Histories of Immigration – The Tibetan Refugee Community in Woolwich, Royal Borough of Greenwich – Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities (GATPM)

Tsering Passang: I support the Woolwich Heritage project.

On 5th April, I will be speaking at the Woolwich Front Room in Woolwich, where McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in the UK, in October 1974. Organised by the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), this event is part of the Woolwich Heritage Action Zone Celebration collection, supported by the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2024 14:00 – 14:45 BST

Venue: Woolwich Front Room, 105 Powis Street, Woolwich, London SE18 6JB. For more about the talk, please visit EventBrite page.

Please visit this link for the full celebration events: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/cc/woolwich-heritage-action-zone-celebration-3098469

https://www.mola.org.uk/get-involved/events/woolwich-heritage-celebration

Woolwich, a thriving English town located in southeast London, is the headquarters of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It has excellent transport links and the London City Airport is only five minutes by Docklands Light Railway (DLR) service. The town’s location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throughout the 16th to 20th centuries.

Woolwich is one of 68 High Streets Heritage Action Zones across England, and one of only five in London, that will be given a new lease of life thanks to a £95 million government-funded programme. The fund is being delivered by Historic England and will unlock the potential of high streets across England, fuelling economic, social and cultural recovery and breathe new life into town centres for future generations.

I joined the Steering Committee of the Woolwich High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) in April 2022, on recommendation from the Royal Borough of Greenwich to the MOLA team. I first moved to Woolwich in 2007 and have remained in close association with the Royal Borough to this day. I am delighted to support this important Woolwich Heritage project undertaken by the MOLA and partners, bringing a great benefit to the local community, promoting and celebrating diversity, cultures and heritage in the Royal Borough.

Woolwich Heritage Exhibition at The Woolwich Centre Library run *by http://www.OurHut.co.uk* from 8th March – 8th April 2024 and can be viewed during standard library opening times. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/cc/woolwich-heritage-action-zone-celebration-3098469

As well as talking about the Tibetans residing in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Greenwich Tibetan Association “GTA” and their ongoing activities, I will also be recollecting memories of the past, including the two young Tibetan students who received some of their training in Woolwich in the 1910s in the historic buildings! When Britain was willing to aid the Tibetans in beginning of the 20th century, as part of modernising Tibet, the previous 13th Dalai Lama’s experiment with modern education resulted in the British welcoming four young Tibetan students from Lhasa, dubbed ‘Rugby Boys’, aged between 12 and 15, in April 1913. Two of the young boys received some of their training in Woolwich – at the Royal Military Academy and the Royal Arsenal during and after the First World War.

About sixty years later, in 1981-82, a young Tibetan family moved to Woolwich. The following decades saw more Tibetans moving to the riverside town, and today about 200 Tibetans are living in Woolwich and neigbhouring towns. Over the past decade or so, the Greenwich Tibetan Association set up the Tashiling Tibetan School, which is being run within the borough’s premises at weekends, providing free Tibetan language and cultural education to the young Tibetan children. The Woolwich Centre Library has become an important hub for Tibetan children’s learning activities in recent years. These language and cultural activities are voluntarily run by members of the local Tibetan community.

Elected Councillors proudly share that the Royal Borough of Greenwich hosts the largest group of Tibetans in the whole of the UK. Local MPs and the Councillors are equally sympathetic and supportive of the Tibetan people and their just cause; the Tibet Flag is hoisted at the Town Hall every year in March, in show of support and solidarity with them. The Tibet Flag was first raised in the Town Hall in September 2015 to accord a warm welcome reception to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, when the Tibetan spiritual leader gave public talks and Buddhist teachings at The O2 Centre to over 10,000 people in September that year.

Group Photo: Cllr. Averil Lekau (Deputy Leader, Royal Borough of Greenwich), Youdon Lhamo (GTA President), Cllr. Dr. Dominic Mbang (Mayor, Royal Borough of Greenwich), Cllr. David Gardner (former Deputy Leader, Royal Borough of Greenwich) and Tsering Passang (Steering Committee member, Woolwich High Street Heritage Action Zone) during “Losar” – Tibetan New Year Celebrations at Asian Community Centre, 9th February 2024, organised by Greenwich Tibetan Association (GTA).

The riverside town has also attracted small businesses run by Tibetan entrepreneurs, including Kailash Momo Restaurant, the first Tibetan restaurant in the Royal Borough, which was opened in 2011. Several other eateries – Rewa Sushi and Momo Bar and Wow Sushi London were opened in the past few years. Iro Sushi Woolwich is the latest venture by two young Tibetans living in the Royal Borough.

*Photo: Interior at Kailash Momo Restaurant, Woolwich*

Tibetan Dance Performance

The Greenwich Tibetan Association will present Tibetan Dance Performance and Fashion Walk in traditional Tibetan costumes from 15:30 until 16:30 to round up the celebrations in The Woolwich Centre Library, 35 Wellington Street, London SE18 6HQ. All welcome to these free events!