Race riots in Lewisham, 1977 – police making an arrest
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Elena, Olga, Kyril and Lev, 1924
The small boy in the photograph is Kyril Zinovieff. He was born in 1911 in St Petersburg of wealthy parents with allegiance to the ruling Tzars. Kyril’s mother was Maid of Honour and then Lady-in-Waiting to the Empress Alexandra, Queen Victoria’s granddaughter and wife to Tzar Nicholas II. As a young girl she had to learn English, as Alexandra spoke no Russian and bad French.
Kyril has a childhood memory of hearing Bolshevik shots in the autumn of 1917 from his father’s house on the Moika in St Petersburg. On 4 July 1918 the family fled to Estonia where Kyril’s grandparents lived. After 18 months there it became clear that Russia would invade Estonia, in which case that would be the end of their family. In 1920 they managed to find the money for the boat fare to London. They came with very few possessions.
Kyril’s father had an engagement ring with a large sapphire. He pawned it regularly to buy food for his family.
“We always knew by the state of his finger when the situation was dire”
Dad
This is a photo of my father Azad Choudhury. He came to the UK from Bangladesh on 24th September 1973 to study English Literature. He arrived with an umbrella, a briefcase and five pounds. It didn’t take long for the money and briefcase to be stolen. Despite the initial
setback, there was a small community of Bangladeshi immigrants in Birmingham who helped him.
To help fund his studies he began to work at an Indian Restaurant in Selly Oak, Birmingham. As his English was better than most, the Bangladeshi Immigrants would all come to him with their legal documents and letters. He has always helped others.
In forty years in the UK he has worked extremely hard to build a solid portfolio of businesses, ranging from restaurants to property management. He provided my sisters and I with a Grammar school education which took us all the way to University. He is now retired and dedicates his time to holidays with my mother and the school he built in Sylhet, Bangladesh. One way or another, he will always keep working. To quote him, “I’m retired but not tired!” The work ethic of the immigrants of his generation is robust. They never relied on anyone and built their own future. He realised the immigrant’s dream.
Eleanor Fanyinka
Eleanor tells us how her relationship with her Keepsake has changed over time.