Oral History Interview - Mr Nadaf
Object
Audio file
Production date
17/11/2001
Object number
2018.60
Physical Description
Audio recording of an oral history interview with Mr Nadaf.
At the time of the interview, Mr Nadaf was the chair of the Asian Elderly Luncheon and Social Club, based in Newington Green.
Total length - 6 minutes, 19 seconds
At the time of the interview, Mr Nadaf was the chair of the Asian Elderly Luncheon and Social Club, based in Newington Green.
Total length - 6 minutes, 19 seconds
Description
[00:00:07] founding of the Asian Elderly Luncheon CLub, funding.
[00:01:01] Services the club provides, meals, why the club started.
[00:02:48] Why an Asian specific club was needed.
[00:03:26] Benefits - including meals.
[00:04:04] Members of the club.
[00:04:44] Funding.
[00:05:14] Services for pensioners.
[00:05:40] Paid and voluntary staff.
[00:01:01] Services the club provides, meals, why the club started.
[00:02:48] Why an Asian specific club was needed.
[00:03:26] Benefits - including meals.
[00:04:04] Members of the club.
[00:04:44] Funding.
[00:05:14] Services for pensioners.
[00:05:40] Paid and voluntary staff.
Associated Person
Nadaf, Raja (Mr) (Association)
Material
Digital file (.wav)
Digital file (.mp3)
On display?
No
Inscription
Q. Could you tell me how the Asian social club started? [00:00:07]
Raja Nadaf (RN). It started in 1990 with Mr Abu Siddiqui, you know he got funding because there was a new formation ability because there were no club here and he started with 6 members and now since then, it has flourished to nearly 65 members or more. We welcome all the people that are Asian … or anybody else as long as they live in Hackney and Islington because it is funded by these councils. We are going to look after the elderly people because there was a need for them because elderly, asian elderly people have nowhere to go on Saturdays so we open the club on Saturdays, so since then it has flourished.
Q. What services do you provide? [00:01:01]
RN: It provides actually social activities, social discussions and the most important thing is it provides a seven course meal which is prepared by the fantastic Indian staff like Kavasun, Kulsun and Sumaiya [00:01:19]. They cook the lovely meal it has got a Bengali taste as well as northern and southern Indian taste all combined together. You see what actually happens is the majority of the people put the same spices but they cook it differently. Here, the taste is entirely different. Usually they faint at the starters and exactly, the people love that; it's a happy feeling, and the regular …yeah.
Q. [Inaudible] [00:01:51]
RN: Because you see what actually happened was that there was no Asian elderly clubs here in London, in Islington there are, there are clubs for Turkish, English, and other ethnic communities, but there was none for the Asian people. So we started it so that the elderly people should not be isolated.
Q. What special facilities does the Asian club provide [0:2:20]
RN: Actually there are spaces [inaudible] [00:02:29] if they've got any difficulties they can bring them -
Abruptly stops [00:02:39]
Starts again [00:02:41]
RN. Yeah, you got it?
Interviewer. Yes. Thank goodness, sorry, thats the third time lucky
RN. No, its alright
Q. Could you tell me what is the role of the Asian Social Luncheon Club please? [00:02:48]
RN. The role of the Asian club is, Mr Abu Siddiqui started this club in 1990 because there were so many other clubs, like clubs for Turkish people, Chinese people, all the ethnic communities - but there was no club for Asian elderly people, so he started. The main purpose was to help the Asian elderly people who are lonely, who are on their own, to come and socialise, and have a good meal on Saturday afternoon.
Q: And what are the main benefits for the people who come here? [00:03:26]
RN. The benefits are we provide a seven course lunch which is consist[ing] of tandoori chicken, dahl, vegetable curry and rice, chapatis, and salad, and some sweets. It is cooked by the professional Indian ladies. Actually they are from Bangladesh, and some are from South India, and some are from Bombay. And we provide a beautifully cooked meal on a Saturday afternoon.
Q. And is it just Asian people who come? [00:04:04]
RN. It is mainly meant for Asian elderly people but it is not restricted. As long as they are elderly and they live in the borough[s] of Hackney and Islington because this club is funded by these councils, so we have no objection. We are a club miniature in globalisation of all ethnic communities. Yeah. We hold no distinction between race, religion, caste, or creed. We are one, we are one club.
Q. Can you tell me where you get your funding from? [00:04:44]
RN. We get our funding from the - although it is meagre, because they have reduced this funding every year - but usually we get it from Hackney council and also from Islington council. And we try to raise the money through charity work, and so far we haven't been a great success, but we are going to apply to the charity commission as well, in future.
