LAST weekend saw another successful celebration of Urs or saint's day, in High Wycombe, in honour and remembrance of Hazrat Piray Shah Ghazi, a Muslim saint who is buried near Mirpur in Azad Kashmir and is known as Dhamri Wali Sarkar.

Dhamri was the smallest coin in British India and was the standard contribution from the people towards the Urs celebrations and upkeep of the mausoleum.

The two-day event was organised by High Wycombe's Kashmiri Arts and Cultural Group. Khawaja Mohammed Yasin, one of the organisers, was very pleased with the whole event as it attracted a large number of people from other parts of the country as well as High Wycombe. Some participants had come over from Pakistan for the occasion.

As is now usual, the Saturday evening at the Round House was devoted to poetry and talks about the saint, with almost a competitive spirit being engendered by "opposing" teams of young poets, many of whom used the exact dialect of the area, although a lot of them are High Wycombe born and bred.

In particular the short contribution by Usman Kareem was appreciated by all. The large crowd remained riveted and was rewarded by the immense stamina and poetry of Zubair Qureshi, who had come over from Rawalpindi and held the stage for more than a couple of hours.

Others taking part included Mohammed Riasat, Mohammed Arif, Mohammed Atlas and local youngsters, who obviously have taken to poetry with gusto.

On Sunday the Urs ceremonies began after Nimaz Zhur (1pm) at the Jubilee Road Mosque and continued till 6pm.

The large number of people present not only enjoyed tasty food served at the langar throughout the afternoon but were given a chance to hear some of the renowned Naat Khawns (reciters of religious poetry in praise of God and his prophet).

The participants on Sunday included Maulana (religious scholar) Ghulam Rasool Chakswari from Azad Kashmir, Maulana Ghulam Murtza from Bradford, Maulana Ghulam Rubbani, and local talent in the form of Sofi Kramat Hussain, Haji Abdul-Ghafoor and Haji Abdul.

LAST week the Community Consultative Forum of the Buckingham Chilterns University College was treated to a brief history of the Caribbean among other things.

Gordon Stewart, a part-time tutor in African Caribbean Awareness, explained the current make up and size of the population of the region and the major islands, together with details of the languages spoken in each area.

However, much more interestingly, he gave a tour of the history of the region before it was first visited by Columbus and the subsequent colonisation of the Caribbean by the British, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch powers.

It was sad to be told that almost 90 per cent of the native population died after coming into contact with the European diseases and the hard work the people were put to by the conquering colonials.

He also provided an insight into the African communities, which were devastated by the kidnapping of large numbers of its young people and turning them into slaves, so that they could exploit the natural resources of the New World.

The western history does not credit the indigenous African societies with religion or literature but according to Gordon this was far from the truth.

The current mix of the population of each island in the Caribbean and parts of the South and Central American mainland reflects the influence of the colonial powers and the origins of the slaves from Africa and the cheap labour from India and China. Gordon went on to outline the reasons for the migration of significant numbers of people, from the Caribbean, to Europe and Britain in particular during the fifties and sixties.

Moreover, the concentration of people from some islands in one or two particular towns in Britain also reflects the British businesses, which recruited workers from particular islands.

Gordon's talk was very informative and appreciated by all participants.