IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Eld Road, COVENTRY, CV6 5DD

View from St Elizabeth's Road, Foleshill. The junction with Eld Road is just out of shot to the right.

Sikh Temple in Cross Road.

On the former Alfred Herberts factory site, off Stoney Stanton Road.

At the time of the photograph, the whole of the dead-end Coventry arm was heavily industrialised, as exemplified by this view near Bridge 6.

There are several of these signs along the edge of the car park at the Gallagher Retail Park. The Coventry Canal is immediately behind, and several feet below the shrubbery.

The Shree Mandhata Samaj Community Centre. Established in 1978 in a converted Primitive Methodist School. Paradise is an area of Foleshill.

The Sign on the wall of this old School building says Paradise Day Centre. It is unclear if this building is still in use.

The 2021 Diwali procession in Coventry makes its way up Foleshill Road. A participant carries a Freedom placard, referring to the liberation of Sita from captivity to the demon king Ravana, a story told in the great Hindu epic The Ramayana and remembered at Diwali, the festival of lights (for a brief introduction, see here https://asiasociety.org/education/ramayana ). Diwali signifies "peace and joy, the victory of good over evil, and light over darkness every day" according the Hindustan Times https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/festivals/diwali-2021-significance-history-date-time-puja-muhurat-and-all-you-need-to-know-101635849456204.html . It is celebrated on the 15th day of the Kartik month in the Hindu lunar calendar, which in 2021 fell on the 4th November. Sikhs, Jains and Ravidassias as well as Hindus mark Diwali, or Deepavali as it is also known. The Coventry procession took place in Foleshill three days later. There was a palpable sense of joy that the community could come together again in this way after the restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic - another sense in which freedom was being celebrated. The event was named 'Abundance' and formed part of the 2021 UK City of Culture celebrations; it combined traditional and contemporary elements, with drummers, dancers, street-performers and lantern-bearers. In the background of this photo can be seen the illuminated umbrellas of Cirque Bijou.

The community hall occupies a former Primitive Methodist School of 1907, as can be seen from the inscriptions on the facade; there is also a large cross indelibly incorporated in the brickwork, standing out in relief. Paradise Primitive Methodist Chapel (Paradise is the name of the district) was first built in 1828, was rebuilt in 1865, and the Sunday school was built alongside it. The chapel has since been demolished. See Fry, D & Smith, A, The Coventry we have lost: Forgotten Foleshill, Simanda Press, 2018, p97. According to its website, Shree Mandhata Samaj UK is an association of Koli Patels, a jati or caste originally from Navsari District in Gujarat, India. Many members subsequently emigrated to East Africa, where they adopted the name Mandhata Samaj for their community. They retained it when they moved later to Britain and other countries as political conditions became difficult for them in East Africa. https://www.amsuk.org/about-us/