Walking tour explores Sikh stories of city

A free community event that explores Sikh cultural heritage is returning to a city later.

Sikh History on the Streets of Oxford is a four-hour walking tour focusing on Sikh and related Indian stories that link to colleges and historic sites around the city's centre.

The walk, led by Rav Singh and Stephen Barker, will be held from 11:00 to 15:00, starting from the Ashmolean Museum.

Mr Singh said the tour covers a variety of topics, including women's history, contemporary people and prime ministers with Oxford connections.

Mr Singh is the founder of community organisation A little History of the Sikhs, which weaves modern-day Sikh history and heritage research into walking tours, day trips and study visits.

He said he had met Mr Barker, who is an Oxfordshire historian, in Blackwell's Bookshop in 2021.

The tour revolves around stories they have collected.

"We go to various colleges and museums and we just stop by and tell short stories of individuals from Sikh history or from the Punjab in India and their connections to Oxford in the spaces that these little histories took place," Mr Singh said.

He said Mr Barker's book The Flying Sikh: Hardit Singh Malik had served as "a centre" and more stories had been added since.

Hardit Singh Malik studied at Balliol College, becoming the first person to join the RAF as a non-British officer, and fought in World War One.

"We cover women's history, modern history, contemporary people, people from the past, prime ministers - all linked to Oxford," Mr Singh added.

Mr Barker said the tour "also investigates why Indian nationals came to Britain in the latter half of the [19th] century; why the Indian Institute opened on Catte Street in 1896 and the ongoing connections between Balliol and South Asia".

Mr Singh said people's eyes "light up" when they came across elements from the stories, such as the weather vane atop of The Indian Institute.

"Normally, we always see a cockerel but because it was a centre of learning of Indian studies, at the top it's an elephant."

He said the tour would end at The Museum of Oxford, where a creative workshop would be led by artist PiNS.

The artworks created during the workshop will be exhibited in the museum's 50th anniversary exhibition opening in April.

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