Curo News

Links with history

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 15:02:29 Z

Tucked away in a corner of Weston, Bath, past neat rows of Curo sheltered bungalows, is Fairfield House, where Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930-74, lived for four years. As well as being a place of historical significance, the house holds spiritual importance for people who follow the Rastafari religion.

As we celebrate Black History Month, we asked historian Ras Benji what brought one of the most important African leaders of the 20th century to the South West of England.

Above: Historian Ras Benji

What led Haile Selassie to Bath?
He came here with his family and some of his ministers in 1936, when Italian dictator Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, and stayed for four years, leading the country in exile. At the time, the British establishment was following a policy of appeasement with Italy. Instead of moving to London, Selassie more discreetly relocated to Bath, where he bought Fairfield House.

Why is Haile Selassie such an important historical figure?
In the 1930s, he defended Ethiopia from colonisation by Mussolini’s army. He helped to establish the Organisation of African Unity, with 33 countries signing up. In 1936, he gave an iconic speech to the League of Nations – a precursor to the United Nations – protesting the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and calling for world peace. US President Lyndon B Johnson later remarked that he wished the Allied Forces had listened to him at the time.

How did the local community react to having an emperor living among them?
The community gave him and his family a warm welcome. At the house, you can listen to recordings of residents recalling seeing him walking his dog Rosa around the streets. They remember him wearing a black cloak and looking ‘sad and abstracted’. It was a traumatic time as the people of Ethiopia were being massacred by the invading fascist forces.

The family faced financial difficulties and were supported by the local community. People brought them coal to heat their home, and the electricity board waived their payments.

Above: Empress Menen Gardens

What’s the connection with Curo?
Curo owns Empress Menen Gardens, named after Haile Selassie’s wife, which is home to several sheltered bungalows. In 1958, Haile Selassie gifted Fairfield House to the council, on the condition that it would be used as a place of respite for elderly people. It was a residential care home from the 1960s to 1993 . Today, it is used by the Black Ethnic Minority Senior Citizens Association (BEMSCA) as a place for elderly people to meet and take part in activities, such as fitness classes and dominoes. Through this and Curo’s Empress Menen Gardens bungalows, we are keeping the wishes of Haile Selassie alive today.

Why is Haile Selassie important to the Rastafari religion?
Haile Selassie was a member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church. However, for followers of Rastafari, which originated in the Caribbean, he is regarded as the Second Coming of Jesus. Bob Marley believed Selassie was Jah – meaning ‘the Almighty’. The lyrics of Marley’s song War are based on Selassie’s speech to the League of Nations.

Above: Fairfield House

What are your hopes for the future of Fairfield House?
I hope we continue to provide a space where diverse communities can meet and come together. I’d also like people to become more aware of Fairfield House and its connection with one of history’s great leaders, who is celebrated around the world. I encourage people to visit the house on Sundays to experience one of our tours and learn more.

Watch a short documentary about Fairfield House below:

Events
During Black History Month, Fairfield House is holding events to celebrate the 70^th anniversary of Haile Selassie being awarded Freedom of the City of Bath.

Saturday 19 October 2024: a free event at Bath Assembly Rooms will celebrate the connections between Bath and Ethiopia, 11am-8pm.
Sunday 20 October 2024: Historical guided tour of Fairfield House, 12pm.
Sunday 20 October 2024: Even Song at Bath Abbey, attended by Princess Esther Selassie Antohin, great granddaughter of Haile Selassie, 3.30-4.30pm.

Black History Month: Fairfield House and a social club for all ages

Tue, 19 Oct 2021 13:46:55 Z

I’m a proud Bathonian. One of three Ifill children, I was born and raised in Bath, my parents are from Bath and Birmingham and I have extended family who originate from Barbados, Jamaica, St. Kitts, and from Britain going back three generations. I grew up in suburban Oldfield Park in a terraced house that my parents were lucky enough to buy in the 1980s. It was quiet, with not many children around with a mainly older generation living around us.

As children we were fortunate to spend a lot of time with our grandparents during non-school hours and holidays. Usually they were the same old things: do the chores, play together, watch and help our grandfather in his allotment and see friends from school.

My sister is a few years younger than my brother and I, so she spent a lot more time with them as we gained a bit more independence after school. Then out of the blue she started talking of a club she had gone to with Granma and Grandad, raving about her Wednesdays and Fridays there.

By ‘club’, we thought it was a day club for senior citizens at the local community hall, but when the summer holiday came we realised what it was really about. The birth of BEMSCA at Fairfield House...

It was nineteen ninety something and we arrived at a Grade II listed villa tucked away in the Newbridge area of Bath. I remember my brother and I thinking it was going to be a boring day with old people in a smelly old house. How wrong we were.

These were sessions for a diverse elder community, with familiar faces of family and friends doing what they enjoy and learning new things, as well as others also bringing their grandchildren along.

There was a large garden to enjoy, games for all (including bingo with prizes), time for worship and, best of all, food!

I recall the house and one room in particular with a large portrait above the mantelpiece of an emperor in regalia, and another of him and his family in a different room. When we asked our parents the significance of this gentlemen they told us this was His Imperial Majesty Emperor of Ethiopia Hailie Selassie and the club was in his former residence, which he donated to the City of Bath in 1958.

