Luton in 50 Objects exhibition shows items from working class families

This boater, made by local milliner Trudy Comfort, is on display at Wardown House in Luton

A scrapbook featuring Bruce Springsteen cuttings, an old football programme and a payslip from Vauxhall are among 50 items charting a history of Luton.

Author Sarfraz Manzoor has created the Luton in 50 Objects exhibition, to mark 50 years since he moved from Pakistan.

He said it told people's stories "from the ground up" rather than "the story of the high and mighty".

"I really like the fact that the objects are essentially from working class families," he said.

The display at Wardown House aims to showcase Luton's diversity and heritage.

"I wanted this to be a people's exhibition," Mr Manzoor said.

He added it was "a little bit bonkers" to see items "that are deeply personal belonging to someone growing up in an ordinary place in an ordinary town".

Sarfraz Manzoor's scrapbook features cuttings of Bruce Springsteen, who inspired his film 'Blinded by the Light'

The writer's memoir about living in Luton as a British Pakistani teen was adapted for the film Blinded by the Light.

"It is this story, the story of Luton, that I want to tell through the personal objects belonging to the people of Luton," he said.

Sarfraz Manzoor was made chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire

The 50 items on display include telegrams and love letters.

There is also a 1958 football programme and dress and hat-making materials.

This sewing machine was brought over from India by a woman who made her own clothes

Exhibition producer Hafiza Mohammed said the telegrams were "really important" for the South Asian communities in Luton and beyond in the '70s, '80s and '90s.

"This was a way that people communicated with loved ones back home," she said.

"They will tell you about death, marriage, whether people were going to visit them, and they were very, very short because we had to pay by the letter."

Sarfraz Manzoor also donated a shirt he wore at his fourth birthday in Luton, which has sentimental value

Mr Manzoor has donated a poem, notes from his diary aged nine and a pink shirt that he wore to his fourth birthday party to the museum.

He said: "It's almost like each object is a door and we go through it. You get into the family history and that history can come from all different places.

"The connective tissue is Luton. That's where we all ended up, even though we came from different places. It's kind of a conversation between the past, the present and the future."

Luton in 50 Objects runs until 16 November.

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