Descendants of Italian immigrants meet in Sheffield for annual 'Night to Remember' event

Members of the West Bar Italians group gathered at the Garrison Hotel, off Penistone Road, on Thursday, October 24, for the 10th annual ‘Night to Remember’ meal, representing over 20 different families from the Italian immigrant community in Sheffield’s West Bar area known as ‘Little Italy’.

The group had once all been strangers, but thanks to the ‘West Bar Italians’ website have been able to find like-minded people who have each been trying to learn more about their roots.

Over time they have been able to discover more about their ancestors all of whom had been relatives, friends and neighbours who had travelled to England in the 1800s to begin a new life.

Julie-Dawn Fawcett, who set up the ‘West Bar Italians’ website, said: “Since I launched the website I have had contact from lots of descendants from many different families, most wanting to know more about their family history and others just supporting the website.

“I have researched many family trees, 92 of which are Italian families that settled in the West Bar area.

“The same year I launched the website I also held a dinner for some of the descendants. We had around 72 people at the first dinner. I thought ‘I’ve never met any of these people’ but they’d all come just on the strength of an email – we had people from Blackpool, London, Newcastle, all over.”

From as early as 1830 to the 1930s hundreds of Italian families fled their homes to descend on Sheffield, one of the world’s most industrial cities.

“We were all strangers who came together and bonded over the past,” added Julie, a descendant of the Pelegrino family who moved to Sheffield in 1880 for employment.

“When they left they were more like friends and family, it was unbelievable. The dinner has become an annual event and has been attended by many over the years – this year was our 10th annual dinner.”

The website gives a brief history of the community of Italian immigrants that settled in Sheffield and provides other historical information such as a background on the Italian ice cream industry in the UK, in which immigrants such as the famous Sheffield-based Cuneo family who in 1864 established what is now the oldest Ice Cream Company in the Yorkshire and Derbyshire area.

It also delves into Italian family traditions such as the culture of naming in which the firstborn son is named after the father's father and the second son is named after the mother's father.

Represented on the night were descendants from the Manfredi, Cassinelli and Anginotti families among many others.

For more information visit the website here.