Q. What difficulties do the pensioners face that the club helps them with? [00:05:14]
RN. We help them with any benefits, any sickness, or if they've got any problems, social, housing, you name it and we try to solve them and make them feel at home.
Q. Does the Club have any paid staff? [00:05:40]
RN. Yeah, we have got a kitchen paid staff, but the rest of the work is done by voluntary people, and at the moment we haven't got volunteers because usually what we used to do is, we used to employ school boys so that they could learn the experience, because we elderly people, we can give a lot of advice and valuable contribution to their career, you know, how they should succeed in their future life, because we have got all the past experience - and we try to help them.
[00:06:19] END OF INTERVIEW
Raja Nadaf (RN). It started in 1990 with Mr Abu Siddiqui, you know he got funding because there was a new formation ability because there were no club here and he started with 6 members and now since then, it has flourished to nearly 65 members or more. We welcome all the people that are Asian … or anybody else as long as they live in Hackney and Islington because it is funded by these councils. We are going to look after the elderly people because there was a need for them because elderly, asian elderly people have nowhere to go on Saturdays so we open the club on Saturdays, so since then it has flourished.
Q. What services do you provide? [00:01:01]
RN: It provides actually social activities, social discussions and the most important thing is it provides a seven course meal which is prepared by the fantastic Indian staff like Kavasun, Kulsun and Sumaiya [00:01:19]. They cook the lovely meal it has got a Bengali taste as well as northern and southern Indian taste all combined together. You see what actually happens is the majority of the people put the same spices but they cook it differently. Here, the taste is entirely different. Usually they faint at the starters and exactly, the people love that; it's a happy feeling, and the regular …yeah.
Q. [Inaudible] [00:01:51]
RN: Because you see what actually happened was that there was no Asian elderly clubs here in London, in Islington there are, there are clubs for Turkish, English, and other ethnic communities, but there was none for the Asian people. So we started it so that the elderly people should not be isolated.
Q. What special facilities does the Asian club provide [0:2:20]
RN: Actually there are spaces [inaudible] [00:02:29] if they've got any difficulties they can bring them -
Abruptly stops [00:02:39]
Starts again [00:02:41]
RN. Yeah, you got it?
Interviewer. Yes. Thank goodness, sorry, thats the third time lucky
RN. No, its alright
Q. Could you tell me what is the role of the Asian Social Luncheon Club please? [00:02:48]
RN. The role of the Asian club is, Mr Abu Siddiqui started this club in 1990 because there were so many other clubs, like clubs for Turkish people, Chinese people, all the ethnic communities - but there was no club for Asian elderly people, so he started. The main purpose was to help the Asian elderly people who are lonely, who are on their own, to come and socialise, and have a good meal on Saturday afternoon.
Q: And what are the main benefits for the people who come here? [00:03:26]
RN. The benefits are we provide a seven course lunch which is consist[ing] of tandoori chicken, dahl, vegetable curry and rice, chapatis, and salad, and some sweets. It is cooked by the professional Indian ladies. Actually they are from Bangladesh, and some are from South India, and some are from Bombay. And we provide a beautifully cooked meal on a Saturday afternoon.
Q. And is it just Asian people who come? [00:04:04]
RN. It is mainly meant for Asian elderly people but it is not restricted. As long as they are elderly and they live in the borough[s] of Hackney and Islington because this club is funded by these councils, so we have no objection. We are a club miniature in globalisation of all ethnic communities. Yeah. We hold no distinction between race, religion, caste, or creed. We are one, we are one club.
Q. Can you tell me where you get your funding from? [00:04:44]
RN. We get our funding from the - although it is meagre, because they have reduced this funding every year - but usually we get it from Hackney council and also from Islington council. And we try to raise the money through charity work, and so far we haven't been a great success, but we are going to apply to the charity commission as well, in future.
Q. What difficulties do the pensioners face that the club helps them with? [00:05:14]
RN. We help them with any benefits, any sickness, or if they've got any problems, social, housing, you name it and we try to solve them and make them feel at home.
Q. Does the Club have any paid staff? [00:05:40]
RN. Yeah, we have got a kitchen paid staff, but the rest of the work is done by voluntary people, and at the moment we haven't got volunteers because usually what we used to do is, we used to employ school boys so that they could learn the experience, because we elderly people, we can give a lot of advice and valuable contribution to their career, you know, how they should succeed in their future life, because we have got all the past experience - and we try to help them.
[00:06:19] END OF INTERVIEW