You could, of course, escape the city and head for fresh air in the Surrey Hills or the breezy seaside at Southend – but only if you could afford the train fare. There were no travelcards, so unless you were a commuter with a season ticket, you had to buy a separate ticket for each journey. Petrol was rationed and cars were beyond the reach of most working people in the late 1940s and early 50s, so most people travelled by bicycle, bus and tram.
TURNING THE CORNER
MONA BAPTISE BLUES SINGER JUNE 1948 EMPIRE WINDRUSH ARRIVES IN BRITAIN WITH 409 WEST INDIANS SEEKING JOBSCREDIT: ALAMY
LEISURE TIME
Outside the house the options for amusement were limited, though dances, clubs, jazz and big band concerts – at places that decades later hosted soca shows, such as the Hammersmith Palais – and films at cinemas were all good options as they were relatively cheap, especially for nurses and servicemen in uniform. A wind-up gramophone and a stock of the latest 78s imported from the States and perhaps an old valve radio set (or you could make your own from a kit) would form the basis for a good party – along with a bottle of something, of course! If you wanted a change of scene in central London you could walk along the river, but much of the riverside was occupied by warehouses, docks and various noxious-smelling industrial premises – all out of bounds to casual strollers. The river itself was full of activity, with cargo ships, tugs and ferries bustling to and fro, and liners down in what is now Docklands, but the water was poisonous with pollution. Parks offered some respite, but there was a shortage of clean, green spaces and few safe places for children to play. In the East End and areas like North Kensington, children played in the street or in bombsites and ruined buildings. Indeed, the mid-60s community campaign for safe playspace was a major part of the movement that led to the founding of Notting Hill Carnival. 34 SN JUN 2021
It was an uncomfortable, grey and rather depressed period in which to be arriving in Britain. Arguably, 1948 was the lowest point in Britain’s 20th-century history. From this point on, though, things did begin to look up. Change was already in the air, even it was hard to spot through the fog. Just two weeks after Empire Windrush docked, the National Health Service – in which so many Caribbean migrants were to work – was founded. A week after that, the first postwar Olympic Games was held in London. Also in 1948, Britain’s first supermarket opened, and the school leaving age was raised to 15. On 14 November, Prince Charles was born - and he’s still waiting to start the job he was promised! In 1951 there was general jollity on the South Bank of the Thames as vast crowds visited the fairs and exhibitions of the Festival of Britain. The programme of entertainment included – for the first time ever in Britain - live performances by a steelband. In July we will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra playing in London. Internationally, the scene was being set for an optimistic new postwar world. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and the World Health Organization was set up. There were some exciting technological advances too: Bell Laboratories produced the transistor radio, George de Mestral invented Velcro, the vinyl long-playing record was first spun at 33rpm (which must have seemed weirdly slow compared with chunky discs whizzing round at 78rpm) and a random access storage device was developed for computers, the first of which, ENIAC, had started work as recently as December 1945. Those Windrush arrivals, and the thousands of migrants from the Caribbean who followed on afterwards, played a huge part in Britain’s postwar recovery and changed the country’s culture for ever. But that’s another story…
