York man Yogesh Joshi tells how he escaped Idi Amin terror 50 years ago

It was almost 50 years ago. He was just 16 and a few weeks earlier, he and his family - parents, three brothers and four sisters - had fled Uganda to escape the murderous regime of Idi Amin.

On September 30, with only the clothes they stood up in, they and other Ugandan Indian refugees landed at Stansted.

They spent the first few weeks at an RAF base in Lincolnshire. Then they, and a few other families, were told there were houses and school places for them in York.

They arrived by mini-bus. It was night. The first thing Yogesh - known as Josh to friends - noticed was Micklegate Bar. "I looked up and I thought 'wow!'" he said.

The family were placed in a house on Frances Street, off Fishergate - and began a new life in a strange country.

Yogesh 'Josh' Joshi in Frances Street, where he came to live as a teenager almost 50 years ago when his family was expelled from Uganda by dictator Idi Amin

Until Amin took power in Uganda in a coup in January 1971, Josh and his family had lived a comfortable life.

His father Mr AB Joshi was a shopkeeper. They lived in Eganda, east of Kampala.

"We were comfortable enough to have one or two home helps," Josh says.

Then Amin took power. Within a year, the economy collapsed, food shortages began, and civil order broke down.

It was 'absolutely terrifying', Josh remembers. "There was a curfew, there were soldiers on the streets, there were dead bodies, bodies being dumped in mass heaps. I saw a bulldozer digging a mass grave.

"Amin was paranoid. He didn't have the skills to run the country. He started killing people, murdering them.

"Soldiers had not been paid. They were just looting and pillaging. If they wanted your car, they just took your keys. If you objected, they bundled you into the boot and you'd never be seen again."

Yogesh 'Josh' Joshi at New Walk, where he spent a lot of time as a teenager after coming to York in 1972

Then Amin turned against the Uganda Indians who had arrived under British rule.

On August 4, 1972, he decreed that all 50,000 Uganda Indians with British passports should leave the country within 90 days.

• How York prepared to welcome Ugandan refugees in 1972

Leaving everything behind, and after tearful goodbyes, Josh and his family joined other Indian families on a hired bus to Entebbe airport.

"There were checkpoints every 10 or 20 miles. We were continuously harassed," he said.

They were flown to Stansted, then taken to RAF Hemswell in Lincolnshire.

Idi Amin

It was bitterly cold. They were taken to a large warehouse full of clothes. "And they said 'go ahead. Help yourselves'," Josh said.

Despite everything, he enjoyed those first weeks at Hemswell.

"We were suddenly free.There was no school. We didn't have to worry about food. And I had my first disco! I loved it!"

Then, in October, they came to York.

The house in Frances Street was cold, and cramped for a family of 10. They learned to light coal fires, and carry hot water bottles.

But the neighbours were friendly, Josh started school at Nunthorpe Grammar - and he discovered the riverside at New Walk. "I spent lots of time there!"

His dad worked as a Hindu priest. Josh grew up, went to polytechnic in Sheffield, then got a job at Rowntrees.

He married, had two children, and now lives in quiet retirement in York.

He and other members of the small Ugandan Indian community in York are now preparing an exhibition to be held at the University of York in October.

It will be a chance to reflect on their lives.

"I've had good neighbours, good friends at work. We have set down roots here," Josh said. "I made my life here, and it's been a good life."