Bhagat Ram
Bhagat proudly displayed his passport and emigration voucher that brought him to the UK in 1963. Bhagat was living in Beas Pind, Jalandhar in the Punjab and was studying. At that time the British Government invited people living in Commonwealth countries to emigrate to the UK to support the labour needs and as a way of thanking those countries for their role in the two World Wars. Bhagat knew nothing about this scheme until his brother told him to go. Bhagat’s brother had been in conversation with a friend and thought this would be a great opportunity as employment prospects in India were poor. He was so keen that he even completed the application form for him, but Bhagat was reluctant to leave. However, he felt that he couldn’t let his brother down so, he agreed.
Bhagat was issued with a voucher and came to the UK. Fortunately, some people from his village were already in the UK and were able to meet him at Heathrow and give him short term accommodation. Bhagat’s uncle, who lived in Luton came for him and on 20th July 1963, Bhagat began his life in Luton. At that time families supported each other a lot in settling in the UK.
Initially, Bhagat worked in a scrap yard but one of the other men their dropped some metal which narrowly avoided hitting Bhagat. If he had not moved out of the way, it might have cost him his leg. Bhagat’s uncle asked him to leave immediately and see employment elsewhere. Bhagat went to work in a factory on Wingate Road, manufacturing steel boxes for the Shipping Industry, where he stayed for two and a half years until he had a serious accident with some industrial machinery that left him with his little finger hanging off. He was quickly taken to the Luton and Dunstable Hospital and they managed to save his finger. Bhagat started work at Johnson Tools and Dyes, Dunstable. He hoped that he would be able to work in the office, but stayed working in the factory until he was made redundant.
Bhagat was out of work for six months before he found another job, this time at Kents, but after eighteen months, he was again made redundant. Luckily, Bhagat found some stability at Goldstar, where he worked for eleven years before retirement in 2006.
Bhagat recalled that he would often work seven days a week and would take on overtime. The intention was to earn enough money to go back to India and have a better lifestyle. However, when children were born and other families settled in the UK, it raised questions about why would want he want to go back and what he would do there.
Bhagat visits India annually since retirement to see extended family and looks forward to doing this again once it is safe to travel. During Covid, Bhagat and others have collected and donated money to their home village Beas Pind, Punjab to help those less fortunate.
In 1970, Bhagat bought his first home, in Holland Road Luton. With a growing family of two sons and a daughter, Bhagat moved to a larger home in Birdsfoot Lane. Bhagat has two young grandchildren by his youngest son. Bhagat’s daughter married back in India and her husband came to the UK but found he could not settle. Sadly, that marriage ended in divorce. Being a loving Dad, he asked his daughter to come and live with him while she got back on her feet and resumed her studies.