My family’s history with Slough goes back to 1961, when my grandfather settled in the town in search of a better future for his family. Both he and my grandmother worked in various factories in Slough, followed by my father, whose first job was on the Slough Trading Estate, making ice skating boots. My father then moved onto working at the Faberge factory in Colnbrook where they manufactured Old Spice & Brut aftershave, which has now gone. After a while, my mother began to work in Slough, working at the Horlicks factory for a while and as a seamstress in BHS. In fact, my entire family, including my uncles, aunties, my four brothers and I have all worked in Slough and have made lives for ourselves through our work here.
At one point, we used to put together Christmas crackers at home, forming a little production line in our living room, with the money we made going towards funding our education and securing our futures. We were taught from a young age to be productive and helpful members of the community, so my brothers and I started work as young teens as local paper boys, delivering the Slough Express, The Mid-Week and the Slough Property Paper first in the Baylis area and then in Cippenham.
My brothers and I were all born in Slough, my 3 older brothers were born at the Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital in Taplow, which closed its doors in1985 and myself and my other brother were born at Wexham Park Hospital. Speaking Urdu & Punjabi at home and English at school, we grew up with a keen sense of community, always ready to support our local community in anyway we could.
This sense of community defines who I am today, influencing my choice of career and voluntary work. I am passionate about volunteering with local youth, supporting them as they navigate the tricky time that is adolescence.
In my job as a civil servant, I work across Slough’s diverse and multi-cultural community, supporting residents looking to improve their prospects and helping people new to the country to find their feet, providing them with a support system that my grandfather had to make do without when he first arrived here.
I’ve lived in Slough all my life, I love its diversity, the wonderful mix of people here which is reflected in the restaurants serving food from all corners of the world. I love the vibrant and dynamic voluntary sector in Slough; there is so much goodwill, such a great sense of community spirit here that I couldn’t do without.
Three generations of my family have been witness to the rise and fall of some of Slough’s most well-known landmarks, we have seen it grow and evolve into the town it is today; we have been a part of its history and it has been a part of ours, and it remains the backdrop to our lives as we in turn continue to grow and evolve.
