As part of South Asian Heritage Month, a museum is inviting the Bengali and Bangladeshi people in the area to share their recollections.

According to the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, they are currently working on creating new characters that will represent those history in order to expand their ensemble.

It is seeking to learn more about the ways in which Black Country identity has been influenced by the experiences of persons of Bangladeshi and Bengali descent, especially those who have recollections from the 1960s or earlier.

Email correspondence with the museum is the recommended method of communication for anyone wishing to share their experiences.

A spokesperson for the museum said Mohammed Abdul Hakim, a "well-known and well-loved figure" in Wednesbury after arriving from Bangladesh in 1957, would soon be introduced as a historic character at the attraction.

Mr Hakim, who died in 2016, worked for more than three decades at J.H. Lavender Aluminium Foundry, in West Bromwich.

A new industrial quarter featuring the foundry, and other historic buildings such as Joe H. Smith & Sons (Oldbury) Ltd and the Cricket Field Brickworks, opened at the museum in March.

"His story is one of many Black Country Bangladeshi stories, and it is our ambition to collect and celebrate the full range of Bangladeshi experiences in our region," the spokesperson explained.

After Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, immigration became easier and Britain’s Bangladeshi community grew from just 6,000 in 1961 to almost 650,000 in 2021, with about 20,000 in the Black Country, said the museum.