The Voice Newspaper: September 2022 by thevoicemediagroup

PRINCE CHARLES is guestof writes of vision tackle wrote: welcomed grateful that been candid face behind

this special issue to mark our 40th anniversary. The future King, in his editor’s letter,

me into your communities with wonderful enthusiasm and I am

his

with me about the issues you continually

and how I might help.” We interview top ﬁgures about what it is like working with The Prince of Wales, often

the scenes, on community initiatives. Read Prince Charles’ article on page 2 & 3 › SPECIAL ISSUE: Guest Editor - The Prince of Wales “The black community is a source of inspiration to me” Forty years of LivesBritishBlack SEPTEMBER, 2022 • ISSUE NO. 1934 | £2.50 Friendly Games lights up Supplement inside - Pages 27-38 Baroness Doreen Lawrence - Page 25 Pages 4 & 5 Erica Osakwe - Page 48 Idris Elba - Page 6

racial injustice and unfairness. He

editor

you have always

“You have

OUT NEXT MONTH • PAGE 26 SHARED VISION FOR CHANGE

“

THE PEOPLE have a voice inside of them,” said Bob Marley, and for more than forty years, The Voice newspaper has ensured that Britain’s black communi ties have been heard. It has been a voice of advo cacy, of protest, of reason, but most of all, of understanding. Over those four decades, with all the enormous changes that it has witnessed, Britain’s only surviving black newspaper has become an institution and a crucial part of the fabric of our society. This is why I was so touched to have been invited to edit this special edition. I have always found Brit ain’s black communities to be a great source of inspiration, not to mention their support of my efforts through The Prince’s Trust. You have welcomed me into your communities with wonderful enthusiasm and I am grateful that you have always been candid with me about the issues you continually face and how I might help. The early eighties might seem distant history now. But for many the challenges and tragedies of those days are a vivid and painful memory, and a constant reminder to ensure the problems felt so acutely then must never be allowed to surface again, and that the ini tiatives formed at that time to tackle those issues must be con tinually updated and improved. It was during those years that The Prince’s Trust, which I had started in 1976, launched the Enterprise Programme to give marginalized young people, many of them from Black com munities, financial grants to set up their own enterprises and to fulfil their extraordinary poten tial.

SUPPORT I am pleased to say that since then we have supported the development of many blackowned businesses, some of which are featured in this special edition of The Voice Great British entrepreneurs such as Ozwald Boateng and Charlotte Mensah were aided by The Trust, along with those determined to turn their lives around, like Gina Moffatt who, with the support of The Trust, launched her florist’s business –“Blooming Scent” – on leaving prison and now employs other ex-prisoners in her expanded business. Hugely talented performers such as Idris Elba and David Oyelowo received grants to attend acting school through The Trust. I could not be more proud of them. How ever, we are always seeking to do more to help black-owned businesses not only to start, but to thrive.

Prince

Working with the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, The Prince’s Foundation will award scholarships to young people from diverse backgrounds im pacted by social and economic inequality to join its one-year Diploma Year programme at Trinity Buoy Wharf in East London. The entry-level course supports students to progress to study architecture, design, fashion or applied arts at uni versity.

WONDERFUL It is particularly notable that the first edition of The Voice was published for the 1982 Notting Hill Carnival, which had been launched by the late Val McCalla one year after the Brixton riots of 1981. At the time, I recall the Carnival was still facing some opposition, so I was very pleased to be able to send messages of support over the years which were pub lished in the official Carnival Souvenir magazines.

Diversity makes this | THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 20222

Charles Editor’s letter

I was reminded of this by Matthew Philip and Ansel Wong from the Carnival Vil lage Trust when my wife and I went to launch the “Count down to the Carnival” on a visit to The Tabernacle, in Notting Hill, in July. As the Carnival is another British institution established by the Caribbean community, it was wonderful to see it return this year after the pandemic, bring ing joy, fun and togetherness – an inclusive celebration of the diverse society we value so much.The pandemic reminded us all of the values we share as a society, and that this is seen nowhere more clearly than in our National Health Service, an organization of which peo ple from black communities have been an indispensable part since its earliest days. Public services such as the N.H.S., where the workforce is particularly diverse, bore the brunt of the pandemic. For that reason we, as a nation, owe a particular debt of grati tude to those communities for the sacrifices they made for the sake of others. Knowing that black communities have been hit especially hard by this per nicious virus, I can only offer my most profound sympathy to all those who so tragically lost their loved ones in such heartbreaking circumstances, together with my most heart felt gratitude to everyone on the frontline who rose so hero ically to the challenge. Future historians will see those years of upheaval and danger as a time when the black commu nities of these islands contrib uted more than their fair share for the good of all. History is, thankfully, begin ning to accord a rightful place to the Windrush Generation, who also contributed so much to our society. To mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of Windrush next year, I am plan ning to make a small contri bution of my own to celebrate this generation, and so I have commissioned ten portraits of Windrush veterans, chosen by Baroness Benjamin and a small committee, including Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Rudolph Walker and The Voice’s own Paulette Simpson. These por traits, which I will donate to The Royal Collection, will be unveiled in June next year and exhibited across the na tion, offering people a chance to express the gratitude we owe that first generation for ac cepting the invitation to come to Britain, and recognizing the immeasurable difference they have made to so many aspects of our public life, our culture and to every sector of our economy. The achievements of

INITIATIVES My responsible business net work, Business in the Commu nity, also celebrates its fortieth anniversary this year, bringing together businesses to create a fair and sustainable world in which to live and work. As the U.K.’s largest and most long-es tablished responsible business membership organization, one of its key focuses is developing a skilled and inclusive work force through initiatives such as the Race At Work Charter, which began in 1995 as “Race for Opportunity,” to increase senior-level racial diversity. We still have a long way to go, but to date over nine hundred employers have committed to the Charter and to increas ing the representation of black talent across U.K. boardrooms. This work remains vital as fig ures released by the Fawcett Society in February this year revealed that while the number of women in FTSE 100 board rooms has jumped from 12.5 per cent to thirty-nine per cent in a decade, there was still what it called a “shocking lack of diversity,” with black women conspicuously absent from positions of authority. In an article for this special edition, Sandra Kerr, who leads B.I.T.C.’s Race at Work initiative, will give her views on what more can be done. I am, of course, keenly aware of the way in which The Voice has been a key advocate for so cial justice, such as in the tragic case of Stephen Lawrence. In 2000 I was asked to deliver the inaugural Stephen Lawrence Lecture by the indomitable Doreen and Neville Lawrence. We have stayed in touch, and in April this year Doreen came to Scotland to discuss a plan to mark Stephen’s birthday, which falls on 13th September. The Prince’s Trust marks Ste phen Lawrence Day in April with a number of events and I am pleased to announce that The Prince’s Foundation has found an inspiring and ap propriate way to memorialize Stephen’s ambition to become an architect by making applied arts training more accessible for those affected by disadvantage.

He’s an ally Britain’s black communities are too many to record, but I hope this edition of The Voice serves to celebrate at least some of that contribution. I have worked with The Voice team to highlight as wide a range of issues as possible: including women in leadership roles whom I admire or with whom I have worked. They include Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, Dame Vivian Hunt, Baroness Amos, Wanjira Maathai, my former Press Secretary, Colleen Harris, and my Director of Community Engagement, Eva Omaghomi –not to mention, of course, some men too, such as Kwame Kwei Armah who, I recently found out, was also helped by The Prince’s Trust, and Richard Iferenta from K.P.M.G. who advises Business in the Community.

My hope is that we can consistently preserve and celebrate the histories of people of African, Caribbean and Asian heritage in Britain, and to expand this beyond Black History Month. Doing so will recognize the rich diversity of cultures and different minority ethnic groups that make this country so special – and in many ways unique. I pray it will also, in these turbulent times, serve to remind us of the important values of unity through diversity on which we pride ourselves as a society and which lie at the very heart of what we can achieve as a nation.

country special

In this issue we have covered the great work of The Prince’s Trust in helping black entrepreneurs, but it was surprising to learn of the full extent of The Prince’s involvement in many issues that our paper has campaigned on for the last 40 years. The future king has inspired countless individuals from our community, and supported many initiatives that address our needs across a wide range of topics such as education, climate change and tackling hate crime. He wanted to celebrate our 40th anniversary, and we saw this as an opportunity to delve into the work he has done through the eyes of prominent black ﬁgures over this period.

ADVERTISING AND

STYLE ICON: The Prince of Wales hosts a reception ThesupportersforofPowerlist at Clarence House earlier this year (photo: Images)Getty

SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 3

A lot of The Prince of Wales’ involvement has been behind the scenes. We think you will be surprised at the parallels between The Prince’s work and our coverage and campaigns over theAndyearssowhile he wanted to acknowledge The Voice for sharing the lived experience of black people in Britain, we wanted to pay tribute to him for his efforts and say we hope he and the black community can continue to work collaboratively to create positive change for our country. This is not about the monarchy as an institution or the history of colonialism, or slavery which he expressed his ‘personal sorrow’ about at the Commonwealth conference earlier this year. Whatever the different views, it is important to note the positive work that has taken place to open doors in the arts, business and elsewhere. It is also a chance to celebrate the many black youths that have been helped to turn their lives around, such as Idris Elba, who writes for us on page 6. We know how far we have to go to make real progress on race equality, but we have an ally in Prince Charles and that is signiﬁcant.

STRENGTHEN My wife has also chosen to highlight the work of some women she admires, such as the Booker Prize-winning author, Bernardine Evaristo and Erica Osakwe, a Survivor Ambassador for the charity Refuge, whose campaigning has made a crucial difference to the lives of many victims of domestic violence. As we mark the forty years that The Voice has reported on the black British experience, we look back to the enterprise of the Windrush generation a lifetime ago, and the selﬂess commitment of the current generation during the pandemic. We also look forward to the challenges and opportunities ahead, and the future that our communities will inspire and build. In all of this, we can reﬂect that our society is woven from diverse threads, drawn from so many parts of the world, which strengthen and enrich the fabric of our national life, as well as the remarkable tapestry of the Commonwealth.

WE ARE delighted that The Prince of Wales is guesteditor for this special edition and he shares his motivation for doing so on these pages.

The Voice says...

E. group.co.ukadvertising@thevoicemedia CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS E. group.co.uksubscriptions@thevoicemedia The Voice Unit 1, Bricklayers Arms, Mandela Way, London, SE1 5SR T: 020 7510 0340 Web: www.voice-online.co.uk GV MEDIA GROUP LTD LesterEDITORHolloway E. mediagroup.co.uklester.holloway@thevoice EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Paulette Simpson E. mediagroup.co.ukpaulettesimpson@thevoice EXECUTIVE, CORPORATE AFFAIRS & COMMUNICATIONS Paula Dyke E. mediagroup.co.ukpaula@thevoiceNEWS EDITOR Vic Motune E. group.co.ukvic.motune@thevoicemedia ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Joel Campbell E. mediagroup.co.ukjoel.campbell@thevoice SPORTS EDITOR Rodney Hinds E. mediagroup.co.ukrodney.hinds@thevoice NEWS DESK E. newsdesk@thevoice.mediagroup.co.uk

This issue is 64 pages Got a story? email us at yourviews@thevoicemediagroup.co.uk SALES

THE DIASPORA WE ARE FAMILY Mia Amor Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, talks to The Voice about becoming a Republic, building stronger trade ties with African nations, and the need for reparations.

The Voice: What is it about this moment that is driving this move at this time? Is it Pan-Africanism in practice? And has going fully inde pendent given Barbados a new lease of life on the world stage? Mia Amor Mottley: What we are seeing and experiencing today is the process of healing. It isn’t possible to fully understand or appreciate “this moment” as you put it, without first acknowledging the history that led us here. The uncomfortable truth is that for many centuries the world focused its gaze on Africa and people of Afri can descent for the purpose of profi teering and exploitation from slavery

Interview | THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 20224

The Voice: You recently called for stronger relations with Ghana; do you see trade and diplomatic links building between Barbados - indeed the whole Caribbean region - and African nations?

AFRICAN

Mia Amor Mottley: Yes, I am very pleased to see the growth and the strengthening of trade and diplomatic links between the Caribbean region and the African continent. This is a matter we have discussed both within CARICOM and with African leaders. Most of us I believe feel very pas sionately about this. In fact, we have reaffirmed our commitment to Work together purposefully during the first CARICOM-Africa Summit held in SeptemberBarbados’2021.commitment was seen in October 2020 when Barbados opened its diplomatic embassy in Accra, Gha na, and in June of this year, we also formally opened the joint CARICOM diplomatic mission in Nairobi, Kenya in June this year. Of import, this year - next week in fact - Barbados will also host the first-ever Africa-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF), which will take place in Bridgetown, Barbados, from August 31 to September 3, 2022. Under the theme “One People, One Destiny: Uniting and Reimagining Our Future”, the Forum aims to foster the development of strategic partner ships between the business communi ties in Africa and the Caribbean Com munity (CARICOM) region, to bolster bilateral cooperation and increase en gagement in trade, investment, tech nology transfer, innovation, tourism, culture, and other sectors. The future of the CARICOM-Africa relationship looks bright, and I have no doubt we will continue to see it blossom in the years to come. As I said at the inaugural CARI COM-Africa summit we must work to eliminate the middle leg, the middle man and the scars of the Middle Pas sage. We can do it together.

FRIENDSHIP: The Prince of Wales met Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley in November last year ahead of their bilateral meeting during the Cop26 summit in Glasgow. (Photo by Getty Images)

The Voice: How are your relations with the Royal family? Mia Amor Mottley: Excellent. And we will continue to work closely on the matters that we feel passionately about – protecting our environment and our biological diversity, creating opportunities for our young people. And I hope we will work together on having the conversation so that the necessary healing may truly start –and be completed.

Interview SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE| 5 andWecolonialism.haveseen the impact and the lingering effects of this action. At the core of Pan-Africanism is the under standing that racism, imperialism and colonialism, were derived through forcing divisions, and therefore the remedy to that, must be firmly rooted in the product of our solidarity, our togetherness. That is an important component of how we heal and that is what you are seeing in motion. Barbados has been a fully inde pendent and sovereign state since November 30, 1966. We recognise now, just as we did then, that independence and national de velopment is a continued pro cess. I believe that it is the duty of each generation of Barbadians to ensure our decisions and actions do not reproduce the inequi ties of our complex his tory but forges a new destiny where we see, hear and feel each other in a way that lifts us all up.Barbados’ transi tion to a Parliamentary Republic on November 30th, 2021 was an im portant milestone in our historical timeline, signaling our renewed commitment to na tion building and national trans formation in this 21st century and beyond.Barbados’ decisive step to elect a Barbadian to the office of Head of State, in one fell swoop, removed the historical limitations that sym bolism and representation had pre viously placed on the dreams and aspirations of our younger genera tions, paving the way for every child of Barbados to aspire to the highest office of State and to know that they are equal to any task or position. It is the liberation of the aspirations of our people. The Voice: Moves to deepen rela tionship and trade building between African and Caribbean coincide with a move to become fully independent of Britain - as Barbados has done and other countries like Jamaica are seriously considering. Is that just a coincidence or are they related in someMiaway?Amor Mottley: An honest look at world history would make it very difficult to deny the historical role global powers like Britain played in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and colonialism, and the corresponding impacts of underdevelopment and inequality many countries are now currently challenged with in the 21st century. We must both work together in the conversation on reparations and on the scars of the slave trade which is likely to galvanize with the bold statement of HRH Prince Charles in his speech to the last Common wealth Heads of Government meeting in Rwanda when he acknowledged that this is a conversation whose time hasButcome.itwould be a mistake to place Britain at the centre of either the nar rative surrounding Africa and the Caribbean’s efforts to deepen our ties. These are steps being taken by each country on the basis of our interests and on our own behalf within the context of identity, national develop ment and transformation and multi lateralism in the 21st century. Simply put, we are family! Without step ping foot in Africa, our people talk the same way, love and eat the same food, have the same flair and rhythm. My friend, we are family.

Mia Amor Mottley: I have no doubt that respective Governments and their people will take whatever action they determine to be in their best interests as it relates to matters of national identity, development and transfor mation. We applaud the efforts of our brothers and sisters throughout the Caribbean and around the world who are doing the nation building work that ultimately makes them stronger nations and better global partners. Like with the discussion on slavery and reparations, I believe this time has truly come.

The Voice: You expressed a wish to leave the colonial past behind - has that now been achieved, or what more needs to be done to make that a reality?MiaAmor Mottley: Attempts to reverse centuries of systemic oppres sion and exploitation is not the bur den of Africans and people of African descent to bear alone. The current global order simply does not serve the interests of achieving the goal of sustainable development for the ma jority of the world’s population, and frankly, many of the crises we are faced with today are derived from unresolved and reproduced inequali ties of the colonial era as I referred to earlier. Similarly, while we may have removed. The laws that reinforce discrimination. We still have to win the Battle of Mental Emancipation of our people. The new battleships. In the music and movies and the games. That reinforces messages that do not place us as Caribbean people and Af ricans at the centre of development, power or the creation of wealth. Remember the words of Frederick Douglass “Power concedes nothing”. So no, our work is not done. It is a work in progress. It will take time. I feel strongly that as global leaders we have an obligation to deconstruct the architecture of this failing global orde We must reconstruct it in line with the universal values we claim to hold dearly and in accordance with the needs of our 21st century and beyond. Yes - a crucial step in address ing matters of global inequality will be reparatory justice for Africans and people of African descent. Leaders and institutions must take steps to address the absence of a de velopment compact for many of our nations which simply did not exist when we became independent na tions. Let us summon the courage and heal the world. Let us seize the mo ment and reform the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions so that they mirror those universal val ues that they otherwise promote. In so doing, let them respond to our very real vulnerabilities and stop block ing progress because they defend an old order that seeks to preserve the inequitable status quo. We need to recognize that one size rules are blind to the needs of our countries and our people. They lead to disproportion ate actions and regrettably even more disproportionate consequences. In short, we need to see significant restructuring of the major interna tional institutions, a re-engineering of the terms of international trade, re-definition of the inequitable rules of international finance, and long overdue action on reparatory justice and compensation arrangements to address the lingering inequalities left in the wake of centuries of exploita tion of the African peoples.

The Voice: Are you hopeful that other nations with the Queen still as head of state will follow suit and become a republic? Mia Amor Mottley: That is not for us to say. Those are the decisions to be taken by a sovereign people in their own national interests, just as we did.

