Community leader says Peterborough is a 'unique city' as he reflects on 50 years voluntary service

A Peterborough community leader has spoken of his five decades bringing communities together in his adopted city.

Abdul Choudhuri moved to Peterborough in 1969, and has spent more than 50 years helping his fellow residents, carrying out voluntary work across the city.

Now aged 78. the grandfather of 11 has shown no signs of slowing down, and is currently the chairman of the Peterborough Joint Mosques Council.

Mr Choudhuri, who was born in Hong Kong but grew up in Pakistan, first came to Nottingham when he arrived in the UK, to study at Nottingham Trent Polytechnic. But after a short spell in London, he arrived in Peterborough in 1969, and worked as a manager in the textiles industry.

Groups and centre set up in Peterborough were unique

He said: “There were a lot of new arrivals at that time, with a lot of people coming over from Pakistan. In September 1971, I set up the Pakistan Welfare Organisation. The idea was to help them with any community issues, letter writing, employment issues. We started English classes, and helped people bring their families over.

"The first few years were very difficult, and we had to explain the values of the Pakistan community to the local community – to explain our ways of life.

"As more and more and more people came, the demand was very high. We set up the Community Relations Council in the mid 70s. I was the vice chair. Then in 1976, we set up the Asian Community Association, which was a unique thing in the whole of the UK. We had Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims join in, all working together.

"We managed to get a building, an old Methodist Church on the top of Lincoln Road. for an Asian Cultural Centre, which was another unique thing. We had Government ministers come and visit, because it was such a unique thing, with all the different groups working together.”

The Asian Community Centre was used by people of a range of faiths for different purposes, from weddings to youth groups, with long standing city councillor Charles Swift acting as the first chairman, and Mr Choudhuri as president and founder.

‘It was about getting together and working together as a community, not about isolation’

Mr Choudhuri said; “There wasn’t a negative comment from the public, as people realised it was for the community. It was about getting together and working together as a community, not about isolation.”

One of the biggest challenges for the city over the past 50 years was when the English Defence League came to hold a march in Peterborough.

Mr Choudhuri said: “We held a meeting at the Town Hall, with the police and the council, asking how we could deal with it. The community could have gone to face them, but that would have caused problems. We decided to stay away, and local people understood that reason.

"This is part of an ongoing process in making sure different cultured get along. It is not finished, but we do well in Peterborough. When there were problems in Leicester recently, for example, we did not have the same issues, because of the work being done here.

"We set up The Joint Mosques Council in 2016 – there are different faiths in Islam – Sunni, Shia and so on – and to have them all working together is very rare in the UK.

"There are still issues in the city – hate crime and Islamophobia is still increasing – but we are being proactive. More than 300 visitors every month, from schools, collages and other organisations.

"Peterborough is a unique city, and I think most people do understand the importance of living and working together."

‘I have no immediate plans to stop, but I would love to see the younger generation come forward and do volunteering work.’

In his current role, he has also worked with the new university in the city to ensure there was a room for worship for all faiths.

And during the COVID pandemic the mosques played a vital role in ensuring vital information got out to as many people as possible.

Mosques in Peterborough have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for a variety of causes – from victims of the terror attack in Manchester to victims of devastating floods in Pakistan.

Mr Choudhuri is still active, and is a member of a joint faiths group, which was started during the COVID pandemic, and meets once a month.

Mr Choudhuri has received a number of awards for his work over the years – from the city council, the Archbishop of Canterbury and earlier this month from Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire Police Nick Dean.

He said: “I don’t do the work for the praise. I get pleasure helping others. Whatever knowledge God has given me, I shall use to help others.

"I do regret not spending as much time with my family in the past.

"But now I am retired, I am busier than ever.

"I have no immediate plans to stop, but I would love to see the younger generation come forward and do volunteering work. Our faith’s view is that the reward will be given to you by God. I think people will enjoy helping people more than with money.”