A NEW school in India is being named in memory of a Worcester couple to mark their remarkable philanthropic support over many years.

The Trid & Janet Sarkar JP Memorial School at the Swanirvar project in West Bengal specialises in providing education for underprivileged children, mainly from fishing and landless farming families.

Trid Sarkar came to Worcester from Calcutta in 1952 at the age of 17 to study engineering and in 1979 was appointed the city’s first non-white magistrate. He worked as a design engineer for several companies, but also dedicated his life to improving community race relations and encouraging integration.

Mr Sarkar was fully supported by his wife and, among much other good work, the couple founded Worcester International Club in 1970, which later morphed into Worcester International Centre.

Their son Dilip, a former West Mercia police officer and noted author of numerous books on The Battle of Britain and Spitfire aircraft, said: “During the early 1990s my father became aware of a project in Swanirvar to improve the quality of life by providing basic facilities, education and much-else besides.

“Inspired and working closely with my mother and like-minded largely Worcester-based friends, he founded the 'Friends of Swanirvar' charity, to raise awareness and funds for the project. Indeed, the Friends funded all new buildings and my father visited the project with various Worcester luminaries involved several times.

“Tragically, on December 22, 2001, the day before he was to fly out to Swanirvar again, my father died suddenly of heart failure. It was a massive shock to everybody and his popularity was evident from the great congregation at his funeral, which came from far and wide and all sections of the community.

“Sadly, my mother developed pronounced agoraphobia which prevented her leading a normal and active life, but she wrote books on the subject and founded a charity to connect other sufferers, which she ran from home. After a long battle with Parkinson's, she passed away in Worcester in January 2015. I am extremely proud of both my parents and their philanthropic achievements.”

Today the Swanirvar project thrives. It has so far provided education for 15,000 children, in addition to training for more than 650 government-approved teachers. In 2016, a classroom was named in Mr Sarkar’s memory and now a new school is being built, which will be dedicated as “The Trid & Janet Sarkar JP Memorial School.”

Swanirvar secretary Nilangshu Gain said: “ The children who will benefit from this new school belong to fishermen and land-less farmers' families. Their age-range will be from kindergarten to class five. Every year more than 350 underprivileged children will benefit from this project. The school time will be 10 am to 3pm and after that, adolescent youths will also get hands on training and coaching at this centre.

'There will be a library for the students up to Higher Secondary level and there will be a resource of text books of various authors. After school poor children will continue their home work in this centre. There will be four rooms on the ground floor and a small library room. There will also be toilets and a safe drinking zone with a small kitchen. The cost of the project is around £15,000. The running cost for the library is about £750 per year and the school management cost will be about £1,500 pound a year.”

Dilip Sarkar added: “The first phase of building will be completed by the end of March next year and the first children are due to start on April 14, appropriately the first day of the Begali New Year. There will be a dedication ceremony in honour of my parents, which will be attended by my father's family in India, and at which I will be represented by my cousin Smita Sengupta, as unfortunately I am unable to attend personally. Anyone wishing to donate to the project should contact Nilangshu at nilangshugain@gmail.com”