The Voice: How do you feel now that other countries like Jamaica are making moves to follow Barbados?

The Voice: The road to becom ing a Republic was something that captured the imagination of people of the African Diaspora across the world. Was that something you felt in Barbados, and did that make you moreMiadetermined?AmorMottley: It is impor tant that we understand that Barba dos’ transition to Republic status was about us as a country looking inward and setting a path that roots our peo ple and liberates fully their aspira tions. It really was not inspired by any external forces. However, we ap preciate that it has sparked a sense of pride and captured the imagination of people across the world. I spoke ear lier of the power of symbolism and representation. This is especially true for people of African descent. If this has been another benefit to our deci sion, we give thanks.

friendstouptoldHeleftlessonshenotschoolCordell’sJeffers.secondaryeducationwasagoodexperience,waskickedoutofregularlyandwithnoGCSEs.remembersbeingthathewould‘endinprison’and‘notamountmuch’.ManyofCordell’sgotinvolvedincriminal activity, but he was determined to make something of himself and didn’t give up, despite ex periencing lots of setbacks. Cordell, pictured below, start ed his first business through The Prince’s Trust strength ever since. As well as his initial business, he has set up a social enterprise called We Shine Together with his part ner, Sharona. The initiative has helped to send over 30 young people in Nepal, Zimbabwe, and India to school. In the UK, Cor dell has supported over 5,000 Black and Minority Ethnic students, delivering resilience training, inspirational talks and entrepreneur workshops in schools and other youth set tings. The fact that he’s built a good life for himself is one thing. On top of that, he is also giving others hope for their future. That just sums up for me why it’s so important to do our bit to inspire and support the next generation. Last year alone, the Prince’s Trust helped more than 40,000 young people like Cordell in the UK to get their lives on track. Since HRH The Prince of Wales first founded the charity in 1976, more than a million young people have benefited from the work they do in the UK and, in more re cent years, their reach has also expanded around the world. It is within our power to drive positive change. You can engage with the work of this great char ity in so many different ways — you could fundraise, or consider becoming a Prince’s Trust men tor to young people. You could get involved with their events or simply help spread the word about the amazing work they do. If even just one young per son benefits as a result, take it from me, your efforts will have been worth it.

Join

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 20226

Idris Elba the

debate voice-online.co.uk/opiniononline

@thevoicenewspaper @thevoicenews voicenews www.voice-online.co.uk

WHENEVER I look back at how my life has turned out so far, I al ways count myself lucky that someone took a chance on me when I was first starting out. Growing up on an estate in Hackney, an area with high rates of unemployment, crime and poverty, I was determined to be an actor, but the odds were far from in my favour. Even though the entertain ment industry was pretty alien to my parents, they were really supportive — my mum worked in admin and dad was a factory worker.It’stheir support that taught me the importance of having people who believe in you, especially when you’re young and still figuring out how to get where you want to be. Even though acting was not the normal career choice for someone in my neighbour hood, I knew I had potential. I had drive and determination too, but what I really needed was for someone to give me a shot at it. That was when The Prince’s Trust came into my life. I was 16 years old and I’d just landed a place at the National Youth Music Theatre, but my heart sank when I realised I wouldn’t be able to afford the fees. This was a make-or-break moment for me, everything was riding on it. So, imagine how it felt when The Prince’s Trust stepped in and gave me a £1,500 grant towards my place. This opened doors that changed my life –from there, I was able to follow my dream and build the life I’d dreamed of as an actor. I learned a valuable lesson from this experience, and that is the importance of being there for young people when they need positive role mod els, those first breaks. It’s also why I’m incredibly proud to be a Goodwill Ambassador for The Prince’s Trust — they were in my corner when I needed it most and it feels good to give something back. Things could have been so different for me. That’s why I feel so strongly that young people, and particularly those who face disadvantage, should be supported to get past any barriers that are holding them back, to make the most of their talents and get on a path to the future they deserve. It breaks my heart to think so many young people still find themselves trapped by their cir cumstances. Perhaps, like me, they don’t have the money to access courses or training. Or, like many of the young people supported by The Prince’s Trust, they’re dealing with issues such as homelessness or poor mental health, are in or leaving care, or they’ve been in trouble with theInlaw.my role as an Ambassador, I get to meet young people The Trust has helped and have seen how transformative the support they offer can be. One guy who really inspired me recently is Cordell

‘It

MY‘CHANGEDLIFE’: Idris Elba says the £1,500 grant he received from The Prince’s Trust meant he could follow his dream of being an actor; inset below, Idris chats to Prince Charles at a ‘One Million Young Lives’ dinner hosted by the royal at Buckingham Palace in 2017

Prince’s Trust Goodwill Ambassador Idris Elba on how the organisation turned his life around was make or break for me’

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Salmon told The Voice that his own experiences, from an aspir ing actor to fully fledged titan of his art, have enabled him to identify where he can best im part advice on how the genera tions coming up behind him can navigate the industry “If you look on the street, I see a lot of electric cables, just dash ing around, hanging around, real energy. Our job is to put a plug on them and plug them into the network and see the light they bring. But if we don’t do that, and it rains, you get a shock. The public gets a shock.

Actor Colin Salmon explains why he’s an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust. By Joel Campbell

“Because the kids are going to

If we want to be a global force, we have to be diverse

COMMON BOND: Prince Charles and Colin Salmon during a trophy ceremony to recognise award winners from the Prince’s Trust Awards at St James’s Palace (photo: Getty Images) have success. That’s not a prob lem, it’s the consistency. Can you stay? Can you play the long game? And that’s where I think the Prince’s Trust really comes into its own, because we’re al waysSalmonthere.”has been one of the most dedicated ambassadors for the Prince’s Trust for more than 20“Iyears.think I’ve been a Trust am bassador for nearly 25 interest, a lot of schools and people approached me to come in and chat and talk. “I really enjoyed it. I always wanted to do more, but actually, I didn’t have the structure. “Really, it became a career in its own right. At the time, I was working with Pierce Brosnan on the Bonds and I sort of men tioned that to him. “I said I’m not really keen on working with adults. I want to work with young people, be cause for me, it was a few posi tive things that happened, a few positive adults in my life, that changed my trajectory. “So, he suggested the Prince’s Trust. I approached them and 25 years later, here I am. “I’m really happy to have that consistency, because one of the things that worried me when it started to overwhelm me, with the requests, was the realisa tion and the knowledge that, you need consistent care, you can’t just drop in and ou need to know it’s go ing to be there. And even if you don’t use it, it’s just the knowledge, it’s like family, you just know you’ve got support and that’s the Prince’s Trust. “I’ve been to events, I’ve met His Royal Highness and I’ve seen him with the young people and they light up, he lights up, everybody gets lit. That’s how I know that I’m in the right place because that’s what you have to do to light people up.”

pluggedpeopleourGettingyoungin

THE YOUTH need to be seen. More importantly, they need to feel ‘in cluded’. So says actor Colin Salmon, who voluntarily doubles up as an ambassador for The Prince’s Trust. The Trust is a charity founded in 1976 by The Prince of Wales, to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track.

During his time as an am bassador, Salmon has covered most of the work the Trust is involved in, from attending fundraising events, conduct ing auctions, presenting at the Prince’s Trust Awards and, most importantly, meeting many of the young people on various courses.Close to his heart is the impor tance of cultural diversity; the need to provide opportunities for young people and particular ly those from under-represented backgrounds.Explaining why, he said: “I’ve met all sorts of people. Some people come from a place of profit, they come from a place of business and I simply point out, it’s good economics.” He added: “Let’s just look at that bit. It’s good economics, the globe is huge. There is a huge population that’s non white. “I think one of the main prob lems we’re having, or we’ve been having, is that things are binary. So that’s black, white, rich, poor, right,“We’releft.about to enter a time of quantum computing. Now, that’s complex, that to me is the life I’ve always lived. “I’ve lived a quantum life. The thing about it for me is, if you only have a binary, you’re not really seeing the whole picture, because it’s just two views. You get quantum, it becomes three dimensional where you can see everything.”Continuing, Salmon said if bringing about a truly egalitar ian landscape is the mission, the pools of talent are there. “Every time I go deeper into history, I find that we’ve already been there. This diversity ques tion is really upsetting because it’s always been diverse, but people need to feel included. That’s the difference. “If you can see it, you can be sure it is what everyone’s saying now. When my children are at school, they learn about Black History Month. I remember saying to one of the white par ents, it was really for their chil dren, and they didn’t get what I said.“I said, my friends, they’re doctors, lawyers, barristers, den tists, sportsmen, my children know. I think, unfortunately, your children only meet the cleaners, and they need to learn more about that. “So sometimes it’s more un derstanding and knowing what you don’t know. If we want to be a global force, we have to be diverse.TheCommonwealth is huge, 85 million people, and 65 per cent of them are under the age of 30.”

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 20228 News feature

We just keep self-esteemyoungworkingcarefullyonpeople’s

“This is the best analogy that ever came to me and we’re just the best electricians in the business. We just keep consist ently, carefully working on young people’s self-esteem; help to build their confidence, help them to understand the processes. It’s in small incre ments.”Inhis efforts to engage with youth from all walks of life, Salmon runs ‘Cage Cricket’, an initiative which sees six people pitted against each other in an enclosed space. It’s designed to get youngsters introduced to the game no matter their circum stances.Using another analogy from his favourite sport, he enthused: “I love cricket. But one of the things I hate about the current version of the game is everybody celebrates the six, whereas my dad is Caribbean, where you cel ebrate the dot ball after the six.

Been coughing for three weeks or more? If you’ve had a cough for three weeks or more, don’t ignore it. It’s probably nothing serious, but it could be a sign of cancer. Your NHS wants to see you. nhs.uk/cancersymptoms Contact your GP practice Seun Bakare, GP

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202210

Marcus Ryder WHEN THE editor of The Voice approached me to interview the First Lady of Sierra Leone, Fa tima Maada Bio, for this special edition edited by HRH Prince Charles, I was apprehensive. Since Barbados officially be came a republic, conversations among black British friends have been about shedding the monarchy — not “writing for them”However, after a little re search, I realised what an amaz ing person Fatima Maada Bio is — a former refugee, a victim of child marriage at the age of 12, an award-winning actor and a pan-Africanist fighting for women’sMeetingrights.such a figure would not only be a privilege, I was also hopeful that an interview with the First Lady of an Afri can nation, that became a re public in 1971, might provide valuable insight into how black Britons might view our rela tionship with the monarchy. What does the First Lady think about the monarchy and Africa? My personal relationship with the British monarchy started way back in 1996. When I ar rived in the UK as a refugee from a war torn country, it was The Prince’s Trust that paid my school fees and gave me a help ing hand to settle in the UK. At that time, I didn’t under stand the word charity. I didn’t have a clue. I came from a small town compared to London; I was here on my own and I had no family. But as a result of that help I was able to continue living in the UK, and to focus on what I really wanted to do with my life, which led me to being a graduate in performing art in 2002 and then Journalism in For2017.a very long time I had contemplated writing to the Royal Family to thank them for their support towards my well being in the UK, but I didn’t know who to address the letter to. But as God had planned my journey at the recent Common wealth meeting, I had the op portunity to sit with HRH The Prince of Wales and I told him how grateful I am for the sup port I got from his family dur ing my difficult time in life and that support built the founda tion I am walking on today as the First Lady of Sierra Leone. I see the Royal Family as genuinely good people, who are trying to do good things for others, but most of what is done is not publicised in the manner it should be, so that so many, especially in Africa, would have the opportunity to know about their support, generosity and concern for Africans. There could be more media stories about their activities. Democracy in Africa, and what should Europe do? Our (Sierra Leone’s) democracy is still a baby. The good thing about it is that we’ve had five peaceful elections, and I pray that will continue. But how long did it take the West to have democratic insti tutions in place? Many years if I may say. Therefore my sugges tion would be to help African countries to also have the right institutions that form the core foundation of a democratic na tion, put in place. The reason why Africans al ways have political tensions is because of survival. If you re ally, truly want to help us move on, then we need to manage our own issues through those strong institutions established. Africa’s relationship to China Everyone has relationships with China, not just Africa. Believe me when I say China is a friend to everybody. When COVID-19 was at its peak, I personally worked with our Chinese ambassador in Si erra Leone. For example, when we needed hospital beds I asked the Chinese Ambassador for help with our needs and he did. As mother of the nation you assist your country. What is the First Lady doing for African girls? My flagship programme is called Hands Off Our Girls. Its basic aim is to stop sex with a child and that definitely means rape as there is no consent from the child because she is under age. This includes child marriage, and I believe child marriage is a legalised form of rape. The reason I’m passionate about it is the fact that I was a victim. I’m a Muslim woman, and at a very early age — the age of 12 — I was married off not with my consent but with that of my parents. I am not speaking from another person’s experi ence. I’m speaking from my ownThat’sexperience.thereason why eve rywhere I go, I talk about child marriage and rape together Because is the child giving their consent? No. Was the child there when the arrangement was made? No. In early marriage, you’re having sex with a child with out asking their consent. Sad ly, the rapes that are happen ing in our houses are not from strangers. And that, for me, has been huge, because what we have achieved in the last four years is to change policies drastically — policies where if you are now found guilty of rape, you are sent to prison for a minimum of 15 years. Africa’s relationship to the Caribbean You know, just a few months ago I was with the First Lady of Jamaica in Rwanda. And she said, Oh, I am so happy — this is the first time I’m in Af rica. And I looked at her and could see a beautiful black woman. A true African prin cess.Isaid to her, it is time to come home my sister. For me, Caribbeans, black Americans and black Britons… we are all fromOneAfrica.root, and therefore more collaboration in shared interest for peace, cultural exchanges and nation build ing must be the way for both continents. We are one people and we see each other as one. Sierra Leone’s history and black Britons So much is shared between Si erra Leone‘s history and Brit ain. It is only when I was ac tually doing my own research on our slave history that I re alised how rich our history is. For example, the wonder ful Amazing Grace song was written by John Newton in Si erraHeLeone!hadbeen banished to a place called Banana Islands — one of the most pristine is lands in Africa today. In Freetown (the capital of Sierra Leone) we have some steps called the Freedom Steps. The day freed slaves landed in Sierra Leone, they came out of the boat, climbed the freedom steps, walked up the road and decided to con gregate into their first mass in front of our Cotton Tree which is in the heart of Freetown. In the education sectors so many African leaders today had their education in Fou rah Bay College in Freetown, which we once called the Athens of Africa. All of these achievements were possible with the support of black Brit ons. Obviously most of them had their roots in Sierra Leone with extended family mem bers across the country which has been a source of unity Previous Sierra Leone gov ernments have come and gone and they have not made our history a priority. It is only now that his Ex cellency has commissioned the Ministry of Tourism to do that.Fact is, I would love to do this interview again but next time not in London. You need to come to Sierra Leone, to learn about our history.

Interview From refugee to First Lady

Fatima Maada Bio talks about her journey, developmentAfricanandtheimportanceofknowingourhistory.

HELPING HAND: Sierra Leone First Lady, Fatima Maada Bio, first came to the UK as a refugee and had her school fees paid by The Prince’s Trust

Ceylan paid tribute to Sandra for motivating her, saying: “She’s passionate about what she does, and because of those traits I tend to want to apply that in my own mentoring practice. It’s contagious.” As well as motivation, mentorship allows hard questions to be asked about setting up the business. “Ceylan said to me ‘you’re getting all this good feedback from your customers, why are you not confident to increase your prices?” Simone recalled. “So what is it in myself, confidence wise, why can’t I do that? It was about bringing that confidence into my business and stopping limiting myself.”

All three women agreed that seeking out a mentor is not a negative reﬂection on anyone’s capabilities, and does not devalue them in any way — far from it. The experience of black women surviving and thriving in predominantly white environments provides valuable tips to pass on, to help the younger generation navigate through their business careers.

Mentoring SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 11

Add to that picture the fact that some mentors, like Ceylan, are alsoIt’smentees.allabout passing down the knowledge, sharpening thinking to plan new business, but also providing inspiration, role models and sometimes that emotional Sandrasupport.Harding, 59, a business advisor and consultant from Wolverhampton, does a lot of mentoring for different organisations. She said: “ I use the analogy of a butterﬂy — you just see them grow, and they step into who they are.

“And with particularly women there is this feeling of ‘imposter syndrome’ about their abilities

As well as mentoring Ceylan Thompson, 50, an IT professional and start-up coach, Sandra also mentors a young man who was tipped to be a successful footballer but has recently come out of prison. “He’s now done some work on himself,” Sandra explains. “He’s dealt with some of his mental issues through support, coaching, mentoring, psychological treatment, and now he wants to help other young men to self-examine so they don’t go into those things.” Sandra is also mentoring a young girl who was caught up in gang life, but has since graduated with a degree. “She’s moving on in her life, and now she’s paying-back by mentoring other young girls. “I remember one person I worked with, she had a really traumatic background but she said to me ‘you spoke to the business person in me, as opposed to my circumstances’. You’re speaking to what’s in their inner Unpickingsoul.”the problems to ﬁnd solutions is an important part of the process, along with accountability, and breaking through the barriers of fear that hold people back from fulﬁlling theirSimonedestiny.Facey, 30, a mortgage advisor also from Wolverhampton, joined the Prince’s Trust’s enterprise programme in 2020 to help her get a cake baking and decorating business off the ground. INVALUABLE

Simone, Ceylan and Sandra all paid tribute to The Prince’s Trust for their enterprise programme.Ceylan said: “When I saw the Prince’s Trust scheme, I just thought this was a brilliant opportunity to be able to actually provide those services and that mentoring skill sets to young“Youpeople.candevelop that conversation, and be in that safe space to be able to speak to somebody and allow them to be real.”

SUPPORT:WELCOME Right, Simone got advice from her mentor when setting up her cake helpedbelow,mentorsSandra,business;topright,Ceylan,whohasSimone

She said having Ceylan as a mentor was a real motivator. “When it’s just yourself, you always think ‘this can be done later’, and there’s no urgency so it takes longer for the business to grow. Ceylan was like, ‘No, come on! You can get this done — let’s go!’ It’s invaluable.”

Passing down knowledge

Three women tell us what it is like to mentor each other on the road to success. By Lester Holloway SANDRA, CEYLAN and Simone, all from the West Midlands, represent a chain of mentorship in which those who are mentored go on to mentor others. As a trio, they are meeting online for the ﬁrst time. Sandra mentors Ceylan, who in turn mentors Simone. But it doesn’t end there. Sandra has also been mentored, and Simone plans to be a mentor. They have been brought together by The Prince’s Trust, which match entrepreneurs in need of help and advice with those who possess the experience to guide them.

