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A Brief History of the Inception of Our Community.
By E. J. Cavasji

Since I retired - when I retired way back in the early 80's, I decided to delve into the roots of my Zoroastrian Community. I assumed, perhaps wrongly, that I was the only Parsee in the Tameside Borough, so I started doing a bit of research. I was rather delighted to find a kindred spirit a Parsee lady working in the HSBC bank in Ashton, who gave me a few names to contact.

As my research developed, my inquiries took me to places like Levenshulme, Didsbury, Stockport, Hale, Sale and Timperley, and even further out of Manchester. Very soon, it was found that a small number of families, though scattered in and around the Manchester Area, did add up to a quorum of sorts. However, through the good offices of Professor John Hinnells, who was then the professor of Comparative Religion at Manchester University, and a world authority on Zoroastrians and Parsees, we met at the Professor s home in Chorlton-cum-Hardy and were introduced to Mr. Khojeste Mistry, an authority on our faith.

Of course, by then, the few Zoroastrians in the North West had already been gathered around, among whom were an Iranian couple, who opened their home in Timperley for our very first Jashan. That was an auspicious occasion! We were privileged to have present at these prayers not only the Professor and his deputy, Dr. D. Williams, with their respective spouses, but also priestly elders from London, who conducted the Jashan ceremony. The event was quite a success. ')

It was in July 1987 that the idea, the desire, to form an Association of Zoroastrians was conceived. The founder members comprised of Mr. Burjor and Mrs. Zarin Avari, Mr. Syrus and Mrs. Taraneh Zomorrody, and Mr. Eruch J. Cavasji. After discussing and discarding names like Association ,Organisation , Group , it was eventually agreed to call ourselves the NORTH WEST ZOROASTRIAN COMMUNITY N.W.Z.C. for short. Very soon after, our enthusiasm led us to meet socially at various venues. Our first get-together was at the local Withington Hall, which was well attended, and we had folks from Blackburn and Darwen and Stalybridge joining us there, which was encouraging. And very soon the Community began to take shape, with a formal Executive with powers to organise various activities, socials, and meetings on a firm and regular footing.

As stipulated by our Constitution, we have endeavoured to meet at least six times a year. The functions are usually, (though not always), specific.

They include:

A function to celebrate the Iranian Spring Festival Jamshed-e-Navroz , on 21st of March each year. We usually have a Jashan at this function

followed by an outing for a day in June or July, where we usually meet a coach at a designated location and travel together to the selected destination. Destinations in the past have included:
- Whitby (famous for its fish and chips)
- York ,
- Liverpool ,
- Wordsworth Cottage in the lake District ,
- Harrogate & Portmeirion as well as a number of others, too numerous to mention

In accordance with the constitution, our AGM is held in July. This has traditionally, (though not always), been followed by a barbeque party

There is a function in August/September, to celebrate Pateti (New Year)

Some functions are arranged with the sole purpose for us all to have a good time and knees up, by socialising with each other, enjoying good food and participating in music/dancing

Events of an intellectual or academic nature, such as debates, are also organised from time to time. These provide a most interesting contrast to the remainder of our functions.

All of our functions are accompanied by traditional home-cooked Parsee food, such as Dhansak. Since those early days, we have held ourselves together, and we celebrated our tenth anniversary in 1997. Much has already been said and written about the NWZC in the anniversary booklet commemorating our first ten years (1987 to 1997).

In what appears to be no more than the twinkling of an eye, we are approaching the 20th anniversary of the inception of N.W.Z.C., in this year, 2007.

We now have, up and running, this website which you have stumbled upon. I was asked, as one of the founder members, to dig into my bank of memories to record some of the salient events resulting in the formation of our community.

Yes, a lot has happened since 1997. Every member of our group is getting older, even those who were in their teens and twenties, and who have now flown the nest. These young ones can now be classified as thirty-somethings and I can say with a satisfying element of pride that every one of them has carved wonderful careers for themselves.

However, the circle continues, and we have new members joining us every now and then. I am equally as happy to report, therefore, that some of these families have brought with them, the patter of tiny feet.

I hope and trust that, in a second twinkling of an eye, we will, once again be recalling the events of the third decade of our existence.