From the collection of
Established in 1992, the South West Film & Television Archive collection spans from 1893 to the present day containing more than 250,000 items. Formed from a variety of depositors, including broadcast news and programmes material from the Westward and TSW archive. In 2018 the archive collection transferred to The Box in Plymouth.
Guru blessing - Councillors join a religious reading at the Guru Arjan Niwas Sikh Temple on Clifton Street in Exeter
Councillors in Exeter join a Sikh family to visit the Guru Arjan Niwas Sikh temple on Clifton Street in Exeter, to listen to a reading from the Guru Granth Sahib, the central religious text used by Sikhs. Guru Nanaka was a spiritual leader and social reformer 1469-1538 he is said to be the founder of Sikhism. The Councillors remove their shoes, place knotted handkerchiefs on their heads and sit on the floor.
To be Sikh you have to first be baptised into the religion and follow the three (K's) articles of faith, they represent honesty, equality, fidelity, meditating on God and never bowing to tyranny. They are Kesh, uncut hair, the Kanga a wooden comb, the Katchera cotton undergarments, the Kara an iron or steel bracelet and the Kipan a ceremonial dagger. The 19th Century saw Sikhs migrating to various countries due to Britain annexing Punjab, many went to Britain or North America.
Discover a rich history reaching back over a century as we celebrate South Asian communities and culture across Britain.
From local news to feature film, through home movies and TV documentaries, this collection showcases South Asian Britons in front of and behind the camera. The contribution of colonial troops is illuminated through the earliest newsreels, while hardhitting current affairs programmes highlight the struggles faced in the 1960s, 1970s and beyond. Public information films produced for South Asian audiences feature alongside Hindi-language films made in Britain and interviews with prominent Asian-British figures. A bold wave of British Asian filmmaking in the 1990s is represented through early works by the likes of Gurinder Chadha and Asif Kapadia.