INSPIRATION

MEETING AT LAST: Clockwise from top left, Marcia Springer of The Prince’s Trust, calltheirThompsonCeylanHardingFacey,SimoneSandraandholdﬁrstvideotogether and capabilities. Most of them have had a long journey to get to where they are, and it’s about feeling worthy.”

THE GLOBAL protests that followed the death of George Floyd in May 2020 triggered heated discussions about the links be tween economic and racial in equality.Equality campaigners have long pointed out that the seem ingly ever-widening differences in income and wealth between black people and other commu nities invariably translate into similar disparities in political power and influence. Building generational wealth through assets such as property, business ownership and invest ments is no easy task. And it’s an especially difficult battle for black Britons when you take into account the fact that on average, they have less family wealth. According to a Decem ber 2020 report by think-tank Resolution Foundation, people of African and Caribbean her itage typically hold the lowest wealth with a median figure of £24,000 in family wealth per adult. This is less than one eighth of the figure for a person of white British ethnicity, which stands at £197,000 in family wealth per adult. Now one entrepreneur, prompted by statistics like these, is seeking to inspire black communities to take their eco nomic destiny into their own hands and use it as a tool to challenge inequality. Eric Collins is well known as the driving force behind Impact X Capital, a venture capital fund aimed at investing in un der-represented entrepreneurs from the African Caribbean community and women in this country and across Europe. Collins’ passion for the way in which entrepreneurship can have a transformative effect on society is evident in one of his latest roles as a newly appoint ed ambassador for The Prince’s Trust.“My focus with The Prince’s Trust is on the enterprise group,” he reveals. “These are young people who have a busi ness or could be working in someone else’s business. My role is to spend time supporting them and help them gain access to the right sort of networks in order to be able to progress their visions and become the drivers of change that we know underrepresented people can become.“The Prince’s Trust works with some fantastic people around the country who, when supported in the right fashion, can create a certain type of magic. It’s not just that they’ll be able to change their own cir cumstances and those of their families. They will be able to help communities, the country and ultimately the world. That jives very well with what we do at Impact X.”

The vision that Collins and his founding team had when Impact X Capital was launched has now been boldly articu lated in his new book. In We Don’t Need Permission: How Black Businesses Can Change Our World, Collins argues that supporting linssocialprotestingbeenFloyd’scalleditysocialwealth,entrepreneursunder-representednotonlycreatesitdrivesthekindofchangeandracialequalthatthousandsofprotestersforduringtheprotestsattragicdeath.“Weasblackpeoplehaveorganising,marchingandagainstracialandinjusticeforever,”ColtellsTheVoice.“Andtheseareveryusefultoolstogetustoacertainpoint.Butintheongoingstruggleforracialandsocialjusticethereareotherthingswemightneedtoactu ally do. Too often we as black people have to go to other peo ple or institutions to ask for money, for capital or permis sion to do what’s needed.

“For example, if we decide that George Floyd’s death is the most important issue of the century, and we want to sup port a constant campaign of information and action against police brutality or the strip searching of our young people then we need money to not only get above the noise, but to keep that campaign going for decades. And we just don’t have the economic capital to do that.”He continues: “One of the reasons we don’t have the capi tal isn’t because we don’t have good jobs. It’s because we don’t have the kind of capital in our Too often we have to go to forpeopleothertoaskmoney

STRUGGLEOFISWEALTHGAININGPARTTHE

Entrepreneurship

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202212

By Vic Motune

Money maker Eric Collins teams up with The Prince’s Trust to boost entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 13 communities on the scale of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. They have this kind of capital because they built big businesses, companies that allow them to dominate headlines in media around the world. These companies impact markets, governments, they impact our lives.”

We Don’t Need Permission: How Black Businesses Can Change Our World is out now

SUPPORT: Eric Collins’ work with the Prince’s Trust focuses on the enterprise group; below, Collins’ new book; left, the protests that followed George Floyd’s death triggered heated debate about the links between economic and racial inequality

“That makes them very much in demand. Those resumes also give those people an opportu-

For black communities to have this kind of impact, Collins says new thinking is required about how to create Black-founded global Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies that are generation-changing, which he deﬁnes as having huge positive social impact. In We Don’t Need Permission he outlines ten principles of entrepreneurship aimed at addressing systemic barriers to economic empowerment that black people have traditionally faced.

“We don’t yet have a group of people who can bend the attention of society towards issues they believe in for a sustained period of time by using their business resources,” he says. “Yes, we deﬁnitely need small businesses because all countries run on small businesses. But we need a handful of large black companies which can be drivers of real sustained change.”

These principles are drawn from the successes and failures of entrepreneurs, major corporations and executive teams as well as his own business career and experience as the host of the acclaimed Channel 4 TV series The Money Maker

Collins’ career embodies the ethos that economic empowerment is the key to solving the multiple problems that result from systemic racial and gender inequality. As well as being a serial entrepreneur and technology executive who has helped transform the value of companies such as AOL, Mobile Posse and Micro SwiftKey, Collins’ business acumen led to former US President Barack Obama inviting him to join his Small Business Administration Council in the White House. In 2018, he led a group of prominent black European and US entrepreneurs, investment bankers, corporate leaders, and entertainers that would eventually launch Impact X Capital. As CEO of the venture capital ﬁrm, he has invested in and helped transform black-led companies which have gone on to have major social impact. Last year, after backing from Impact X Capital, digital insurance company Marshmallow, founded by twin brothers Oliver and Alexander Kent-Braham and David Goate, became the ﬁrst Black British-led company to achieve unicorn status, which means a business is valued at more than $1 billion.

“When we invested in the company, 20 per cent of the leadership and employees were black and more than 50 per cent were women,” Collins says. “The type of impact we have created is not just that there are some newly minted wealthy black people. We have created great resumes for a whole bunch of other black people and women who work for Marshmallow because of the skills they’ve developed in using the artiﬁcial intelligence which the company uses.

We know that people of colour and women are more likely to hire and support other people of colour and women nity to start their own companies, because investors will recognise their skills in helping build a successful organisation. The money they earn can also be used to pay off student debt, buy a house or to be used for philanthropic reasons. He adds: “We know that people of colour and women are more likely to hire and support other people of colour and women and this creates economic opportunities at an ampliﬁed rate. As this continues, there is a ﬂywheel effect. From day one of our investment strategy we’ve been able to identify these sorts of opportunities and be part of this kind of fantastic ecosystem.”

We shine a light on four entrepreneurs who reveal their business journey, and talk about the support they got from The Prince’s Trust

Deamesse is on Facebook Farhana Ibrahim Food FARHANA WANTED her moth er’s recipes to reach a wider au dience, so she launched Binta’s Kitchen — named after her mum — which specialises in sauces. She said: “In northern Nigeria, food is at the heart of every thing. I refined the recipes that had been passed down the gen erations from my mum Binta to create a range of vegan sauces and superfood powders with au thentic flavours and infusions.”

THE PRINCE’S TRUST has helped many young people across the UK to turn their business ideas intoHere,reality.four young entrepre neurs who have benefited from the charity’s Enterprise pro gramme tell of the support they received — and their next steps.

Kyle Frank Skincare WHEN KYLE Frank developed acne at the age of 18 — older than when his peers had the condition — he felt ostracised. Nothing appeared to work, but then he took matters into his ownHehands.researched incident rem edies from indigenous tribes across the world and created his ownWithproduct.thehelp of the Prince’s Trust, he is now in his third year of running his successful vegan skincare brand, Frank’s Rem edies. He enrolled on to the En terprise programme and said he was surprised at how much they could help him. He said: “Acne really affected my confidence, and I was often feeling uncomfortable about the appearance of my skin. People around me really didn’t under stand acne as a condition. I was asked if I was ‘washing my face enough’. I felt pretty alone.

franksremedies.com Mahoua Koui Fashion THE ISOLATION of the pandem ic got Mahoua Koui to reassess herShelife.was working as a parttime healthcare assistant when the Covid lockdown came in, and the lack of social con tact with family and friends was having an impact on her mental health. She said: “With time to think about things and being a crea tive person who loves fashion, I decided I needed an outlet, so decided to start my own fash ion business. “As a plus-size woman, I can’t always get what I want fashionwise. I’m also interested in sus tainability, I wanted to combine both my interests to create a brand that was ethical, for ex ample, use organic materials sourced in the UK.

DREAMS TO REALITY: The Prince’s Trust can help young people to get their business ideas off the (photo:groundGettyImages) of how to run and structure a successful business — she gives the best advice. “I’m now truly living the life I want to live. I am now work ing full-time on my passion every day.”

Farhana knew what she want ed to achieve, but lacked the structure to build her business. She enrolled on an Enterprise course with The Prince’s Trust and was matched with a men tor and got a start-up loan. She now plans to pitch her products to Farhanasupermarkets.added: “You can’t learn from yourself, you have to ask for help. The network is essential and so supportive. You feel with the Prince’s Trust that you have a support system behind you. “As well as my mentor, I also loved meeting the other entrepre neurs, a lot of us are still in con tact and we support each other.” www.bintaskitchen.com Nyomi Smith Retail ONE CHRISTMAS, Nyomi from Birmingham was looking for wrapping paper with a black Santa image on it, but couldn’t find it anywhere. “In the end, I thought, ‘I’ll just make it myself’, and set about doing just that,” she said. “I think it’s so important to see a true representation of what Britain looks like in the products that we buy. “For a young black person, it’s important to know that we’re included and embraced, and I hope that my products remind people of the love that they have withinNyomithemselves.”didan Enterprise course at the Prince’s Trust, which she really enjoyed, and was allocated a mentor. She then linked up again with the trust just before she launched her products, and exhibited at the trust’s Black Pound Project marketplace event. She added: “I’m buzzing, the business is going really well right now.”

“Speaking to dermatologists, pharmacists, skin experts, read ing antiquated literature from the 1800s, and researching how other cultures around the world approached acne, I then got for mulating!“ThePrince’s Trust staff were great. They made things feel so clear and I thought ‘wow, this is actually doable’. “I’m now in my third year of trading and business is re ally amazing. I have the most amazing men tor. Without her, I wouldn’t have the thatderstandingunIdonow

Inspiring start-ups

“The major stumbling block: I had no idea how to run my busi ness on a day-to-day basis.” Mahoua joined The Prince’s Trust Enterprise programme, got a £400 grant to buy t-shirtsorganictoprintherdesignson,andherDeamesse business was born. “I’m in the process of expanding my fash ion range and have also decided to study again — I’m currently enrolled on a foundation course in “Havingmidwifery.a business fulfils my creative side and studying gives me the balance and motivation I need right now.”

Sanaagiftshop on Etsy AMBITION: Left to right, Kyle NyomiIbrahimFarhanaKMahouaFrank,oui,andSmith

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202214 Entrepreneurship

Trust Internation al (PTI) — the global arm of the charity founded by The Prince of Wales — is working

News

BarbadosAkeme, IN BARBADOS, Akeme Cox, 25, aspired to be “a gangster” but found PTI’s TEAM pro gramme after walking into a youth centre where activities were already taking place. He described the decision to get involved as “life-changing”. He has now set up his own hot sauce and catering company ParadiseAkemeEats.was the PTI global award winner in 2020, where he met The Prince of Wales dur ing the award ceremony. Prime Minister Mia Mottley said: “For Akeme to win the award is an example of what happens when you persevere, you focus, you apply yourself; great things can happen.” Tracey-Ann from Jamaica, a survivor of domestic violence, founded the group ‘Get Out Alive’ five years ago after get ting advice and support from PTI. Tracey-Ann said this help was “instrumental” in making the organisation sustainable “which will be key in saving moreOlympianlives”. Elaine ThompsonHerah, who claimed the 100m gold in the recent Commonwealth Games, has herself faced personal dif ficulties. Thompson-Herah paid tribute to the work of Tracey-Ann and PTI.

AIRLINES CONGRATULATES THE VOICE ON THEIR 40TH ANNIVERSARY BOOK BENEFITONLINEMORE5%OFF International SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 15

Rinah, Kenya RINAH, 25, from Kenya started off selling chips in the street. She now runs a thriving hair salon and grocery shop. Before Rinah started her own business, she and her husband sometimes struggled to put food on the table for their two youngRinah’schildren.earnings have trans formed their family life. Step by step, with determination and resilience, she has built up a successful business from noth ing. With tips from the Shujaaz Biz programme, she’s been able to attract more customers and dramatically improve her cash flow. She now has three times as many customers and is so busy that she’s had to employ an assistant.

BUSINESS SUCCESS:

Dorcas is now recognised as a young leader in her community.“Idecided to join the choir in the church,” she said. “I also joined the dance group and I have started attending classes for“Beforedrumming.the Skills for School programme, I was not aware I had certain qualities that would help me become the leader that I have become. I have become such a better team player and also, I speak more confidently now. I can stand in a crowd and then speak. “I am very surprised at myself that I have changed so Prince’smuch.”

Action for global youth We look at the work of Prince’s InternationalTrust

ETHIOPIAN COMMUNITY ROLE: Dorcas is now a young leader after building her confidence through Skills for Schools in 17 countries across the Com monwealth, and has supported more than 45,000 young people sinceMany2015.have gone on to be young leaders or are bet ter equipped to start and run businesses.

Rinah now runs a hair salon and grocery shop, and her earnings have transformed her family’s life GROUP FOUNDER: Tracey-Ann got advice and support from PTI

P RINCE’S TRUST Inter national was formed in 2015 to help youth worldwide, working with local partners to build programmes that equip young people to build their futures. We look at some young people who have been helped, and the difference it made.

Dorcas, Ghana “I WASN’T someone who liked to talk that much and I wasn’t that confident,” said 15-yearoldTheDorcas.teen, from Accra, Ghana, was afraid to speak or sing in front of others in school or in her church. But she has found her voice now as part of a Skills for Schools programme, supported by Prince’s Trust International, which aims to empower stu dents and teach “soft skills”.

Physically active people have a lower risk of developing long-term conditions, including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, and dementia. Exercise can also increase bone density and improve posture, whilst there is strong evidence that it helps to reduce stress and can positively support mental health.

If you recently watched the Commonwealth games or cheered on England’s women’s football team to glory, you might have wondered how people stayed in peak ﬁtness during the pandemic. For many, including masters athlete Joe Appiah, it was an exercise in ingenuity. With competitions looming, the multiple World and European gold medallist had to keep in shape to stay in contention.

During lockdown he recorded exercise videos for his YouTube channel and hosted exercise sessions for work colleagues, helping people to stay connected and active. “What happens when you look at it as socialising or getting out of the house, connecting, and ﬁnding out about other people and cultures is that the health thing will happen without thinking about it.”

ADVERTORIAL

“Your local authority might also offer reduced price leisure activities, or links to organisations that can help source affordable and adaptable equipment such as bicycles and tricycles.”

Making it social, fun and consistent is a message Joe himself is keen to share. The dad-oftwo is also a UK Athletics athlete representative, qualiﬁed coach and an ofﬁcial.

Dr Sam Botchey

Joe Appiah

Thankfully, as millions of people across the UK have taken up the offer of COVID-19 vaccinations, there has been a signiﬁcant reduction in the number of people needing hospital treatment for COVID-19. Whilst the pandemic isn’t over, leisure restrictions are behind us. So, if you’ve been inspired by the Commonwealth Games, there’s no better time to get started.

LIVING WITH COVID-19 Another important part of his race preparation was to have his COVID-19 vaccinations through the NHS.

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202216

“Our coaches were very good,” laughs Joe. “We wanted to maintain our fitness so that as soon as things opened up, we’d be as close to ready as possible. They gave us lots of advice and we’d go to empty car parks or a field somewhere to Managingtrain.”this within national restrictions was, of course, easier said than done. “We’d split up or we’d go at different times to stick within the guidelines,” adds Joe, a Kent AC athlete who trains at Crystal Palace national sports centre. “It wasn’t just about getting fit; it was the mentality as well. You couldn’t forget what was going on because there wasn’t anyone else around, but it was a little bit of normality.”Even when restrictions eased, however, there was no sudden return to business as usual.“Not all the tracks opened at the same time,” adds the British and European masters 100m hurdles record holder. “I’d drive on Saturday to a track which was open to the public. You’d be on the track with mothers who had prams, getting in each other’s way.” The pandemic took hold ahead of a season in which Joe had hoped to replicate his 2019 world masters indoor 60m hurdles title at the world outdoor championships. “March 2020 we would normally have started the indoor season,” explains the 51-yearold. “Then, end of March we’d normally start preparation for outdoor season, which requires strength training and speed endurance. “When you’re using car parks, you can’t run like that, there’s no way you’re going to have enough space. So, we’d have short runs but we’d do volume to get similar benefits, with 20 repetitions, 30, instead of 10.” So, like many people, he used whatever was around him. “We did alternative training, using online videos. I did things in the house, I used my stairs, my bannister, dumbbells, my water bottles, whatever is around, you use it.

“You can also discuss how long you should do that for and how regularly, to build up your ﬁtness. The right activity should be enjoyable and achievable, while giving the right amount of challenge to raise your heart rate, without you feeling exhausted. This is the best way to enjoy yourself, whilst getting ﬁtter and reducing the risk of injuries.”

“During the Winter, I was running on the roads in my estate here with my daughters looking out for cars, jumping onto walls and running through the snow. I just looked at my environment, and thought ‘can you use it?’ If I’m doing that and my rivals are not, then I have the advantage.”

Dr Sam Botchey, a specialist in Sport and Exercise Medicine, explains: “Whatever your age or fitness level, being active is important. Everyone, including people with musculoskeletal injuries or illness, can reap the benefits of finding the right exercise or activity.” Being active can be achieved within different budgets. “As Joe has described, you can use your local environment as your gym. Visit a local park or canal when it’s not too busy, for a brisk walk, jog or sprint. You can increase the intensity by using stairs or carrying small weights, such as filled water bottles.

“I decided to get myself vaccinated because of my sport. I knew it was going to be signiﬁcant and didn’t want it to be an issue for me when I wanted to travel to compete.” That foresight meant he was able to compete in this year’s European Masters Athletics Championships in Portugal and the World Masters in Finland, unlike some athletes who couldn’t be entered because they were unvaccinated. And he returned triumphant - with a

“If you haven’t exercised for a while, have mobility concerns or a long-term health condition, it can be helpful to get advice before you take up your new hobby,” adds Dr Botchey.

