom for holy books in need of repair.

  Guru Nanak Gurdwara
  Exterior of Guru Nanak Gurdwara, pan left to pilgrim group
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith: A nationally significant gurdwara, the first purpose-built gurdwara in Britain, possibly Europe, certainly in the West Midlands, one of the first purpose-build gurdwaras, and this was originally a Smethwick congregational church built in 1885, that closed down in 1961, it was derelict for a long time. The Sikh community bought it and used it as a place of worship and the Gurdwara then did the statue in 2016, the Lions of the Great War to commemorate all the soldiers from the Indian subcontinent, it is dedicated to Sikh Solders, but it is definitely for all the soldiers from the India Subcontinent who fought and died in world wars in huge number, as we can see in the plaque underneath there which a local artist did as part of the celebration of Guru Nanak, 550 years before.
  Guru Nanak Memorial Stone.
  close-up memorial stone: This tree was planted on 6th November 2019 to mark the 550th anniversary of the founder of the Sikh faith Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, as a mark of the fellowship between faiths by Guru Nanak gurdwara and Holy Trinity Church Smethwick in partnership with EcoSikh.
  Soundbite:
  David Gould (off camera): This started out as a conversation between here and Guru Nanak next door. The result was, and through Andrew’s good offices, that the Sikh leaders from Birmingham and beyond came here one evening, we had a ceremonial planting of the tree with the Bishop of Birmingham and the Sikh leadership. Fabulous evening, the church was absolutely packed with Muslims and Sikhs, there was hardly a Christian to be found. That is a measure of the cooperation.
  Tilt up Holy Trinity Church.
  Over shoulder group walking to Holy Trinity Church
  Holy Trinity Church.
  Soundbite and cutaway to exterior of church.
  David Gould: There were five churches in this town church of England and then they were closed to leave this one. when I got here, they all sat in their groups, depending on which church they had come from. There were only twelve or thirteen people still alive from the people inherited and they have been replaced by people from Asia, Africa, some Brits, and the result is that it is now a black majority church. I am happy to answer any questions.
  Group inside church applauding, exterior of Holy Trinity Church, David Gould walking on street with Shenar.
  Abrahamic Foundation.
  Exterior of Abrahamic Foundation with large sign.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith (off camera): Welcome to the outside of the Abrahamic Foundation.
  Nasir Akhtar: (partly off camera). In a nutshell, we called it the Abrahamic Foundation …
  Nasir Akhta: We set it up because we were getting a bit tired of spaces, mosque spaces, our spaces of being spaces that were only for worship, and we wanted to create a space that was inclusive, a space that went beyond community languages. So mosques are based generally on ethnic and language grounds, the Bangladeshi mosque, the Yemenite mosque, the Afghan mosque, the Gambian mosque, whatever you see the connection with the mosque and the language which connected to that centre, we felt that we are British-born and we are a bit tired of these languages and these ethnic labels, we go to school with our friends an colleagues we don’t really see anyone differently, we just want an English mosque, if I sort of use that…, and English Muslim British mosque that is really there for serving all the community.
  Andrew Smith: Thanks Nasir, this really is an amazing place, so always worth a visit
  over shoulder group walking in street, exterior of Smethwick Council House
  Alexandra Park Smethwick.
  Ice cream van in Alexandra Park.
  Andrew Smith: And if anyone wants to have an ice cream, feel free to have one.
  Jamia Mosque.
  Group walking outside mosque.
  Exterior of Jamia mosque.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith: The community did not have a mosque round the corner that seated, well, they had to accommodate 500 or 700 people for prayer but it was. So in 2005 they purchased this piece of land and started waiting on it, they spent nearly 14 years raising the money and building it, parts of it came from Turkey. The marble came over from Turkey, it was cheaper, and they extended it as they were building it, as they thought it wasn’t quite big enough (smiling). So their original project of two and a half million came to just under nine(9) They have 20 paid staff. It is an enormous operation. They do quite a lot of community activities.
  close-up Info sign: Purpose Built New Mosque Project Smethwick.
  Sign urgent Masjd Fundraising Appeal.
  Close-up layout mosque.
  Ceiling and calligraphy Arabic.
  Soundbite:
  Nasir Akhta (off camera): We believe in one God and Mohammad is the messenger of God. And this id one of the main verses of the Quran that talks about God’s oneness and power.
  Group walking in street.
  Smethwick Baptist Chapel.
  Exterior of Baptist Chapel, man walking out of church, tilt up church.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith (off camera): and money came from the compulsory purchase of Canon St Church in Birmingham, to build Corporation St and that money was given to eight Baptist churches around Birmingham, and this is one of them. …
  Group standing outside Baptist Chapel.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith: So when they demolished the one in the city centre, this was the fruit of that.
  So the other one where we started off this morning, they had the Tamil Christians on a Sunday afternoon and they (Baptist church) have the Punjabi Christians on a Sunday afternoon. So that kind of variety.
  Andrew Smith: So, here we end this… our final stop, so thanks very much for coming. Down there it goes to Galton Bridge Station .
  Group applauding.
  Pilgrims walking along canal near Galton Bridge.
  Galton Bridge as seen from ground.
  Soundbite:
  Andrew Smith (off Camera): The longest and highest iron girder bridge in the world. However, as it is the end of the walk, we have to get up there. So we have a bit of a climb now.
  Shenar: you did not mention that…
  Andrew and Shenar walking along canal near Galton Valley and Galtob Bridge.
  Sign Galton Bridge on the Revolution Walk.
  Group walking up to Galton Bridge, green footpath.
  Soundtrack playing, soothing, group walking past graffiti and on bridge.
  End shot of group walking fading out.
  Credits
  A sincere thank you to everyone we met and walked with during the Places of Worship Heritage Trail launch in Smethwick in 2024 – an interfaith activity supported by The Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre (FNC) – and to those in the places of worship for their warm hospitality.
  Special thanks to:
  Canon Dr Andrew Smith:
  Reverend David Gould
  Kulbhushan Rai Prashar
  Shobha Sharma
  Harvinder Singh Sehespal
  Shaikh Nasir Akhtar
  Filmed by
  Raminder Kaur
  Gabriele Shenar
  Edited by Tarun Jasani
  Logos: Pilgrimonics, Leverhulme Trust, University of Sussex.