I was a student in 1976. We were self-financed. You don’t get grants in those days. So I had to work in a big restaurant in Chinatown as a part time waiter on weekends. There I was in touch with the waiters, waitress and chefs. The 1970s was the decade when a lot of immigrants came from Hong Kong, most of them males, who came to work to earn money to send home to support their family, wife and children. In the beginning not everyone intended to stay in the UK forever. They were thinking of one day returning home that once their have saved a bit of money and that their situation back home has improved.

So a group of us students and community activists got together and set up the first Chinese advice centre in Chinatown. There we held various activities, like the Mid-Autumn festival and Chinese New Year celebration. We hired a hall and invited people to join us at events and there we did our best to raise awareness of the Chinese community and Chinese culture. More and people came to join us so we expanded our support services by setting up more groups. We had a women’s group, a youth group, an elderly people’s group and so on. We gave advice to people with such needs like finding a school for young children or applying for benefits and social housing. We supported them with issues related to welfare benefits and healthcare. So if and when someone has got a problem related to housing, education and so on, they would come to Chinatown to see us. Later we set up a few more local centres in other boroughs, including the Newham Chinese Association.