Sprinting to success during

EVERYONE CAN BENEFIT FROM EXERCISE

during the pandemic

“I’m often asked if, with all the new variants, and having had COVID-19 already, is a vaccination still actually needed?” he says. “The answer is yes. Unfortunately, COVID-19 is still prevalent, people are still getting infected and some people get very seriously ill. “We also know that immunity from having had COVID-19 and from your earlier jabs wanes over time. This means, as time goes on, you could get COVID-19 again. Evidence shows that having all of your doses of the vaccine provides the best possible defence against the virus and protects people from becoming seriously ill and needing hospital treatment.”Getting your vaccination is easy – it takes just a few minutes – it’s safe, free and available to everyone aged 5 and over. No appointment is necessary –scan this QR code or visit www.nhs.uk/covid-vaccination to book your COVID-19 vaccination online or ﬁnd a convenient local vaccination walk-in site. You can also talk to a health professional about COVID-19 vaccination by calling the Caribbean and African Health Network COVID helpline on 0771 002 2382

SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE| 17

RECOVERING FROM CANCER Joe credits his athlete’s mentality for helping him to recover from a shock diagnosis of prostate cancer. He was diagnosed in July last year and underwent successful robotic surgery in September.Withthe support of his family, he worked through an ambitious recovery and training plan drawn up with the help of hospital physiotherapists and his coaches, and was competition ﬁt by February.

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gold medal for the 60m hurdles and bronze in the long jump from the European Masters, and two golds in the M50 sprint hurdles and the 4x100 relay in Finland in July.

“I was determined to beat this cancer. I wanted to show others that it is beatable if caught early. It was one of the reasons I wanted to come back and compete – to complete the cycle.”Joe will share his cancer journey later this year. One in eight men in the UK will get it but being black puts you at greater risk - around one in four black men get prostate cancer. Check your risk in 30 seconds with Prostate Cancer UK, and speak with your GP if you have any concerns.

Dr Botchey is one of over 100 black health and community leaders who has taken the Caribbean and African Health Network (CAHN) pledge, to talk openly and honestly about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Figures released by the Faw cett Society in February this year revealed that, while the number of women in FTSE 100 boardrooms has jumped from 12.5 per cent to 39 per cent in a decade, there was still what it called a “shocking lack of di versity,” with black and Asian women conspicuously absent from positions of power. An earlier research report published by recruitment con sultancy Green Park found that Britain’s largest companies were failing to improve the ethnic di versity of their boardrooms. Kerr has long been aware of the failure of corporate leaders to address the lack of ethnic diversity in their boardrooms. Those criticisms helped shape one of the most important ini tiatives she has been involved with.She was one of the driving figures behind the pioneering Race at Work Charter launched in October 2018 with the sup port of then prime minister Theresa May. The Charter, developed by Two leading figures discuss how far business has to go on black representation. By Vic Motune

Figuresprotests.fromthe This is Black Gen Z report, the largest ever survey of Black Generation Z members in the UK (people born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s), found young people expect to experience discrimination in the workplace as they begin their careers. The report found that only 31 per cent of 2,000 black Gen Z members between the ages of 16 and 25 who were surveyed felt able to be their authentic selves at work, compared to 66 per cent of their white coun terparts. Just 29 per cent of this group felt satisfied with their chances of securing a promo tion compared to 52 per cent of white Gen Z members.

SANDRA KERR, National Campaign Director for the charity Business in the Community’s Race Equality campaign, is a woman driven to achieve what she sees as her most important goal — supporting Britain’s companies to embed diversity and inclusion into the core of theirOverbusiness.thecourse of a distin guished career that spans more than three decades, she has been hailed as a thought-leader as well as the driving force be hind several thought-provoking Business in the Community (BiTC) reports and initiatives aimed at enabling the country’s chief executives to tackle their diversity and inclusion chal lenges

BiTC in partnership with the government, sets out a number of principles and actions for businesses to commit to, aimed at addressing ethnic disparities in the Followingworkplace.itslaunch, a num ber of high-profile organisa tions signed up to the charter, including NHS England, Stand ard Life Aberdeen, Norton Rose Fulbright, Saatchi & Saatchi, KPMG, RBS, the civil service, WPP, EY and the CIPD. Since its launch, corporate support for the charter has grown significantly. “It launched with 85 employ ers, a mixture of public and private sector organisations. As of today, we currently have 914 employers who have signed,” Kerr tells The Voice “Having employers who are transparent, who are publicly putting themselves on the line to say ‘we need to do the work on this issue’, is a good first step in addressing issues of di versity in the workplace.” Richard Iferenta, partner and vice chair at KPMG, recalls that there was little hesitation in the company deciding to sign up to the Charter. “KPMG is a very people-focused business, very much into living its values, and that includes trying to ad dress issues like race at work,” he says. “But if you look back, you will see that we were one of the leaders around the gen der equality agenda. “I’m not saying we’re per fect, but we do aspire to do the right thing and implement and share best practice. So it’s not surprising that when the Race at Work Charter was launched we signed up. Its objectives were clear. And signing up sent a clear message that we are al ways focused on people.” Iferenta continues: “We have a mantra which says ‘we are a magnet for talent’. Being a magnet for talent is not just about the black people and the ethnically diverse people, it’s about“Theseeveryone.days, many young people want to see that diver sity in a business because they want to know that it is a fair place to work. So, for us, the Charter is very inspirational

Equality in business

Duringhead-on.thepast decade, a growing body of research has pointed to the fact that a di verse workforce can signifi cantly improve a company’s ability to be innovative as well as its customer relationships. However, some equality cam paigners have claimed conver sations on the issue seem to have stalled around gender di versity, and that too often, eth nic diversity and inclusivity are seen as box-ticking exercises rather than something which inspires genuine commitment.

In an interview with The Voice in October last year, Ash leigh Ainsley, co-founder of Colorintech, a non-profit or ganisation focused on Diversity and Inclusion in the technology industry, claimed that many corporate leaders had taken lit tle action on pledges to tackle race inequality issued at the height of 2020’s Black Lives Matter

“I acknowledge the frustra tions of young people who ask ‘How long will it be before things change?’” says Kerr. “I’m definitely not saying that the issues are resolved. What I am saying, though, is that when you look at the fact that we now have over 900 em ployers on the Charter who are willing to at least acknowledge there is a problem, means we can then start to shape those discussions and the actions that A Sandra Kerr has led the way

But despite the impact the Charter has made, young The tragic death of George Floyd in May lic pledges from some of the UK’s top corporate leaders about the need to better address racial in equality in the workplace.

companyimprovesignificantlyworkforcediversecana DRIVING FORCE:

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202218

in improving workplace equality

DIVERSIFYING BUSINESS

Kerr has won several plaudits for her work in championing equality in the workplace with BiTC. In 2019, she was awarded a CBE for her services to equal ity and diversity. But far from dwelling on any past accolades, she is fo cused on a goal she is pas sionate about — the introduc tion of mandatory ethnicity pay-gap reporting. Since 2017, organisations with more than 250 employees must report on their gender pay gap. Report ing has helped organisations tackle pay disparities between men and women in similar po sitions. Kerr and other equality campaigners believe a similar move toward ethnicity pay-gap reporting will give businesses a powerful tool for reducing and eventually eliminating pay

“We ran another pilot in 2018. It’s now DWP policy. It’s a central part of how job centres engage young people from all ethnicities.“Butitwas born in Brixton and inspired by an initiative created by Prince Charles.”

“We organised that programme as a pilot with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and 120 young people took part and 70 of them ended up getting jobs.

The Prince of Wales inspired vital jobseeker initiative

If you get an invitation from the Prince of Wales to talk about an issue, you know it’s going to be at the top of the agenda gaps based on race and ethnic ity.“Within the next five years, I’d like to see all of the Char ter members publishing their ethnicity pay gaps and their action plans to resolve them, but also for the government to introduce them on a mandatory basis,” she continued. “You can’t keep saying ‘Oh, we’re working on it’. An ethnic ity pay-gap report means that companies now have to be ac countable because it is a public document.“Thiswill help drive some of the changes that are needed and help companies across the country realise they need to have a diversity of leaders at the top table, to help to influ ence policy, to help to market to diverse customers and clients and to help better serve them.”

MAN OF THE PEOPLE: Prince Charles wants a more equal society

“The involvement of Prince Charles in this area has been vital,” she says. “Back in 1995, he convened a meeting of senior business leaders to address the is sue of ethnic diversity and equality in the workplace. At the time, many companies were concentrating on the issue of gender equality. to include a wide range of people and use everyone’s tal ents’.“That intervention from such tal. If you get an invitation from The Prince of Wales to talk about an issue, it goes straight to the top of the agenda,” added ness leaders wanted to become knowledgeable about ethnic diversity, and thathelpedmeetingto kickstart Business in the Com munity’s race equality cam paign. Without his interven tion, I think it would have taken many more years to get the issue on the agenda.”

AS WELL as the high-profile meeting in 1995 with business leaders, Sandra Kerr says that another key way the Prince of Wales has influenced efforts to improve diversity in the workplace is through his Seeing is Believing programme.Established in 1990, it brings high-level business leaders together to focus on the unique challenges faced by these local communities. It also encourages them to think about training and job opportunities for disadvantaged young people in these areas.

The Prince’s Seeing is Believing programme has played a vital role in shaping BITC’s approach to engaging young jobseekers from disadvantaged communities.

BIG BACKER: Richard Iferenta is delighted KPMG is fully behind the Work Charter

“In 2013, we led a Seeing is believing visit based on the model that Prince Charles created” says Kerr. “We invited senior business leaders from across a range of our companies to Brixton Job Centre where they heard first-hand about the experiences of young black jobseekers. It was a two-hour meeting which also provided an opportunity for the business leaders to share things like what they expected from a CV, the experiences they could use to apply for positions, or what the interview process might look like.

Equality in business SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 19 IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS follow. And that’s my job to share evidence and insight on the importance of improving diversity in their companies.” While acknowledging the big impact George Floyd’s death had in encouraging chief ex ecutives to sign up to the Char ter, Kerr says the decades-long journey which led to its crea tion might not have happened without the support of one high-profile ally.

“For the people who attended, it was a crucial opportunity to hear from employers about what they were looking for in potential recruits. Many of them didn’t have family members or role models who worked in those industries who could tell them that a particular job was available and that you might be a good fit.

BETTY CAMPBELL MBE (1934 – 2017) was a community activist and Welsh educator. She was a black woman who initiated profound change, becoming Wales’s first black headBornteacher.inButetown, Cardiff, her early life was plagued with difficulties and hardship. Butetown was a poverty-stricken community with a significant immigrant population. After her father sadly passed away in 1942 after a U-boat torpedoed his merchant ship, her family was forced into poverty. Despite this, Betty excelled in school, win ning a scholarship to the Lady Margaret High School for girls. During her time at school, Betty was inspired to be a teacher. However, aged 17, Betty became pregnant during her A-levels, and by 1960 she had three children. This, however, did not stop her from pursu ing her dreams, and when Cardiff Teacher Training College began admitting women, her dreams became closer to becoming a reality. After receiving her training, Betty began her childhood dream of teaching at Llanrum ney. Later, she relocated back to Butetown, where she taught at Mount Stuart Primary School for 28 years. When she became head teacher at the school in 1970, she dedicated her role to teaching her pupils about black history. From slavery to apartheid in South Africa to the civil rights movement, Betty explored it all, making Mount Stuart a model for multicultural education in Britain. For a black woman who started life with

Dame Vivian is well respected in both the private and public sectors. She has been named one of the nation’s 10 most in fluential black people by the Powerlist Foundation and one of the 30 most influential peo ple in the City of London by the Financial Times. The Queen made her Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2018 New Year’s Honours. In 2021, she was also a London Tech Week Ambassador. With all that she has achieved, she aims to use her influence to aid and assist the black commu nity to her total capabilities. “It’s not personal or individual to me. It’s about using that platform to create a pathway and serve others, and I know many others are doing the same in their local communities and schools. “Teach First is about support ing teachers and serving the community of disadvantaged schools and pupils,” Dame Viv ian stresses. “Teachers and the young people they serve will al ways be at the forefront of eve rything we do, and we are deter mined to do all we can to ensure every child, whatever their back ground, has the chance to reach their full potential.”

Dame Vivian believes there is still a long way to go to create a truly equitable educational envi ronment for black students.

“Young people from disad vantaged backgrounds don’t have the same chances as other children. And it’s that inequality in their community and schools that results in an educational at tainment gap,” she emphasises. “Though we have seen pro gress, the attainment gap re mains stark and recent research shows that whilst progress had stagnated before COVID, the pandemic has worsened the situ ation. Estimates suggest that 10 years of progress in closing the

Education exclusionsnotInclusion,school

The first black headteacher intense hardship, her achievements stand as a beacon of hope to the black community and remain a pillar of hope for all from underprivileged and deprived backgrounds.

“The evidence suggests the train ing teachers are receiving about managing diverse communities is not good enough,” she says. “And we would support anything that would address those dispari ties in exclusions and help teach ers and schools do a better job. “We want to prepare our teachers and leaders to manage their classrooms successfully. “Grades matter hugely, but we also need to equip our young people to enter the world of work, and that’s why we believe that employers must be involved in shaping the future of careers education. Building strong rela tionships between government, schools and businesses will en sure we have a coordinated ap proach that gives our young people the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to succeed.”

The Prince of Wales, who met Betty and spoke at the unveiling of a statue of her in Cardiff last year, spoke of “the immense respect and affection in which Betty Campbell was held by all who knew her”. He added: “She became an inspiration to generations of people, of all ages, and all backgrounds.”

AMBITION: Dame Vivian Hunt is leading the way with her efforts to boost progress for all students

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202220

assamedon’tbackgroundsdisadvantagedpeopleYoungfromhavethechancesothers

Dame Vivian Hunt of Teach First talks about the challenges in reforming education and supporting those at a disadvantage. By Emmanuel Onapa EDUCATION CAN pro foundly impact children’s navigation through life; a lack of it can only threat en to derail the social and eco nomic progression young black children face. This is something Dame Vivi an Hunt strongly believes in and advocates herself. In 2019, Dame Vivian was appointed Chair of charity Teach First, the largest educational charity in the UK. She is determined to use her role to address the educational disad vantages young black students face across England and Wales. Looking back at the progres sion of Teach First, she believes their Patron, The Prince of Wales facilitated an environment where the charity can advance and thrive.“Prince Charles’ role was critical. It gave a huge catalyst and visibility at the charity’s launch,” she told The Voice. “He has maintained engagement and visibility from ensuring that training remains at the centre of the national agenda and mak ing personal visits to schools; to the coaching and accelerating recruitment programmes dur ing the COVID pandemic. And now, almost 20 years after Teach First’s launch, he continues to support the core mission: Fight ing to make our education sys tem work for every child.”

TRIBUTES: HRH Prince Charles with the statue of Betty Campbell, unveiled last year attainment gap have been wiped out. So, when you say, ‘what are the most pertinent challenges?’, it is to close the massive educa tion attainment gap in disad vantaged communities, which particularly affects black people. Even though the concrete path way to fairness and equality in education is still in the making, from her perspective, Teach First has attained some major tri umphs over the years.” She added: “We are real pio neers in this notion of highquality professional education for teachers and leaders. So, when you become a teacher with Teach First, that’s not the only thing that happens. You go on a professional development jour ney for two, three or four years. We build leaders, and we build them in education. We have over a hundred school heads today, and that number is increasing rapidly. More importantly, we serve thousands of school lead ers across the system.” One of the most pressing is sues the black communities are fighting against is the uncon trollable levels of school exclu sion. Exclusion rates for black Caribbean students across Brit ish schools are at an alarming rate of up to six times higher than their white Acknowledgingpeers.these impli cations on the black commu nity, Dame Vivian is determined to use her role to help usher in change to an already fragile, broken and failing system.

I can’t t en y . It’s t el t r ts, that sense ing at home w r er I . Even w n I ed t away, I’ ways come back. Because I know ar nd ery c r I’ ﬁnd mem ies I’ve yet make, times I’ ver f t. Lo in t crowd at t p l, y make me el like o in a m lion. Discover free activities Make a date with London 557279_GLA_LL_TheGleaner_268x340.indd 1 23/08/2022 11:27

A conversation with this cre ative flows as freely as her sig For me, it does not feel like half a prize, it changed my career. I don’t think its value was reduced

HERE IS that smile, Cheshire cat wide and warm, that greets me as I arrive at the West London home of writer Berna dineHerEvaristo.personal space is as dy namic and multi-layered with influences as the characters she creates in a body of work that has established her as one of Britain’s most successful black British writers, and a Booker Prize winner in 2019 with Girl, Woman, Other It was that offering — book number eight — that has trans formed Bernardine from a re spected writer with a portfolio career into an international lit erary star.

It’s like I have agency and power in a way that I have never had before, and I wantedalwaysit

INCREDIBLE “I’m still celebrating,” she tells The“TheVoiceway in which winning the prize revolutionised my ca reer was “Literallyincredible.fromone day to the next, everything changed. I had been publishing books since 1994 and generally tend ed to get good reviews, but nothing beyond that. “So much of what I had wanted for my career has now come to me and it also gave me a plat form to express what I wanted as people are listening to me.“It’s like I have agency and power in a way that I strengthanmitsshewantedIfore,hadneverhavebeandalwaysit.”Whileadtoinner that mimics that of her strong Nigerian father and white English mother, feeding her desire for power was something she had to manifest for“Itherself.was difficult growing up in the 1960s and 1970s as a person of colour in a pre dominantly white area with the in your face racism that my family experienced, but I have never felt powerless be cause I was always creating and have done what I wanted to do as a writer.”

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202222 Arts

From early works such as Lara (1997), The Emperor’s Babe (2001) and Blonde Roots (2008) to Mr Loverman (2013) and the now much-celebrated Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine has presented the world with a potpourri of black lives that explore the African Dias pora, while deep-diving into the complexities of humanity wrapped around broader issues of feminism, racism, sexuality and immigration.

The book, which has sold more than a million copies in English with deals in thirtyfive territories and 29 languag es was also named by Barack Obama as one of his favourite books of that year. It’s a fact when repeated to her reignites that beaming smile: “To be honest, Barack Obama acknowledging my book was perhaps the biggest thrill of my life. “I don’t know him, I’ve never met him, I am not in his orbit, but I am a huge fan, and he is still today an important politi cal figure, so I was like a kid at Christmas, so excited!”

