MOHAMMED Miah could have lived in a huge house and driven a top-of-the-range car.

As a former restaurateur and property owner he’s earned a lot of money in his time, but most of it has been used to educate the poor in his home town of Moishashee.

The amazing story of his journey from the rice farm of his parents in the former East Bengal to East Lancashire has been documented in his book Old World New Life which he has written by hand.

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But, unlike most authors, Mohammed has not written it for fame or profit but to show the younger generation what can be achieved with hard work and determination.

Having trained as a surveyor in his own country, in 1962 at the age of 26 Mohammed spotted an advert in the Azad newspaper appealing for people from all over the British Commonwealth to apply for work in Britain. All would be considered on their experience and skills.

He was accepted, but his mother was not happy. Mohammed still remembers her face when he left and even now the memory moves the 78-year-old to tears. While he was away, his mother, brother and sister were struck down within 24 hours by cholera and died.

“I had promised her that I would return in two years after making a decent sum of money to start my own business. Before I left she gave me a leather suitcase in which she had placed an English-Bengali Dictionary, a small book of English grammar and a 10 rupee note which, I later discovered, was worth about 50p. I still remember her face when I left and it breaks my heart that I never got to see her again. I still have the case and dictionary to this day.”

He arrived in London having not eaten for 24 hours as the food on the plane was a world away from the fish, rice, vegetables and fruit he ate daily. Neither could he speak English.

He could, however, count and when he worked out how much the 10 rupees were worth he didn’t have enough money for the bus fare to get to his destination.

Two strangers, who spoke Bengali, came to his aid. One pointed him in the direction of a free bus. The other called the owner of his lodgings who told him to put Mohammed in a taxi.

But work was not as readily available as had been promised and Mohammed eventually found himself in a cotton mill in Rawtenstall – David Whitehead and Sons – as a trainee spinner, earning £3 per week.

But £3 didn’t go far when he had to pay 2/6d a week just for a bath. The house where he was living didn’t have a bathroom and the toilet was 40 yards away down a dark alley. At home in East Bengal he was used to swimming three times a day in the wetlands, so Bacup Baths was the only option.

“At the side of the pool there was a warm shower so I could alternate between swimming and showering. It was just like being back at Moishashee and jumping in and out of one of my village haors (wetlands).”

He learned English pretty quickly and used it to help fellow immigrants.

“I had always dreamed of serving my community so I started to help them organise housing, education, healthcare, benefit claims, tax affairs. In time I formed the Pakistan Welfare Association and worked voluntarily in the community alongside the police, social services and education services to improve the lifestyle of my fellow people from Pakistan.”

Mohammed was part of the team that turned a house at 127 Blackburn Road, Haslingden, into the area’s first mosque in 1963.

In the 70s, Prime Minister Edward Heath introduced a three-day working week in order to conserve the nation’s coal stock. Mohammed’s answer was to get a second job on the buses, and then a third taking in sewing with the help of his wife Rokeya, who his father had chosen for him. And finally, he moved into the catering industry.

“I came here not even knowing how to fry an egg as that was something our mothers and sisters did, but I volunteered to work for free in a local restaurant. I learned all I needed to know, so in 1976 I re-mortgaged my home and opened a restaurant in Manchester.”

Within five years he had a restaurant empire, including eateries in Waterfoot and Ribchester. His final acquisition was a takeaway in Haslingden. Although all the restaurants were sold by 2000, at the peak of his catering career he employed 42 staff.

Mohammed recently gave up working to look after his mentally disabled 36-year-old son. He has five children and has told them that he won’t be leaving them anything in his will as he will give all his money to charity.

“They understand because they’re very good children,” says their proud father.

Mohammed supports the education of poor children in Moishashee. They have no sanitary infrastructure and water is delivered by a hand pump. The mortality rate is high. He lives in a small stone terraced house in Rawtenstall, which is luxury in comparison.

“I cannot live in luxury when I know they are living in poverty. I never buy myself clothes. I could have built a huge house in Bangladesh, but I can’t do that when I know other people are barely surviving. Those people sell rice or go fishing to pay the teacher’s salary. There are seven teachers for 450 children.”

His dream would be to twin his beloved Rawtenstall with his home village. He’s grateful that Britain has been kind to him, he says. He’s never suffered racism and he appreciates all that he has been able to achieve here with hard work. Now he wants to give something back.

“I wrote the book to encourage all young people and to show them that nothing is impossible. Everything is possible when you have determination.”

He has donated two copies of his book to Rawtenstall Library for posterity.