Shamsun Begum

I live in Lozells, I work in Lozells, I breathe Lozells

Never far away, Shamsun Begum has witnessed the ups and downs of Lozells & Handsworth whilst working as a Women’s development officer within the area.

Speaking on her connection to the community, Shamsun says that she moved into the area during the 90s from neighbouring Aston. A familiar face in Lozells, she now works as a women’s development officer for Legacy West Midlands which is a charity based in Soho and is only a mile away from Lozells. She goes on to further state that she does some work for Saathi House which is an organisation that’s based in Aston and is dedicated to women. To simplify, as Shamsun said, “I live in Lozells, I work in Lozells, I breathe Lozells”.

As an inner-city area, much of what happens inside Lozells has an effect on the rest of Birmingham as a whole. In this case, the 80s riots were no different. When she was 10, Shamsun could remember seeing and hearing the riots raging on from her home in Aston, “We lived in Aston then… just on the border, Aston library, and Lozells was on the other side of the border and I was about 10 years old… physically I could hear it and I was there by the window and my dad used to say ‘Don’t go by the window! They’re going to smash it!’”.

Although a bad relationship between the police and the local community was definitely a factor in the 1985 riots, tensions between Lozells’ Black and Asian groups were another factor as to why the riots took place. Shamsun develops on this by saying, “There was a lot of tension between the Asians and the black but then after, they did work well and I think they sorted out their misunderstandings.”

Covid-19 not only proved to be an infectious disease, but also one that caused economic and social issues across the country. Lozells was no exception to this matter. When asked to speak about how the community handled the pandemic, Shamsun discusses how the community “didn’t respond well to Covid-19” describing it as a “panic attack”. When asked about the involvement of community groups during the pandemic, she says, “The community groups were brilliant because they got into the community and they talked to them individually, or in groups or in the sessions they did”.

Lozells is the 3rd smallest ward in Birmingham with a population of around 9153. However, for what it lacks in population size, it makes up for in diversity. Shamsun maintains this view when asked to speak about changes in Lozells, “New communities have moved in, for example, the Yemeni community, the Somali community, the Italians, there’s loads of people that have moved in.”