“I would say that with all my books, you get a sense of the history of the characters,” she“Ysays.ouget a sense of where they come from and what the journey has been to reach the point where they are at. “I am so interested in human psychology which is why I love gossip. I love celebrity gossip,” she reveals, more with a sense of pride than guilt. “I want to know what’s go ing on behind the façade and the public presentation of who we are. “Girl, Woman, Other express es something of our humanity as women of colour and nonbinary women of colour. That’s what people tell me they get from“Theyit. have a deeper under standing of some of the ways we are as black women in so ciety — just some, because it’s not about everybody, that’s not possible, but when black wom en tell me they see themselves in the book, that’s the greatest compliment.”

NEW ERA FOR TWRITERSBLACK

Booker Prize-winner Bernardine Evaristo tells Brenda Emmanus about reflecting black women characters, being praised by Barack Obama, and her optimism about the future for black writing

COMPLEXITIES

It came first, as a theatre maker in the 1980’s when as part of London’s black counterculturefeministsheformed‘TheatreofBlackWomen’withfriendstogiveavoiceto,andtellthestoriesofthelivesofblackBritishwom en which she felt were being ignored.Resilience, a passion for her craft and a life-long commit ment to community and crea tivity as a literary activist have kept her going for four decades, creating and supporting legacy projects and prizes promoting black writers and poets.

There was perhaps a reality about this significant win that may have tarnished the glory of the moment. Bernadine was the first black woman to win the Booker but had to share the coveted prize with Marga ret Atwood who also won for ‘The Testaments.’ So how did she feel about this controver sial situation? “I know the politics and I know how people felt on the outside, but for me, it does not feel like half a prize, and it did what it was supposed to do which was change my career and bring me international at tention. I don’t think its value was reduced because I had to share it with Margaret Atwood. She is Withwonderful.”thepower success has afforded the 63-year-old comes a wealth of privilege, but in a society that she admits does not comfortably invite black people into its upper ech elons, she remains mindful of her“Istatus.amprivileged now. I have gone from outsider to ultimate insider which has been hap pening over the course of the decades to be honest, but I am definitely middle class and I am economically and career privi leged. I am also mixed-race privileged,” she says. “There is shadism in soci ety and although I identify as black, I know as a bi-racial woman I have a privilege in a society that vilifies black men and elevates people according to their skin colour. “I am very aware of that, it’s nothing new, I have written about it.”

BOUNDARIES

OUTLOOK:POSITIVE SukiEvaristoBernardine(photo:Dhanda)

nature ‘fusion ﬁction’ style of writing. She is curious by nature and can bounce through a range of subjects with aplomb.

As a professional and an activist, she is uncompromising and can clearly hold her own with anyone who dares try to patronise or deﬂate her sense of self. It happened once in her thirties, and she has since done enough self-development work to create rigid boundaries for self-care.“Ihad been in a very negative relationship where I had lost my agency, so I was aware that I never wanted to get back into that space where I lost myself to someone else’s bigger personality or desires. “So I am careful who I surround myself with. My progress as a human being and an artist is on-going.

Arts SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 23 BOOK DATE: With Camilla at Clarence House in April this year

“I am worried that there will be an elite in society between people that are able and willing to read books and a majority who might lose the ability to focus on reading if they are not used to it. It can be both demanding and enriching. It’s how you expand your mind and imagination. Reading is a more peaceful way of engaging with culture and society. I would be concerned if there were generations of young black people coming through not engaged with literature because I know they would be losing out. They would not develop their intellectual and imaginative capabilities in the way that reading does.”

AN AVID reader since childhood, celebrated author Evaristo has consistently championed its value and supported initiatives promoting reading and the love of books. She is featured in Series 7 of The Duchess of Cornwall’s The Reading Room — an online hub for literary communities around the world to celebrate literature in all its forms and for readers and non-readers alike to ﬁnd and connect with books. The Duchess of Cornwall has described reading as the “foundation of learning” and her Instagram-based book club The Reading Room has provedWhilepopular.socialmedia platforms such as TikTok are creating vibrant communities of literature lovers, Everisto remains concerned that it may also contribute to pockets of communities disengaged with reading books in favour of fast paced online entertainment.

“I have a lot to learn, a lot more to explore and a lot to Wheregive.” the novelist, critic, poet, academic and judge will fit anymore into her ‘peripatetic and precarious’ life remains to be Sheseen.isa professor of creative writing at tory200-yeartheoftheofRoyalPresidentbeenhasasandtionalandlowshipnumerousUniversity,BrunelhasFel-postsinterna-invitationsresidencesawriterandthisyearappointedoftheSocietyLiterature—firstwritercolourinsociety’shis-andthe first not to have studied at Oxford, Cambridge, or Eton. It’s a role that compliments her life-long fight for inclusion across British society.

“We are in an unprecedented time where books by black writers of every kind are now being published,” she says. “It was a fad in the past, but there had not been activity like we are seeing at this level before.“Ifwe can get seats at the decision-making tables then I’m optimistic, but if we are fessor of creative just seen as people that are published as opposed to who are publishing and not part of the wider ecosystem that supports writers, then we won’t have change.”

Author takes pride of place in royal reading club

HIGH-PROFILE: Far left, with fellow authors Steven Ian Martin, Irenosen Okojie and Nicola Williams to mark Black History Month in 2021; ClarenceCornwallDuchessmeet2019whoMargaretBernardineleft,andAtwood,sharedtheBookerPrize,Camilla,ofatHouse

In a post-George Floyd era when black creativity and talent is navigating its way into mainstream platforms, Bernadine’s work seems rife for theatre or ﬁlm adaptation. I conﬁdently write that I believe it’s just a matter of time before this occurs, expanding the Evaristo brand even more

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DCI Driscoll worked to get Da vid Norris and Gary Dobson con victed and jailed for Stephen’s murder in Baroness2012.Lawrence told The Voice it’s “very difficult” to say whether the other men accused of being involved will one day be prosecuted. She said: “Unless the justice system and the police service acknowledge, especially because they didn’t acknowledge for so long, it took one person who dedicated his time and effort to make sure that there was some justice, I don’t see it happening.

ANGRY “It took nearly 20 years for those two individuals to be sent to prison and there is nothing hap pening about those other three, possibly other four — nothing is happening.”InAugust 2020, the then Met ropolitan Police chief Cressida Dick announced that the investi gation into Stephen’s murder was moved to an “inactive” status as all “identified lines of inquiry have been completed” and the case would be reviewed periodi cally for any further “investiga tiveBaronessopportunities”.Lawrence is disap pointed with this decision. “I’m angry about it because I think if we as a family weren’t fight ing, we would have never got to a position where Stephen’s name is something that everyone talks about now,” she said. Despite being praised for her tireless campaigning against injustice and racism, Baroness Lawrence admits it does take its toll and “comes with a price”. Next year will mark 30 years since Stephen’s murder and Bar oness Lawrence revealed “inhouse” discussions have already started and insists the anniver sary will be acknowledged. She added: “The Stephen Law rence Day Foundation is the one which will be leading the way and we will be announcing what we will be doing so that other people can join and get on board with us.” Applications open in September 2023. To learn more, and to register an interest in being considered, please visit foundation.orgcontactfoundation-diploma-yearprinces-foundation.org/princes-https://ordiplomayear@princes-

ASPIRING Stephen was an aspiring architect when he was stabbed to death in Eltham, south-east London, in 1993.Following a meeting be tween His Royal Highness the The Prince of Wales and Bar oness Lawrence at The Prince’s Foundation’s Dumfries House headquarters in East Ayrshire earlier this year, the two lead ing charities have joined forces to help boost the numbers of students from underrepresented backgrounds who want to study architecture, design, fashion, and fine and applied arts at university.Thetwo lucky students will not only be granted a full waiver on tuition fees, but will also receive a study support allowance to cover travel and materials. They will also be offered indi vidual guidance with university applications, mock interviews and portfolio preparation.

RESPECT:MUTUAL

Education SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 25

Baroness Lawrence said the collaboration between the two charities comes after The Prince NEVER FORGOTTEN: Baroness Doreen Lawrence is determined to establish a ‘lasting legacy’ for Stephen (Photo by Getty Images) of Wales’ continued support of her over the years. “The Prince has always been very support ive of me personally and he did the very first memorial lecture we had in Stephen’s name back in 2000, so he’s been engaging for a long time,” she explained.Thediploma will include the opportunity to develop tradi tional skills, while embracing creativity and innovation. The unique programme also in cludes residencies at The Prince’s Foundation’s training bases at Dumfries House and Highgrove Gardens.TheSLDF launched in 2019 and takes place annually on April 22, the date of Stephen’s death. Determined to establish a “leg acy” for her son, Baroness Law rence said her new charity is “the only place where you will find Stephen’s name linked to”. She added: “I just wanted to make sure there is a lasting lega cy in his name.” The SLDF has a key focus on education and building the next generation of leaders in the class room, in local communities and throughBaronesscareers.Lawrence beams as she talks about the importance of education and describes it as “the key to life, if you are ableFollowingto”. the murder of George Floyd in the US and the rise of the Black Lives Mat ter movement, there has been a growing global call to stamp out racism and police brutality. But for Baroness Lawrence, she believes more needs to be done to eradicate systemic racism and racial inequality in the UK and says change is “not happening fastLikenough”.emany in the black com munity, she remains sceptical about any substantial changes happening in policing and the criminal justice system and be lieves real change should be re flected in actions — and not just words.When looking to the future, she references Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, and wants more emphasis placed on people’s individual charac ter, rather than solely looking at things in black and white.

It opens the gateway to the future for peopleyoung

Diploma to honour Stephen Lawrence

“I think what would make a difference is where colour is not an issue and you look at the indi viduals,” she said. She added: “I want to change all of those perceptions that we come with baggage, when we come with potential.”

THE STEPHEN Lawrence Day Foundation (SLDF) is launching a new ini tiative in partnership with The Prince of Wales to help make applied arts training more diverse. Young people will be awarded full scholarships to study on The Prince’s Foundation’s one-year Diploma programme, at its Trin ity Buoy Wharf training base in eastStephenLondon.Lawrence’s mother, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, who founded the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation (SLDF) in mem ory of her son who was murdered by a racist gang, told The Voice: “I think it is fantastic and it al lows young people the opportu nity, which opens the gateway to their“Thefuture.diploma will help them when they apply to university or apply for an apprenticeship or whatever it is they want to apply for — this will help them to get there.”

The Prince of Wales has supportivebeenalwaysvery of LawrenceBaroness

Mum Baroness Doreen Lawrence says partnership with The Prince’s Foundation will open doors. By Sinai Fleary

| THE VOICE AUGUST 202226 40yearsofBlackBritishlivesastoldby theonlyBlacknewspaper. With a forward by Sir Lenny Henry, and written by former and current Voice journalists, this powerful book documents the social history of Black Britain over the last four decades. Out 6th October Available to pre-order online. Visit www.voice-online.co.uk for details The Voice_Newspaper ad_v3.indd 1 17/08/2022 15:39

• Exclusive interview: Deborah Cadman, CEO, Birmingham City Council • Team England thanks fans • Volunteers get city buzzing • Festivals delight • Anguilla ﬁelds largest ever CG squad Commonwealth Games special supplement SEPTEMBER 2022 FriendlyBirminghamlightsGamesup

www.voice-online.co.ukvoicenews@thevoicenews@thevoicenewspaper | THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202228 Birmingham 2022

IF IT was possible to give all those involved with Birmingham 2022 a gold medal, the Voice of Sport would do so! Organising the ‘Friendly Games’ with the backdrop of a global pandemic was the eighth wonder of the world, surely. The Second City can take great pride in what it has achieved. The sporting action, transport and, of course, the weather, was superb throughout. The people of Birmingham welcomed those from the Commonwealth with open arms, to the point that many will return oneNoday.event of this type can be delivered without volunteers. More than 13,000 spirited, dedicated and dynamic volunteers,knownastheCommon-wealthCollective,weretheheartbeatoftheevent,acom-munityof passionate people coming together to help deliver the biggest sporting and cultural event the West Midlands has ever seen. Birmingham and the West Midlands is a community of communities, home to more than 180 nationalities. The Commonwealth Collective represented the vibrancy and diversity of the people at Birmingham 2022, a home Games for every nation. They should all take a bow. Special moments for me were the rapturous applause, love and support athletes received when they finished minutes after the medallists on the track. They were encouraged to achieve their dreams by an appreciative crowd. Africa’s athletes were to the fore. Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala won the men’s 100m while Nigerian sprinter Tobi Amusan backed up her recent success at the World Championships by taking 100m hurdles gold. IMPRESSIVE It would be remiss of me with my heritage not to mention Barbados, as two of the island’s finest took medals within a matter of minutes. Sada Williams won gold in impressive fashion, setting a Games record of 49.90 seconds in the 400m final at the Alexander Stadium. Minutes earlier, Bajan Jonathan Jones (44.89) won 400m bronze. The netball was probably even more exciting than what was served up by track and field exponents. The pre-match entertainment was first class and the action on court delivered skill and drama in measure.equalThiscorrespondent took in gymnastics and boxing, too. All those that participated in the Games, not just the sports fraternity, deserve heartfelt praise. And of course, there were the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. The event got under way with the 10m-tall star bull from the Birmingham 2022 Opening Ceremony, who now takes pride of place in Centenary Square. The Closing Ceremony brought to an end 11 days of incredible sport, a high-octane verse musical heritage of the West Midlands, championing the genres and trends that run through the great Commonwealth city; from rave to reggae, street and grime to R&B, drum ‘n’ bass and rap. Beverley Knight, Musical Youth and UB40 were the local headline acts. Now the action is over, the hope has to be that Birmingham and its people enjoy and embrace the legacy of the Commonwealth Games. Time will tell…

Illuminating Sunshine Girls do Jamaica proud with netball silver

NETBALL WENT to another level during the Commonwealth Games. Australia took gold while Jamaica won silver — and a new legion of fans along the way. While there will be initial disappointment, the team from the Caribbean were the team of the tournament and won themselves admirers despite 55 – 51 defeat at Birmingham’s NEC. Jamaica’s netballers, known as ‘The Sunshine Girls’, entertained throughout, both on and off court. Their energetic post-match dances brought the arena to life. The silver, on the nation’s independence weekend, was some reward. This was Jamaica’s first ever Games final while Australia were contesting their seventh successive. In the end, experience told. Winning netball gold chalked up the Aussies’ 1000th gold medal. Jamaica have world class players and have clearly seen the benefits of some of their number playing in Australia, seen as the quality hub of the sport. That number includes Jamaica captain, goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Reid and goal keeper Shamera Sterling. This dynamic duo were among the keys to the team’s success. On the way to the final, Jamaica beat the very best in the world in Birmingham, saw off Australia in their final pool match and then put world champions New Zealand to the sword in the semis. The final was a great advert for the sport. It ebbed and flowed and got the heartbeat racing throughout. In the end, the Aussies just had too much for Jamaica. While they took home gold, all concerned with the squad got a massive boost with the news that Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum will support the team and Netball Jamaica, the governing body for netball in the country, with a three-year $14m sponsorship deal, reports the Jamaica Observer It comes amid calls for public and private sector support to match the successes of the ‘Sunshine Girls’. President of Netball Jamaica, Tricia Robinson, expressed gratitude to Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum for partnering with them, while Pavel Smith, Marketing Manager, J Wray & Nephew Limited, said his team is honoured to team up with the Girls and their federation. “The Sunshine Girls have consistently showcased to the world, what true Jamaican character and spirit looks like by Jaminating their competitors against all odds,” Smith said. The support, over the course of three years, will go towards equipment, local transport, international travel, and other expenses. For the brand, each of the $14m in cash support represents the 14 parishes of Jamaica. IN ACTION: The Sunshine Girls

Thanks for the memories! equal production celebrating the diSports editor Rodney Hinds looks back at the Games DAYS TO REMEMBER: The Bull towers over Birmingham; below spectators soak up the sun; inset below left, Rodney Hinds at the Games.

Each item comes with a certificate of authenti cation and an official hologram as part of the only approved memorabilia collection for the Birming ham 2022 Commonwealth Games, so fans will not only receive a one-of-a-kind item, but also help to create a legacy, with proceeds going back to the Games to fund important community projects.

Fans can get lasting memento of Games as memorabilia site launched

RH: What tribute do you want to make to Games volunDC:teers?The first thing I’d say is ‘thank you’. Every single volun teer that I spoke to and came across just loved doing what they could do in terms of help ing people, all people, which was just great. You could sense for them just wearing the uni form and being part of this movement was a brilliant thing

By Rodney Hinds DEBORAH CADMAN is Birmingham City Council’s chief ex ecutive. Raised and educated in Birmingham, Debo rah spoke to The Voice about her reflections and hopes for legacy after the Common wealth Games.

The rare, authentic and exclusive pieces of his tory and memories from the action, went on sale on the official website last month.

‘It was beyond brilliant’

RH: What would you hope for now in regards to legacy for local people? DC: This is really important. We’re putting just as much ef fort and energy into making the legacy, ensuring local people can touch, taste and feel the legacy and the benefits of host ing the Commonwealth Games in this city. I want to see and build upon the community-based events that we invested in and put on. For the first time, local peo ple went to their local park and experienced something quite fantastic.Forthe first time, people went out of their house down the road, and were able to sit in front of a large screen and have that sense of community watch ing this great event that was tak ingAlso,place.the legacy of local people and local community groups coming together and being financially supported and encouraged to just demonstrate what they could do, you know, from the Indian drums, reggae groups, Ukrainian music. We gave them all a platform to kind of sell their stuff into the community.I’venever heard or seen Indi an drumming and Bangla danc ing before, I am going to give that a go! I really understand what it means now. Just opening up cultures from and activities from different cultures was a brilliant thing. I want to make sure that we can continue to use that as a way of driving cohesiveness and pro viding that gel that brings differ ent communities together. For me, that’s most impor tant, that we can look back on the Commonwealth Games and say it was worth every penny.

RH: Birmingham confirmed once again that it’s a really, really big player as a sport ing city, didn’t it? DC: It definitely demonstrated through the Opening and Clos ing ceremonies that actually we’re a really brilliant cultural city. I was really proud at the Opening Ceremony, but I was doubly proud at the Closing. It was beyond brilliant.