Hearing the name made me recall some old reggae where his name was referenced. This led us to questions: why was this figurehead so different to other people in power at the time; and what was his significance in the black community? We started to learn about his place in the Rastafari movement and his connection with the city.

This was just the beginning of my experiences at Fairfield House. Since then I have attended many events there, organised by BEMSCA. This is a hidden gem of Bath with a lot of history and significance to the whole city, and it’s a place that should live on serving its purpose. BEMSCA is still very active to this day and the Fairfield House Bath community interest company has been set up in protect and preserve its legacy.

If you're interested in learning more about Fairfield House, they are holding guided tours for Black History Month every Sunday which you can book here and have been running a series of learning events called Freedom in the City.

Photos courtesy of Fairfield House.

Celebrating Black History Month - New Originem Group

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 12:02:51 Z

We’re passionate about the positive power of Equality Diversity & Inclusion at Curo. Everyone’s lived and shared experiences give us different perspectives and ideas to inspire colleagues to go the extra mile for our customers to deliver our purpose, Homes for Good.

Our new group Originem is a group of colleagues who identify as coming from an ‘Ethnic Minority’ background. Originem is a safe space for colleagues to come and share experiences and raise any issues giving likeminded colleagues a clear voice and providing guidance to the wider Curo organisation.

Come and meet us!

As part of Black History Month we’ll be hosting a series of activities and events, including a celebratory gathering on Friday 22 October 2021 12pm-2.30pm at The Maltings, and YOU are invited!

We’ll discuss topics that effect you, hear your stories and learn about your experiences. You’ll be able to meet members of Originem and our ally members too. We aim to share these experiences together and take what we learn and use it to support our customers.

If you need more info or want to confirm your place please let us know by 5pm on Friday 15 October. We can help with travel if needed and designated parking spots will be available on the day.

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you on the day.

Social Housing has a Black History

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 17:18:23 Z

Curo recently formed a new racial equality colleague network – called Originem (Latin for ‘origin’) – and we’re using Black History Month (BHM) to empower, educate and celebrate. This is very personal for me as my parents were part of the Windrush generation coming to England for better opportunities. However instead of being welcomed they were faced with various forms of racism and signs that read 'No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs' when they were looking for a home.

Black and minority ethnic (BME) people had to contend with poor quality privately rented housing in the inner cities run by slum landlords like the infamous Peter Rachman who provided grossly over-crowded accommodation to immigrants and evicted using intimidation and dogs.

The struggle to find good quality rented housing in the 1950s and 60s sowed the seeds for the BME housing movement.

Housing associations specially created to help immigrants began to emerge. Aggrey Housing Limited appeared in Leeds in 1955, closely followed by the Birmingham Friendship Housing Association, the Bath Voluntary Association for Commonwealth Housing, Nottingham Coloured People’s Housing Society and London’s Tredegar Housing Association. The Rachman scandal, which ended with his death in 1962, also inspired the creation of Shelter and Notting Hill Housing Trust.

However structural discrimination continued and in 1984 the manager of a Reading hostel for young black people, Louis Julienne, co-founded the Federation of Black Housing Organisations (FBHO), an umbrella body for BME housing associations that represented the sector and lobbied government on its behalf. In 1986 the FBHO set in motion the first black housing strategy and over the next few years about 40 BME housing associations were founded. In 2008 the FBHO closed due to funding difficulties, but another representative body, BMENational, was swiftly created only a year later.

In Bristol, United Housing Association was formed in 1985 when local civil rights leaders and activists come together to address the problem of unequal access to decent housing, a problem that particularly affected elders of Caribbean descent. In supporting the foundation of United Housing Association and SARI (Stand Against Racism and Inequality), these leaders looked to address racial discrimination in the core areas of everyday life: the workplace, the home, education and the city’s public spaces.

Although BME housing associations were formed to address the clear and obvious disadvantage facing some communities in accessing good quality affordable housing. They have achieved that and much more: over the decades they played a pioneering role in British society, pushing into the mainstream issues of race, equality and inclusion. They have irrevocably changed the housing landscape.

A BME positive action scheme in Bristol brought me into housing in the 1990s and I have seen a lot of policy interventions over that time.

Many of the BME-led organisations have merged into mainstream housing associations including United. So, in the South West it is up to housing providers like Curo to become the housing associations that finally stamp out discrimination in social housing and welcome and support BME colleagues and customers.

In Bristol as part of the Iconic Black Britons Heritage trail you can take a little walk around St Pauls and see all the murals of the black pioneers who enabled change in social housing and for us all.

Here’s a small selection of the many events and activities happening in #BlackHistoryMonth:

Bristol's BHM magazine is out now - click here to register and view.
Events happening in Bristol - click here to find out more.
Every Sunday in October, Fairfield House Tour, Bath - click here to book your tickets.
11 October, 1-5pm - Regional BHM online conference - click here to find out more.
13 October, 8pm - Exploring Britain’s Black LGBTQIA+ history - click here to find out more.
18 October, 6pm - B&NES webinar - ‘Race equality in B&NES – progress made and challenges ahead' - click here to find out more.
21 October, 6-7pm - Black Poppies in south-west England? Black and Asian experiences during World War One - click here to find out more.
21 October, 7.30-11.30pm - Bop Against Racism with RSVP Bhangra Band - A Love Music Hate Racism Event - click here to find out more.
Lots of other events can be found at www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk