A community centre will be at the heart of a project to catalogue 40 years of Ugandan Asian history after receiving Lottery Funding.

The Council of Asian People, based in Caxton Road, Wood Green, has received £86,700 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help catalogue interviews with people about the arrival of Ugandan Asians to the UK.

The project, called Exiles: The Ugandan Asian Story, will look at the lives of Asian people expelled from Uganda by Dictator Idi Amin in the summer of 1972.

Santhosh Chandran, manager of the centre, said: “We’re very excited to be involved in the project. People who came to the UK from Uganda are getting old now and their stories will be lost forever.

“This project is very important to the history of that time and its very exciting to help collect all these memories.

“People who we have talked to already about taking part in it are really looking forward to the chance to sharing their stories.”

The Wood Green centre will collect and archive memories of people from in and around London and Leicester during the year-long project.

Approximately 27,000 people with British passports come to the UK to live.

J P Agrawal, Chair of the Council of Asian People said: “'The Exiles: Ugandan Asian Story will address the lack of recognition of Ugandan Asian narrative in London's heritage through an intergenerational project.

“It will work with the youngest generation to record and present the stories of their parents' and grandparents' resettlement in the UK and the heritage of their families in East Africa before expulsion.

“I am extremely grateful to Heritage Lottery Fund for supporting this project. It will enable the memories of thousands of people to live through the future.”

Next summer 40 personal stories from the collection will be part of an exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society.