SIGNED Some highly sought-after sporting items which featured throughout the Games, include signed rugby balls from quarter, semi-finals and medal matches, as well as beach volleyballs, basket balls, hockey balls and boxing gloves.

SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 29 Birmingham 2022

RH: What would you hope to see in terms of the city and the community, come next DC:summer? This is really important and it’s important that we talk to lo cal people, and we ask local people what they would want to see. So, the conversations we’re having at the moment with local community groups and those local cultural groups that are supported, is what would you like to see as an anniversary event? Let’s celebrate a year on — and let’s allow you to do what you did this year, but build onAit.lso, we’re now talking about an annual International Cul tural Festival, an arts festival for the city, the best of Birmingham that we allowed the world to see this year. I want to build on that and play it out again next summer, and I want Maisie to come back again!

RH: How proud are you of what the city has achieved?

The collection also includes some of the most memorable props from the Opening and Closing Ceremony as they become available.

Alongside the official memorabilia, Games fans will have the chance to commemorate Birming ham 2022 with a ‘Fan Wall’ that will be construct ed within the grounds of the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.TheFanWall will be a 6m x 2m photo mo saic capturing iconic moments from the Games to showcase what the city and community has achieved on a backdrop of the Stadium.

We want to ensure people can touch, taste and feel the legacy of hosting the Games

DC: If you go into Centenary Square, there are still crowds takingLocalphotographs.peopleare now com ing into the city post-Games because they want to see the Bull [which was the centrepiece of the Opening Ceremony] They’ve seen how brilliant the city centre looks on TV, so peo ple are still feeling it.

RH: I detected a great sense of pride in Birmingham. Did you detect that as well? DC: Yeah, 100 per cent. A lot of that was around local residents talking to visitors and spectators andOnetourists.ofthe lovely stories I’ve got was about a black woman called Maisie. She came to Victoria Square every day and she lives on her own. Her fam ily are all grown up and left the city and her husband sadly died. But she came to Victoria Square every day to sit down and watch the Games. She also came to see all the entertainment that was on and I thought that was really, really lovely.Isaid, ‘Why do you want to get on the bus and come in?’, and she said: ‘Because I love the connection of people and I live on my own and this is a way for me to see the Games, but also to see and talk to people’.Ilove that story because it wasn’t just a Games of sport, or a Games of culture, it was a Games of people feeling connected and rooted into their place, which was such a lovely thing.

RH: Did you manage to get to any of the events? DC: Not as much as I wanted to! Whilst it was lovely having 11 days of sport, or even better 11 days of cultural activity, there’s still a job to be done and there were still some tricky things to have to deal with sadly, but I did get to see some of the netball.

READY FOR ACTION: Deborah Cadman with Cllr Ian Ward, leader of Birmingham City Council, at the first test event held at the Alexander Stadium ahead of the Commonwealth Games

Visit: memories.birmingham2022.com/

RH: The netball was fantas tic, wasn’t it? DC: It was just fantastic. I was privileged to give some medals out for the boxing. I am a huge fan of Delicious Orie, and I was at the semi-final when he won, which was brilliant.

THE OFFICIAL auction and memorabilia market place for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has officially launched, offering fans the opportunity to bring the Games home and own a piece of sporting history.

The collection will include exclusive items from medal ceremonies, Opening and Closing Cere monies, the Queen’s Baton Relay, official kit worn by fan favourite sporting stars, equipment from sports and replica tickets over the coming weeks.

it does not end here. The athletes have gone, the branding is coming down, but the legacy of the Games begins here and is up to us all. Let’s not sit back and ask what we are being given, or dwell on where we believe we have been neglected. Instead, let’s ask what we can do. How can I make an impact in my community? What physical activity can I partake in? Where can I volunteer? What sport can I play, even? How can I continue to champion Birmingham and theInregion?adecade, when we look back on our incredible achieve ment of hosting the Games, how great it will be to see that it was a catalyst for social change, for business and employment op portunities, for sport and physi cal activity to be available for all. No sporting event alone can deliver that, but my word, it can play its part. From now on, whenever you’re asked, be bold and say ‘I’m from Birmingham, proud host city of the Birmingham 2022 Common wealth Games’, and if they’re still not quite sure, tell them #ItsABrumTing.

But what makes the Games is the volunteers. To the 14,000-strong Commonwealth Collective, your distinctive blue and orange uni form has welcomed the world. Thank you for the hours you committed, for the smiles, the cheers, the energy, the love, the high fives, the fist bumps, the late nights and extremely early mornings, the long shifts, the agility and ability to adapt, the conversations and the warmth.

www.voice-online.co.ukvoicenews@thevoicenews@thevoicenewspaper | THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202230 Birmingham 2022 THANK BIRMINGHAM!YOU,

From now on, whenever we see someone in that uniform designed to reflect Birmingham’s architecture from the Library of Birmingham, Grand Central and Bull Ring it will warm our hearts that when the city called, you answered and represented us so

PRIDE OF THE CITY: Netball star Ama Agbeze with England supporters. Inset, John Crabtree, who chaired the committee, with a Commonwealth Games relay torch-bearer

Naturally,Thankunbelievable.you.thejourney was not smooth sailing; we have tried to be amenable to suggestions, support as many people as we could, including youth pro grammes, local communities and organisations.Weunderstand that people want to be seen, heard and ap preciated, and we know this hasn’t always been the case, but only inadvertently.

We worldbecomeandtheemergedhavefromsteamsmogtoaleader

In a decade, how great it will be to see that it was a catalyst for changesocial

An open letter to Birmingham from Ama Agbeze, B2022 Organising Committee Board Member, and gold medal-winning Team England netball captain, Gold Coast 2018 OVER THE 11 days of the Com monwealth Games, Birmingham you have been incredible! Being Brummie, when the Games were awarded to us, I was excited; having been to three Games previously, I was eager for my home city to feel the vibe of what a Games brings. But I must admit, I was apprehensive.Ican’trecall in my living memory such a large event be ing hosted by the city. We unas sumingly go about our business, but never shout about it. From our industrial roots, we have emerged from the steam and smog to being a world leader in innovation and technology. London is widely recognised and top of the list for tourists. When venturing to the capital, for years, those from the Mid lands would silently deliver the news they were from somewhere north of London; the area that devolved into a geographic land mass of no specific identity. But with the Games has come recognition; visitors, both do mestic and international, invest ment, regeneration, exuberance, pride, and a tiny sense of con fidence that escalated through out the Games. At the end of it all, Birmingham City Council’s motto ‘Be Bold. Be Birmingham’ finally was being lived up to. We have been amazing. We have welcomed. We have smiled. We have laughed. We have cried, and oh have we moaned (because we love a good moan), but people from near, far and wide have come here and seen that we have so much to offer. The city is young. The city is bright. The city is vibrant. We have shone. To Dame Louise Martin, Com monwealth Games Federation President; Katie Sadleir, CGF CEO; and the CGF team, thank you for gifting us the Games. At this key moment in time, as we recover from the pandemic, try to build following Brexit, and navigate the cost of living crisis and the impending recession, the Games gave us an excuse to come together, learn, grow, love andTocelebrate.JohnCrabtree OBE, Chair of the B2022 Organising Com mittee, my fellow Board Mem bers and Committee Members, and Ian Reid, CEO of the Organ ising Committee — I know how hard you have worked to make this happen. UNBELIEVABLE With Government support, to be awarded a Games with only three-quarters of the typical time to deliver it, then throw in a pandemic to reduce that time to half, then have to stand up a collaborative group including the City Council, West Midlands Combined Authority, several other stakeholders and sponsors and make such an impact is al most

WELCOMED

Of course, the Commonwealth Games historically stem from a long period of destruction and devastation across many parts of the globe, the ramifications of which are still being felt and dealt with today. But by welcom ing 72 nations and territories here, let us hope that conversa tions will stem to build repara tion and healing. We are united by our past and our wonderful city is a reflection of that, with such cultural diver sity that each of those 72 are rep resented in our population. At all major sporting events, it’s our athletes who are front and centre, and what the compe tition exists for.

The performances, the stories, the pain and sacrifice, the noise, the hype, the tears of relief and success and those of anguish for those whose dreams haven’t been realised. They put everything on the line with the flag of their na tion on their chest; for the love, for the passion and for our en tertainment; and wow, were we entertained.

However,well.

PROUD LOCALS: Clockwise from top, Delicious Orie, Stacey Francis-Bayman, Mark Lewis-Francis

sonalmy—arepresentGamesjourneynotjustperjourneybutthecity’sjourney.”MarkLewis-Francis,formerEngland4x100msprintrelaychampion,(fromBirmingham)added:“TheBirmingham2022Com monwealth Games is going to deliver a lasting legacy for the region.“I’m a proud Brummie, born and bred, and some of the changes that have been made already are going to create so many jobs, so much opportunity.“Iwantthe people of Bir mingham to embrace it. We deserve this. It’s all about leav ing a legacy for our future. Bir mingham has got so much mad talent, and what these Games are going to do is open up a door for so many youngsters.”

Denise Lewis OBE, Olympic heptathlon gold medallist and President of Commonwealth Games England, (from West Bromwich) said: “It’s incredible when you know that a Games is coming to your patch — the place where you grew up. “The pride was bursting out of me — I felt like I was go ing to combust. The

The

SPECIAL Stacey Francis-Bayman, Eng land netball player, (from Bromsgrove) said: “It is unreal to have a home Games once in a lifetime, and I’m so glad it’s happening in what is my final year (in netball). I feel in credibly lucky. “To have the Games in the town where you are born is in sane. I am such a proud Brum mie and every time I step out on the court I’m making sure I take it all in.”

We look back at a fantastic Commonwealth Games in England’s Second City THE BIRMINGHAM 2022 Commonwealth Games brought out the very best of the West Mid lands and attracted more than a million visitors, wowing locals and tourists alike at the biggest sports event to be held in the United Kingdom in a decade. The city and the region truly embraced Birmingham 2022, whether it’s more than 500,000 West Midlands residents buy ing tickets — helping to make this the best-attended Com monwealth Games ever in the UK — or the 14,000 volunteers all doing their part to welcome visitors to Birmingham. With the eyes of the world on Birmingham during the Games, some of the Second City’s homegrown athletes had their say on what it means for Birmingham.

SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 31 Birmingham 2022

thejourney,personalnotarepresentGamesjourney–justmybutcity’s

Team England thanks fans after they provide world-class support

The video can be found here: tus/1556686917206671360birminghamcg22/statwitter.com/

FAN ZONE: Thousands of home supporters cheered on England

Lily Walker, England hockey midfielder, (from Cannock) said: “It’s [University of Bir mingham hockey pitch] one of the prettiest pitches in the world. I’m a bit biased, but having [university clock tower] Old Joe in the background, the great hall and everything, it’s reallyDeliciousspecial.”Orie, England su per heavyweight boxer (from Birmingham), said: “Fighting at home is extra special and I know how much it means to the locals.”

WATCHING ON as the very first performers stepped out during the Opening Ceremo ny, and there until the final medal was awarded, Birming ham 2022’s fans were cheer ing on the world-class athletes throughout the Games. Showing their support for teams across all Common wealth nations and territories, Birmingham’s fans showed up in their great numbers to watch and cheer on theMoreGames.than 1.5 million tickets were sold for the 11-day com petition, making it the most attended Commonwealth Games ever to take place in theRecognisingUK. the home crowds for their support and encouragement across the competition, Team England shared a few words of thanks with the amazing fans of Bir minghamEngland2022.finished with a record 176 medals — 57 of them gold — but fell narrowly short of the goal of outper forming Australia who topped theTeamtable.England’s chef de mission, Mark England, praised the efforts of his team. He said: “This has been an absolutely exceptional Games for Team England and what’s been exceptional about it, I think, is the fact that it’s a very young team, an ambi tious“We’veteam.got 17-year-olds who are winning gold medals. It is by some margin the best home performance of any English team in a Common wealth Games.”

BUZZINGGETVOLUNTEERSBRUM

SB: The people I’ve managed to speak to were getting them selves involved. I was on the walking route, so not only was I able to speak to people who were walking to the Aquatics Centre to attend, but I was speaking to local residents as well, and they really did em brace it. All the people I spoke to I can honestly say not one person said, ‘why is this happening?’

The Voice spoke to Sharon Brown, a Birmingham-born and raised volunteer who runs So Funk Dance Fitness. She told Matthew Chadder about her experience and bringing fitness classes to the visitors.

MC: How do you feel Birming ham welcomed visitors? SB: It really did feel welcom ing. As a volunteer, I felt part of a welcoming committee, and people kind of did quite often took the time to say, ‘thank you for what you are doing!’ It definitely felt like Birming ham welcomed visitors and locals because there are some people who live in Birming ham, but are on the outskirts and probably wouldn’t normally come into the city or go to the venues and it was about them as well and making them feel in cluded. So it was very inclusive.

MC: How do you feel the peo ple of Birmingham responded to the Games throughout?

BIG BRUMMIE WELCOME: Sharon Brown and, inset, the Commonwealth Collective volunteers

MC: What made you want to be a part of the Games?

Legacy project to share expertise in organ donation and transplants

MC: How did you find people responded to the classes?

KEY ROLE: Makena Straker-Sharpe, centre, carried the baton

SB: There were some people who I knew were going to be there, but in the main it was people who were just visitors, walking through the city centre, enjoying what was going on. Once they hear my music, it’s hard to resist! There was really good participation, people just joined in. MC: Did you feel a buzz around the city that you don’t usually feel? SB: Definitely a buzz. I used that word so many times. I was work ing volunteering with a friend. When we had a bit of time, we went in our volunteer uniforms into the city centre and it was heaving, and there was such a lively at mosphere.

SB: I’m a Birmingham-born, Black Country resident, so I just saw it as an opportunity to be involved. I applied to be a volunteer which was subsequently accepted, but I also have my own dance fit ness brand, which was picked up by the festival site organisers. I was able to be involved in that way as well. I am very proud of being a Brummie and wanted to be in volved, it would have been a missed opportunity, really, if I didn’t get involved.

MC: Have you already noticed anything that the Games have left behind?

IRMINGHAM HAS just wrapped up a highly successful Common wealth Games, and while all the plaudits and praise will shine down on the worldclass athletes, it is important to remember the people flying under the radar, who made the event the success it was – the thousands of volunteers who were known as the Common wealth Collective.

MC: What was your overall impression of the Games?

SB: Definitely a success, not a bad word to say about it. People I got to speak to about it, they were having a really good experience.

www.voice-online.co.ukvoicenews@thevoicenews@thevoicenewspaper | THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202232 Birmingham 2022 B

By Rodney Hinds AS PART of the Commonwealth Games legacy, 43 Commonwealth countries and 19 national and international organisations have come together to share expertise in organ donation and transplantation and save more lives. The Commonwealth Tribute to Life Project, led by NHS Blood and Transplant, is the cul mination of three years’ work and provides a framework for the sharing of knowledge and expertise to increase ethical organ donation and transplantation. It seeks to further health equality for the benefit of all Commonwealth citizens. An official legacy project of Birming ham 2022 Commonwealth Games and part of the Games ‘United By Birmingham 2022’ community programme, Tribute to Life pre sents a unique opportunity to increase levels of organ and tissue donation and transplan tation globally. To celebrate this occasion, or gan donation representatives from many of the countries who have signed up to a shared Memorandum of Understanding, as well as transplant recipients and living donors from across the UK with Commonwealth Herit age have come together in a symbolic video which shows the team of volunteers passing a virtual heart around the world: from the UK, to Barbados, South Africa, Canada, Bangla desh and Australia to name just a few. In the lead-up to the Games, several or gan recipients and living donors were also selected to take part in the Commonwealth Games Baton Relay. One of those partici pants was Makena Straker-Sharpe, who features in the new film. Makena, a 14-year-old from Oldbury, Bir mingham had the honour of being one of the final participants to carry the baton as it ap proached its final destination in the host city. Since receiving a life-saving heart trans plant as a child, Makena has gone on make the most of every opportunity and has rep resented Team GB in the World Transplant Games, as well as regularly competing in the British Transplant Games.

The buzz around Birmingham, it felt alive, it really did. Now the Games are over, obviously on a lesser scale but it’s still there, it still feels like a lively city centre. My expectations were high, but it exceeded those.

MC: What was your favourite moment from the Games? SB: Definitely delivering those sessions, the site was huge, and it was on a really big stage and people joined in and it felt good just delivering. Also, those people who were just getting involved and were being part of something that we put on as Birmingham.

SB: The facilities that we’ve had for the Games, those are with us now. People probably underes timated Birmingham, but we’ve put on a fantastic Games, there were so many ways to be in volved. We did it really well and we can do something similar again, so that’s the hope, the lasting legacy.

SUCCESS “My warmest thanks go to all those who have worked so hard to ensure the success of this particularly special sporting event, and I wish each athlete and team every success. Your hard work and dedication, particularly in recent times, have been an inspiration to all of us. “It now gives me the greatest pleasure to declare the 22nd Commonwealth Games open.”The Prince of Wales carried out a series of engagements in Birmingham to mark the beginning of the Games earlier in the day.He visited the Athletes Village at the University of Birmingham, behind a lively spectacle of Commonwealth flags and live music. The Prince met Commonwealth Games representatives, volunteers and athletes.Accompanied by the CGF President, The Prince walked through the Commonwealth Games Welcome sign, towards a path flanked by CommonwealthBeginningflags. a loop around the hillside, with Commonwealth flags adorning the sides, the Prince was presented to 122 athletes from 61 teams, by Dame Louise. He visited the festival site at Victoria Square, home to live music, food, theatre and sporting events, and met spectators, food producers and volunteers from across Birmingham and the West Midlands. The Prince of Wales walked through the crowds and past a stage of music and dance, performed by Birmingham-based Autin Dance Theatre. Stopping briefly at the festival site, Prince Charles then walked down the steps, past Birmingham’s iconic fountain The River, meeting local people, businesses, and volunteers.This included Anjuli McKenna, who transformed the floor of the festival site into a temporary mural, Rosie Ginday, founder and CEO at Miss Macaroon, one of Birmingham’s most renowned social enterprise companies and Nouman Farooqui, of Asha’s Indian Curry House; one of Birmingham’s most famous restaurants.ThePrince of Wales viewed the festival site’s spectacular activities, including street games, music and theatre. Before his departure, he met representatives from The Prince’s Trust, Birmingham.

