Overcoming racism, redundancy and becoming a pillar of Preston's community to bring people together

Wednesday, 4 June 2025 07:35

By Central Radio

Arriving in Preston speaking no English aged just five-years-old, Kailash Parekh has gone on to become a pillar of the city's community.

Awarded an MBE for her community work and teaching she has spoken about the challenges she faced as she and her family established themselves in the city from the 1960s onwards.

Speaking with John 'Gilly' Gillmore on The Parched Pea Podcast Kailash also speaks of her love for the city of Preston.

Kailash says she faced racism and bullying due to the colour of her skin, with her homework being put down the toilet. But she says it made her stronger and made her pursue her career not just in teaching but also in community work.

She also touches on how the city now has two very well-attended Hindu temples, a stark contrast to when she was growing up and she and her family could only worship at home.

She was inspired by her teacher, Mrs Davis, to go into a career in teaching after she spent time working in a textile factory at the age of 16.

After being made redundant from the textile job she decided to finally pursue her ambition to be a teacher and trained at Preston Polytechnic (now the University of Central Lancashire).

Kailash talks about the community work she does now - in conjunction with the Preston City Council's faith covenant - to help cohesion in the city.

She also serves as a magistrate - and is the city's diversity magistrate - sitting in family court but also in her new role going to speak to schools and other organisations too.

And she reflects on receiving an MBE in 2005, recalling how she thought it was a joke at first, and receiving the medal from the Queen.

The Parched Pea Podcast is a collaboration between Blog Preston, Lancashire Post and Central Radio with Gilly exploring the people and places which make the city tick and will be available on Spotify, Apple and all other major podcast apps via Podfollow with new episodes being released every other Wednesday starting on Wednesday 9 April.