A ofmessageunity

SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 33 Birmingham 2022

A VIBRANT WELCOME: The Prince of Wales visited the Commonwealth Games festival site as the event opened, and met volunteers, competitors, representatives, businesses and local people

THE PRINCE of Wales, accompanied by The Duchess of Cornwall, represented the Queen at the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games. He also attended the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Opening Reception where he met with visiting heads of state and government.The Earl and Countess of Wessex and Dame Louise Martin, President of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), also attended the OpeningDuringCeremony.his speech at the Opening Ceremony, the Prince said: “On October 7 last year, this specially created baton left Buckingham Palace to travel across the Commonwealth. Over the past 294 days, it has carried not only my message to you, but also the shared hopes and dreams of each nation and territory through which it passed, as it made its way to Birmingham.“Overthe years, the coming together of so many for the ‘Friendly Games’ has created memorable shared experiences, established long-standing relationships, and even created some friendly rivalries! But above all, they remind us of our connection with one another, wherever we may be in the world, as part of the Commonwealth family of nations. “Tonight, in the words of the founder of the Games, we embark once again on a novel adventure here in Birmingham, a pioneering city which has drawn in and embraced so many throughout its history. It is a city symbolic of the rich diversity and unity of the Commonwealth, and one which now welcomes you all in friendship.

With records set and personal bests reached, the athletes did themselves proud

In the ﬁeld, a special mention has to go out to Katarina Johnson-Thompson, pictured left, who, despite still grieving the loss of her gran, produced the goods to win gold in the heptathlon. In the decathlon, Grenadian athlete Lindon Victor will still be sporting a smile on his face following his win in the event. Beating his brother who ﬁnished fourth, Victor successfully defended his Commonwealth title from four years ago.

Golden moments

NOT SURE about anybody else, but the men’s 400 metre final is the race I’ve watched back over and over since the end of the 2022 CommonwealthZambian,Games.Muzala Samukonga, really got a burst of life from seemingly nowhere coming down the home straight. It was a sight to behold, truly memorable and his new national record of 44.66s will stand for a while. It wasn’t the greatest of results for England’s Matthew Hudson-Smith, who many had tipped as the favourite for the gold medal in that race. The Birmingham man came in second in his home town Games and although he’ll rue the day, in years to come he’ll chalk this one off as just one of those things that happens every now and again. No one had the 19-year-old African down as a threat, but that’s sport. At least Hudson-Smith can say he did his bit to contribute to the 34 track medals won by England. Those medals were shared equally by the men and women, 17 each, with seven of them gold, 15 silver and 12Homebronze. nations combined, 47 of the 173 medals handed out were taken by athletes from these shores, a decent tally. A special mention goes out to all of the athletes that made it to the podium and to those that didn’t, for whatever reason, the Games provide the perfect springboard for future success. The level of competition at the Commonwealth Games can be Scotland’scountrylightedadisparate,quitefacthigh-asthewatchedEilish McColgan take gold in the 10,000m. The 31-year-old won in a Commonwealth Games record of 30 minutes 48.60 seconds for her first major title as she beat Kenya’s Irine Cheptai following a race-long duel. Finishing last in that race however was Neheng Khatala from Lesotho. The 30-year-old completed the race in a time of 33:27s. It was a personal best for the African and in the true spirit of the Friendly Games, despite having been lapped twice by McColgan et al, she was roared home by the fervent Alexander Stadium crowd. Other overseas athletes who can be proud of their performance come in the shape of Jamaican Elaine ThompsonHerah. A true champion, it’s been a long season for Caribbean athletes, but Thompson-Herah was able to find winning form to land her first ever wonthose.relay.wealthCommon-Gamestitlesinthe100mand200m.ShelateraddedtoherpersonalmedaltallybywinningbronzewithTeamJamaicainthe4x100mJamaicaland-ed13medalsinBirmingham,withthewomenrakingin10ofTheonlygoldbythemen came in the 110 hurdles where Rasheed Broadbell took top spot on the podium. Nigeria was another country where the women stole the show. Of the 10 medals they picked up, only a solitary bronze was won by a male athlete.

WINNING WAYS: Tobi Amusan won the 100m hurdles in record time; inset, Lindon Victor defended his decathlon title

“In the spirit of the thehomewasGames,Friendlysheroaredbycrowd”

Commonwealth Games in that stadiums by 10.30am tells me

www.voice-online.co.ukvoicenews@thevoicenews@thevoicenewspaper | THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202234 Birmingham 2022

VINDICATED Securing the 100m hurdles gold in a Commonwealth Games record time, Tobi Amusan cemented her status as a rising star. Having won the World Championship title, setting a new world record in the process, prior to competing in Birmingham, any hype around her growing stock was fully vindicated.

Bahamas’ LaQuan Nairn took the long jump title in Birmingham, but only just. The 26-year-old won based on a better series of jumps when he found himself tied on 8.08m with India’s Murali Sreeshankar, who finished in second place. There was only a two centimetre difference between first and third place. If that didn’t bring the case for how small margins can define big results, seeing the England 4x400m relay team disqualified for a lane infringement definitely did. The quartet of Victoria Ohuruogu, Jodie Williams, Ama Pipi and Jessie Knight ran so well, and for a while they celebrated an epic photo finish win to close the show — only for Ohuruogu’s minor infraction to be ratified a whileThelater.unique thing about the moment was being able to taste the bitterness on behalf of the English, but also savour the sweetness for Team Scotland who, up until that moment, had finished in the worst spot, fourth. Only to be promoted to That’sthird.sport, I guess. Ten years after London hosted the Olympic Games, Birmingham can be very proud of the way they hosted this year’s Commonwealth Games — the love for sport was felt by all. The city was alive, and full the appetite for track and field remains constant. Find them, facilitate them, and the fans willForflock.the full-time track and field supporter, many will be aware of the fact that athletes this year have had to navigate between peaking for the World Championships which took place in July, the Commonwealth Games and the European Championships in August.Itcouldn’t have been easy. But it was appreciated.

GOOD TIMES: Clockwise from above left, Paulette Simpson, Deputy CEO of JN Bank UK; Alando Terrelonge, Jamaica’s State Minister in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport and Marie Stewart-Lewin, JN Group Executive, at the University of Birmingham; Colin Jackson, Judy Simpson, Geoff Thompson, Denise Lewis and Donna Fraser at the gala dinner; Jamaican sprint legend Don Quarrie at the dinner; Dr Joshua Johnson, former martial arts teacher and community leader, with Christopher Samuda, President of the Jamaica Common wealth Association; guests at the Commonwealth Manor (photos: Tony Atille/Black Ink, Naphtali Junior)

SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 35 Birmingham 2022

CELEBRATING JAMAICA

JAMAICA WAS central to the activity before and during the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.Beforethe sporting action got under way, Jamaica National and the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) hosted a gala dinner and auction in honour of Jamaica’s Commonwealth team at the Uni versity of Birmingham. Before the proceedings, the JOA and the University of Bir mingham, UK, signed a Memo randum of Understanding to help further collaboration and cel ebrate the historic links between the two countries. The agreement highlights the potential to sup port academic collaborations, expanding educational pro grammes for athletes, coaches and administrators, and creating new scholarships and research opportunities.Hostforthe evening was 110m hurdles king Colin Jackson. Lu minaries included celebrity chef Levi Roots, Denise Lewis, Geoff Thompson and Judy Simpson, who mixed and mingled with the athletes plus other guests. The JOA and Jamaica National were in tandem once again when they hosted the Commonwealth Manor in the first week in August, which saw Jamaican athletes, of ficials and guests relax and em brace the very best of Caribbean and West Midlands hospitality.

NIGHT TO REMEMBER: Revellers enjoy the celebrations as the Jamaica Olympic Association hosted a gala dinner and auction in honour of Jamaica’s Commonwealth team at the University of Birmingham

Ebony shecreatedDrysdale-DaleyhistorywhenwonJamaica’s

THE TINY British Overseas Territory of Anguilla in the eastern Caribbean, home to just 14,000 residents, ﬁelded its largest-ever Commonwealth squad at Birmingham 2022. The island is likely to be better known to Brits as a dream holiday destination given its location in a quiet corner of the eastern Caribbean and its 33 dazzling white-sand beaches.

EDD: I feel really positive about it, actually! I think the thing that has made me most grateful for it is just all the support that everyone has given which has been really uplifting because obviously, I wanted to win. I didn’t, but on the back end of that, everyone has been really happy for me. Both me and my coach to be like, yeah, we’ve got something and people are paying attention to Jamaican judo.

RH: It must be pretty pleasing putting Jamaica on the judo map? EDD: Yes, that’s been a big thing. It was a happy moment, seeing the ﬂag go up. No one expected us to be on the podium. No one cared. If you actually listen to the commentary, it was very biased. So, it’s something to do to leave a lasting legacy and also, you know, not be the one and only. We want a long succession of people.

AMBITIOUS JUDOKA

www.voice-online.co.ukvoicenews@thevoicenews@thevoicenewspaper | THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202236 Birmingham 2022 EBONY BLAZING THE TRAIL

Anguilla ﬁelds largest-ever Commonwealth Games squad

Cyclists Hasani Hennis and Delroy Carty both competed in the road race and time trials, with Danny Laud and Zambezi Richardson also taking part in the Road Race. In another first for the island, Hennis has become the first Anguillian cyclist to ever complete a Commonwealth Games road race. The squad was accompanied by officials and support staff, including the Anguilla Tourist Board’s own Tourism Assistant/Marketing Officer (Ag), Sharon Lowe. Mrs Lowe is also President of the Anguilla Cycling Association and was in Birmingham to support the four cyclists the first swimmer to ever represent Anguilla at the Games. He competed in five events, including the 50m freestyle. The vivid orange and turquoise colours of Anguilla were also present in the boxing ring, worn by boxers Curlun Richardson (light-heavyweight) and Japheth Olton (heavyweight).

“I’d like to start a judo club, get them to come because judo shaped my life” that the

RH: How does it feel to be a Commonwealth Games silver medallist?

EDD: It’s making training a lot more fruitful. I feel more positive about it, a lot more positive, there’s more excitement. I feel like if I can just take these wins forward, I can be in the mix and medal in the future, because I know that I’m capable.

“This demonstrates that the budding potential we have witnessed will be ripe at just the right time for the Commonwealth Games 2026 in Australia. I am certain that with the buzz created from these Games, Anguilla will be able to create a legacy at home that creates a cohort of strong athletes for the future.”

The Anguilla delegation at the Games included former Commonwealth decathlete (and Miss Great Britain 2018) Dee-Ann Kentish Rogers who now sits in the Anguilla government as Honorable Minister for Social Development, Youth & Culture, Education and Sports and the Governor of Anguilla, Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnam.

SILVER GIRL: Ebony DrysdaleDaley was on the podium at Daviescoachleft,category;70kgGamesCommonwealththeintheweightbelowEbonywithFitzroy

Kentish Rogers said: “As a former Commonwealth Games athlete, I’m extremely proud that our athletes’ have performed their personal bests and set national records at the 2022 Games.

Chef de Mission Cardigan Connor, a former professional cricketer who took over 1,000 wickets for Hampshire during a 15-year playing career, said: “We really appreciate just being able to compete at the Games. “Our pool of talent may be small but it’s mighty and we’re delighted to have been able to show just how talented they all are.” representing the nation. Alex Lake was Chef de Mission Cardigan Connor, a READY FOR ACTION: Team Anguilla at ceremonyGamesCommonwealththeopening

RH: Do you recognise that there will be young women and men looking at you and saying ‘we can do that, too’. How does that make you feel? EDD: I wanted to create interest. I wanted people to feel like they can do it, they can pick up on their culture and their heritage. Also, for me, in particular, I’m born in the UK, and I got my citizenship for Jamaica through my dad. Both of my grandparents were born in Jamaica, but the thing is, it’s still part of me, my mannerisms, upbringing, my dual-heritage and my citizenship is important to me, and I did feel it when I saw the pride and the ﬂags and then seeing my family, it was cute. I come from Newtown, which is rough in Birmingham. If you look at the statistics, people don’t expect me to present well. I needed to do this once-in-a-lifetime thing, but I do want attention to fall back into the community, because the place is really run-down. I can’t take nephewmyto the park because it is disgusting.Theydon’t have proper programmes for the youth. I would like to have a judo club, get them to come because for me, judo shaped my life, I started when I was ﬁve. In my area, it is always on the news with people talking about crime. The community centre hasn’t been open for ages, they are knocking it down. You’d be surprised how much my sport could shape a child. It shapes so many people’s lives. Judo is a good sport. You can follow Ebony on: Instagram: mynameisebonyy Twitter: Facebook:@judo_ebonyEbonyDrysdale-Daley

RH: Describe that feeling of having family and friends watching you. EDD: It made me feel really good. Afterwards when I got the medal, I saw them up in the crowd, because of course, I did see them when I was competing. They were really happy and that really uplifted me. My mum came, it is the ﬁrst major tournament that she has seen me do. She hasn’t been since I was a child. Some of my other family members have never been either, like my aunties and uncle.

Ebony picked up the silver in the 70kg weight category. She was defeated by Aoife Coughlan of Australia.Herand her coach spoke to Rodney Hinds about success, future ambitions and how the sport can be used to help young people.

ﬁrst ever medal in judo at the CommonwealthBirmingham-bornGames.

RH: What does this medal do for the future for you?

RH: Fitzroy (Davies, coach), quick question for you. What tribute can you pay to Ebony and the hard work she’s put in and you’ve put in FD:together? After today, we have to start all again, because we’ve got the same long road for the World Championships.Shefought well, still there were a few mistakes, but the most I can give her is that she fought well. I thought that the Australian girl was going to wipe her across the board, but then when I realised she was holding her own, I’m thinking, ‘well, so she can compete with theseSometimesgirls’. with Ebony, it is in her head, and I think it needed her to come out and ﬁght some of the top players to realise that you can compete with them. So that’s the most that I can give her that she competed at least. Now she has to move on for the next two years to qualify for Paris at the Olympics.

By Karen Palmer

Some 11 athletes competed in 12 events. 2022 also marked the ﬁrst Games where Anguilla competed in four sports: track events, boxing, cycling and swimming. With numerous personal bests achieved, and a very special visit from 4x100m gold and 200m silver medallist Zharnel Hughes (Anguillian by birth), the track team had an especially successful and enjoyable Games. All four track competitors achieved ‘bests’ at the Games. New personal bests were recorded for Tri-tania Lowe (women’s 100m), Saymon Rijo (men’s 200m) and Terrone Webster (men’s 100m) with a Season Best for Davin Fleming (men’s 100m).

FAMILY FUN: The festival alldreweventParkHandsworthinwasanthatpeopleofages Some of the programmingpartsdedicatedsitesoftheir to special events and occasions

Festivals come alive

therevellersPark;HandswortheventatMessenjahLucianotheinabove,atfestival

TRANSFORMED

SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 37 Birmingham 2022

DURING THE Birming ham 2022 Common wealth Games, along side the sport taking place in the 15 competition ven ues, nine different free festival sites were set up in the host city, to bring sport, culture and enter tainment together. Two of these sites were locat ed in the city centre, but seven neighbourhood festival sites were also established. As well as a programme of music and entertainment to showcase local groups and art ists, some of the sites dedicated parts of their programming to special events and occasions. One such occasion was the 60th anniversary of Jamaican In dependence, which was marked and celebrated at the city centre site in Victoria Square, with an official flag-raising ceremony and an afternoon of entertain ment, and at the neighbourhood festival site in Handsworth Park, where the entertainment includ ed a performance from Luciano Messenjah.Birmingham 2022 also pro vided support for the annual Jamaica 0121 festival which was held in Aston Park, with the com munity engagement team also attending the event, providing people of all ages with a chance to take part in sporting activities like boxing and basketball. And the festival fun will con tinue, despite the Games com ing to an end.

Many free-to-visit exhibitions also continue including Birming ham Museum & Art Gallery’s We Are Birmingham; Everything to Everybody: Your Shakespeare, Your Culture at the Library of Birmingham; Jambo Cinema at The Mailbox; Home from Home at the National Trust Back to Backs and Vanley Burke’s Blood and Fire at Soho House. The festival ends with the much-anticipated world pre miere of Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby – a new dance theatre show by Rambert at Birmingham Hippodrome from September 27 to October 2. For the full festival programme, go to birmingham2022.com/ festival

The festival sites may now be closed, but the Birmingham 2022 Festival, the six-month cultural programme which has accompa nied the Birmingham 2022 Com monwealth Games, has been con tinuing during August and events will run until the start of October. During August, parks across the Midlands have come alive with the sounds of ska, calypso and rock ‘n’ roll. To The Streets is a brand new outdoor musical theatre concert by the award-winning playwright Roy Williams and composer and lyricist, Tim Sutton. Telling the lesser-known story of the UK’s own civil rights moment, which focused on the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963, and perfor mances have taken place in Handsworth Park Windmill Hill, at Warwick Arts Centre and in West Park in Wolver hampton.FromSeptember 2–18, Victoria Square will be transformed by PoliNa tions, an epic city centre super garden celebrating colour, beauty and natural diversity.Emerging and inter nationally renowned art ists from the UK such as Soweto Kinch, Kofi Stone, Horse Meat Disco, Rikki BeadleBlair, Jaivant Patel, Symoné and Daniel Lismore will present free live music, spoken word, dance and drag performances and there will be daily activity to in spire the mind, body, and soul. On the grand finale week end, giant architectural trees will burst with a cloud of col our and confetti combining the joyful spirit of Carnival, Holi and Mardi Gras.

CROWDS:DRAWING

ANTICIPATED

25AUGUST-3SEPTEMBER(EXCEPT29AUGUST)3PM,6.30PM&8.30PMBIRMINGHAMHIPPODROMEMOHAMMEDALI&SOULCITYARTS(EXCEPT29AUGUST)3PM,6.30PM&8.30PMTHEFESTIVALCONTINUESWASWASA:WHISPERSINPRAYER LET’SGOOUT

ByJoelCampbell

HORRIFIED “How did he respond to me giv ing him that piece of informa tion? He was horrified by it. “I think that’s something that really resonated with him. It’s showing the human side of our history. Yes, today it is very ra cially motivated, but that shows the human side of our history. I think it is hugely important for these conversations to be had.”

The Prince of Wales has thrown his weight behind carni val over the years, notably writ ing public messages of support and contributing to the Official Carnival magazine in 1988. For Compton, embracing the love and being embraced by the monarchy is a necessary com ponent in the process of healing from the scars of yesteryear. She said emphatically: “I mean, how could it not be? How could it not be beneficial?

the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean have been very much part of the British Empire. So it kind of reinforces that all of these things that have happened in the Caribbean are British his tory, because it’s British people enforcing these laws. “So it is important for us to have these conversations and it is wonderful to see these con versations being had because, within history, there is a lot of resentment with the British mon archy, but how do we start mak ing“Dochanges?wecontinue to ostracise each other? Or do we start hav ing“Ifconversations?thereisspace for people who want to make real change, I welcome that. “One sector of people living in one place and the rest living in another, with no one having any conversations, has done us no good. It’s about having an education.

“So, I very much welcome the conversations and his involve ment in carnival, so that they know.”This year’s carnival produced the usual mix of reviews but be they good, bad or indifferent, Compton believes the celebration should be a mainstay of British culture, one everyone can learn from.“I think it’s more important than ever. Because of the pan demic, we were not able to take to the streets. And you know, in light of George Floyd, it has real ly kind of put a magnifying glass on the issues that were kind of simmering, underneath niceties, and, you know, political correct ness. In our community, we’ve always been imposed upon with the concept of ‘move on’, when there are so many things that still resonate in our community today.“It’s something that we always knew. But we were told that we are overreacting, or we’re just being“Ourangry.experiences and feelings have been invalidated, for the comfort of “Carnivalothers.isaconfrontation of that. The history of carnival is a confrontation of that. “It is also a reclamation of space. When you look at Notting Hill in the 1950s, Notting Hill was the hood, a ghetto, nobody wanted to live there. “Now, no one can afford to live there. Especially people from black and brown communities cannot afford to live there. You don’t feel welcome in that space. That reclamation of that space, that history, and why Notting Hill kind of started, it’s impor tant.“Even though it’s a part of it, I don’t like when people just reduce it to being ‘just a street party’. It’s not.

BRUTALITY “The reason it started is be cause of the very same race riots that we have been experienc ing in the past two years, or the things that we’ve been seeing taking over America or the same riots that happened in London in “That2011. is why Notting Hill Car nival started, because people from the Caribbean were deal ing with being murdered, being beaten. Police brutality was the same, if not worse. This is how we“Weresponded.responded by creating carnival, because this is how we protested. So it is more important than ever for us to reclaim that space.”Sheadded: “If we want to re duce it to just getting drunk, and catching a whine and daggering, that’s our fault for doing that. But it’s us that has to take the responsibility of using this time when our voices are amplified the most for it to be something meaningful and purposeful, and joyous as well.”

“That is British history because it’s the British government that enforces these laws.

Carnival SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 39 ‘Confrontation

Trinidad and STREET PARTY: Fiona Compton says the Notting Hill Carnival should be a mainstay of British culture of history’

“The histories are very diffi cult, trust me. When I’m reading my history books, I have to take breaks because it is extremely traumatic.”Shecontinued: “I was speaking to a historian, and she was saying it has been scientifically proven that you inherit emotional trauma, it is in our“SoDNA.whether we know the finer details of the history or not, we have inherited a lot of trauma, it is still very present, we are triggered by a lot of things. So therefore there’s a lot of pain and resentment in our community, which is very much valid. “So, it is about making change and going all the way to the top. You know, If there is an open space for discussions, and to make real changes, why aren’t we doing that?

SUPPORT: The Prince of Wales and carnivalsupportmessagewrittenPrinceinsettherecentlyofDuchesstheCornwallvisitedTabernacle;left,Thehaspublicofforthe

NottingHillCarnivalambassador FionaComptondiscussesthe rootsoftheeventandwhyit’s ‘moreimportantthanever’after thepandemic.

FOR FIONA COMPTON, ensuring we held Notting Hill Carnival last month, following two years of the event being postponed, was more ‘important than ever’. The photographer, historian and carnival ambassador told The Voice that given the histori cal ties, the two-day ‘reclamation of the space’ in west London was of the utmost significance. Google ‘Compton’ and it be comes clear the history of Afri can, and in particular Caribbean people, is her calling. Prior to any steelpan being beaten in synchronised harmony at this year’s carnival, Compton, alongside other distinguished guests, met with The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Corn wall during a tour of the Taber nacle, also known as Carnival Village, in west London. Compton praised the heir to the throne for taking the time to learn about some of the key ele ments that underpin the cultural values of carnival, which to this day remain largely unknown. Explaining why she felt it was important for the origins of some of the practices that take place at carnival to be recognised at the highest levels, she enthused: “All of these things that have happened in the Caribbean that sparks the birth of carnival is very much British history. It’s not black history or Caribbean his tory, it’s British history.” She added: “When The Prince came down to the Tabernacle for a carnival exhibition, I was able to show him part of the exhibi tion on the steelpan. “We spoke about how the steelpan was developed, because the African drum was banned 50-plus years after the end of slavery, well into the 1930s. “So, Afro-Trinidadians re sponded by creating steelpan as a response to the ban against Af rican drum. He was completely shocked by this piece of infor mation.“Most people don’t know that. People think that okay, the drum would have been banned during slavery, but no, it was well into the 1930s and in many other countries beyond that.

While her mother had to face some tough opposition to her ideas from Kenya’s politicians, her campaigning has ensured the issue of protecting environment, other challenges have emerged since her mother’s death.“Africa’s cities are growing faster than cities in other parts of the world, and the infrastructure is now being developed for the next 50 years,” she says. “The big question now is how do we create a green city? Most of us in the developing south are still trapped into thinking that somehow more roads means more“Mycommerce.argument has always been that you can have eco nomic growth, and develop in a climate resilient way. The two are not mutually exclusive. This is the green agenda for our cit ies and it’s the work that is still ahead for us.”

“Africa is only responsible for four per cent of global emissions so mitigating against climate change is not an African agenda. The agenda for Africa is build ing the sort of resilient infra structure and economy that will help us face the worst of climate change.”Thecampaigner says she is especially proud of the work that young people are doing in shaping this agenda through the work of the Wangari Maathai Foundation launched in March 2015.“When my mum passed away, we were thinking about ways her legacy could continue,” she recalls. “The Wangari Maathai Foundation was created with the aim of bringing youth into that legacy. The future of Africa real ly lies on young people when the continent has an average of 19. “I’m really proud of the fact that when the foundation was launched seven years ago, our goal was to create a vibrant forum for youth in Kenya and we’ve done that. “My hope is that we can now use this forum to continue to support youth leadership, and eventually help get a young person elected into office. That would be a great accomplish ment.”

TRAILBLAZER:

FOCUS: Wanjira is committed to continuing the work of her late mother; above left, Wangari and the Prince of Wales at a climate change event in 2009; above right; planting a tree with Barack Obama in Nairobi in 2006

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202240 Environment

TO MANY people in Afri ca, the late Kenyan No bel Prize winner Wan gari Maathai is regarded as a Herheroine.tenacity and fearlessness in fighting to protect Kenya’s environment and put a stop to deforestation saw her stand up to the country’s government, incurring the wrath of former president Daniel arap Moi. When she passed away in 2011, noted South African aca demic Professor Shadrack Gutto said Maathai was someone who “belongs in the league of Nelson Mandela”.Headded that she was “some one who fought for others and never thought of herself, work ing tirelessly to advance the freedom and dignity of others without expecting anything in return”.Maathai came to world promi nence after she founded Kenya’s Green Belt Movement in 1977, a network composed of more than 4,000 community groups which aimed to plant trees and em power women in rural areas and their families to create sustain able livelihoods for themselves. At the time of its launch, in creased deforestation meant they were travelling longer distances to collect firewood used in cook ing and heating the home. This in turn meant less time tending to crops and looking after their children.Since its launch, the Green Belt Movement has had a tre mendous impact in the east Af ricanOvercountry.50million trees have been planted on farms, schools, along rivers, and in the country side, and hundreds of thousands of women have become involved with the organisation. His Royal Highness The Prince Charles of Wales, who is known for his lifelong advocacy on climate change and the envi ronment, said he “admired and loved” Maathai at an event cel ebrating her life in 2013 at Kew Gardens, London. A decade after her death, Maathai’s legacy is being continued by her daughter Wanjira, a noted environ mental campaigner in her Images)(photo:PrizethewasWanjirabyisWenvironmentalistKenyanangariMaathaicongratulatedherdaughteraftersheawardedNobelPeacein2004Getty own right with over 20 years’ experience advocating for social and environmental change. As well as being the Chair of the Wangari Maathai Founda tion and former Chair of the Green Belt Movement, Wanjira has exerted major influence through her work as Managing Director for Africa and Global Partnerships at the World Re sources Institute (WRI), a global research non-profit organisa tion.In this role, Mathai convinced Kenya’s former Environment Minister Judi Wakhungu to re store 12.6 million acres of defor ested land in Kenya by 2030. “My mother always used to say that the environment is our life support system, we destroy it at our own peril,” Wanjira told The Voice “And so at the heart of the Green Belt Movement’s work is this understanding that we need to heal the Earth, we need to dress Earth in her green dress, as she used to say. The planet is the source of everything we need to survive. If we don’t do that, we essentially compromise our own ability to live on a very funda mental“That’slevel.what she was talking about over 40 years ago, and what she had already seen. That this message has grown even more relevant today. Now, with out any doubt, climate change is the one issue we all are facing, and the threat is existential.”

Given the future growth of cities on the continent, another important focus of Wanjira’s work is investment in renewable energy technology such as wind and solar power. Recent studies have shown that although the continent’s energy generation resources are significant, they are not evenly distributed.“There’sa big discussion at the moment around what Africa’s energy agenda should be,” she says. “I believe it has to be es pecially focused on the fact that we have to transform the lives of African people who are the poorest in the world today.

Green growth and youth key for Africa

Daughter of late Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai is keeping mum’s legacy alive. By Vic Motune

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| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202242 Arts ACTUALLY, I’M really joyous when I look back and see how filled with love and politics and energy my home was. Because it countered the very cold physical environment of Great Britain at that time… and the institutional racism which we didn’t even have a name for back then”. Kwame Kwei-Armah recalls his childhood and humble be ginnings. Now artistic director at the Young Vic, he is also known as an actor, playwright andHesinger.became a household name after finding fame in his breakthrough role as paramedic Finlay Newton on the BBC’s smash-hit hospital dramas Cas ualty and Holby City Before that, when he was a bud ding filmmaker, Kwei-Armah got a grant from The Prince’s Trust, which he describes as a “pivotal moment” in his career. But his path to success was not an easy one. Like so many Caribbean families who moved to Britain to rebuild “the moth er country”, his parents pro vided him with a foundation from which to thrive and build, enamoring him with self-belief and a determination to succeed. He might not have known it then, but his parents had enriched him with priceless gifts which would prove key to opening doors, tradition ally locked for many from our communities.Speakingfondly of his early days growing up in Southall, west London, the main source of Kwei-Armah’s inspiration is clear. Travelling the world and being well-read from a young age no doubt contributed and added to his character. But it seems his biggest influ ence was a lot closer to home. If he is considered something of a renaissance man today, it’s because of the example of his mother.“Igrew up seeing my mum child-minding, nursing, be Playwright and artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah reflects on his journey and the influences that inspired him. By Richard Sudan

Roots, culture and innovation ing a hairdresser on Saturday mornings at the house, and cro cheting. I saw her doing many different things. “So to me doing music and acting and singing, directing and writing – I’m fortunate that these are artistic and bril liant things – I’m just following the tradition of my mother that we turn our hand to whatever blessings we’ve been given.” His blessings indeed reaped dividends, writing multiple successful plays and notching up prestigious awards includ ing the added triumph of being the first person of African-Car ibbean descent to have a play aired in the West End. But before all that, young Kwei-Armah would have to navigate the rampant racism of the 1970s and 80s. “It was hell,” he says. “ I lived in a period of naked aggressive racism. The kind of racism where nearly all of my cousins and my friends certainly were chased, stabbed, and cut. We all lived through that on a daily basis. Going to school in the morn ings, which was a something I did not know how to beat, my sense of worth was fortified by my home environ ment,” he adds. If Casualty was Kwei-Ar mah’s big breakthrough on TV, it was the backdrop to his life growing up which paved the way for his breakthrough to the stage. Some of those early formative early experiences, seeing skinheads on the streets of Britain, alongside police racially harassing black and Asian people, became themes in some of his first plays, like A Bitter Herb. Among KweiArmah’s early works as a play wright is Elmina’s Kitchen, de picting life on the gritty streets of East London, centred on a family surrounded by gang culture and crime while try ing to keep on the straight and narrow. The play won KweiArmah a string of awards in cluding The Evening Standard’s Most Promising Playwright of 2003. And it would also put him on the map as a formidable writer.“Ihad written two plays be fore that,” he says, in a nod to Blues Brother SoulElmina’sSister , though, was my leap at the National Theatre. And it was important as my big breakout because it was the first time I could say to everyone: ‘hey, I do multiple things’. I know longer had to hide.”There have been many firsts for Kwame Kwei-Armah. When he first began delving into the arts to eventually become a jobbing actor, black faces in prominent roles were few and far“Whenbetween.Ibecame an actor, it became clear that black actors had jobs while white actors had careers. Now we have a genera tion of black actors who have conquered Hollywood.”

One of the black actors con quering Hollywood is Star Wars legend John Boyega, who stars in a new movie called Breaking, written by Kwei-Armah.

“This was not even conceiv able when I was a young actor. Not even perceivable that the director of the Young Vic would be black. We were perceived as black actors that couldn’t do theNoclassics.”doubt,while there are still strides to be made in black rep resentation in the arts, he may have blazed a trail for others to follow and from which to draw inspiration.Heknows, though, and re marks on all of the black ac tors before him who had their talent and careers sidelined by a white-dominated industry. Black and Asian actors back then raised their voices not enough to see themselves enjoy success, but enough that sub sequent generations like KweiArmah could make it. “We forget how cold this country was to black people. We ignore how many genera tions were assassinated by in stitutional racism. How many people should have had careers but the culture was not ready for them. I stand on the shoul ders of giants.” The artistic landscape has changed and, while there is more work to do, Kwei-Armah clearly sees himself as part of the tradition of those opening the door for others – and hold ing it open. “I found it in my mother’s house the other day,” he says. “A thing called the Afro-Asian register of 1984. Black actors had been battling. The indus try kept saying we don’t know who you are. So those actors created this directory of talent and it clearly said ‘here we are, now you can see us’. The faces in that book, the elders, nearly all of them were wiped out by theKwei-Armahsystem.” became part of the change which he knew was needed in the arts, and then some. And his best work might yet be to come. But before that, Ian Roberts, as he was known up until his late teens, had to become Kwame Kwei-Armah. “I didn’t want to carry the name of someone who had enslaved myAlexfamily.”Haley’s Roots had a profound effect on young Rob erts. It’s a book which I’d guess has impacted millions of lives, while speaking to millions of lives, too. For young Kwei-Armah, it was the televised series and a very famous scene which be came part of the straw which broke the camel’s back, propel ling to a path which led him to change his name, from Ian to Kwame, aged 19. The part of Roots in question is when Kunta Kinte is being whipped by the overseer. Kun ta refuses to accept his slave name, Toby. He relents, eventu ally, at the point the whipping nearly kills him, like it did for so many other captive Africans. But he never loses a sense of his

MULTI-TALENTED:

Kwame appeared on Fame Academy as part of Red Nose Day in 2003 I lived in a period of naked aggressive racism, where nearly all of my cousins and my friends were chased and stabbed “

Breaking into the industry is tough, Kwei-Armah tells me, and not for the faint-hearted. Only do it, he says, if your soul whispers to you and says that pursuing art is the only thing you have to do, and must do, in this life. His soul has never stopped whispering to him and the power and importance of art

“We have three guiding lights at the Young Vic,” he adds. “Innovation, access and community.”Community seems a great word to end the interview on. Kwei-Armah continues to honour the community from which he came, both London and Africa, while his contribution to the global artistic community is colossal, and far from over.

Arts SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 43 heritage, naming his daughter, Kizzy, meaning ‘one who stays put’. Roots led him to research his own family tree using archives in London, eventually connecting with the land of his foremothers and fathers in West Africa.“The horrors of slavery had created an anger and a pain. I knew I had to do it. My parents had travelled 3,000 miles to give me a ﬁrst-world education that was their gift to me. And what was the gift I wanted to give to my children? I didn’t want them to look back like I did, and be able to move forward”.Kwei-Armah means ‘born to ﬁnd the way’. Kwame means ‘born on a Saturday’, and also ‘One most ancient’. There was a little pushback from his family, he says, in accepting his new name, but his mum called him Kwame from the moment he told her. For someone whose politics is so clearly grounded in radical black tradition, scholarship, a sense of history and commitment to breaking what were once traditional barriers, help as a young artist came from a surprising source.

“When I was younger, I applied to The Prince’s Trust with my brother and cousin for a grant when we were trying to find our way to become filmmakers and we got a budget. We were able to employ someone to help us get started. “It came at a pivotal moment. I felt like I was losing at that time. Getting the grant gave us a real lift in trying to become filmmakers. It didn’t happen, but it gave us the boost we needed.”What advice might he have for a younger version of himself or for young people in general, who also dream of success within the arts? “I tend to refer to my 19-year-old self and my 26-year-old self, very often,” he says. “I say be true to the vision of yourself and most importantly of all, believe.”

Be true to the vision of yourself and, most of all, believe and the role it plays in contemporary Britain, is as important and necessary as ever. He’s a man in love with his craft, and wants others to be part of it, too.“Art has the role of holding up a mirror to society and asking; ‘do you like what you see?’ If not, do something about it.” He mentions the pioneering work of the late Octavia Butler, the black American writer, and working generations helping to push black actors into science ﬁction. A whole movement was born from her work called ‘Afro Futurism’. Black people realised that they had a place in the future as well as the past, instilling a sense of belonging and entitlement.Asyouwould expect, he has a number of projects in the works, including a planned musical celebrating the life of Nelson Mandela. It might be the ﬁrst of its kind and certainly one to look out for.

MOMENTS:MEMORABLE

Clockwise from left, Kwame HolbyfamenamebecameKwei-ArmahahouseholdafterﬁndinginCasualtyandCity;pre-sentingtheOlivierAwardsattheRoyalAlbertHallin2017;shakinghandswithPrinceCharlesashehostsareceptionforsupportersofThePowerlistatClarenceHouseearlierthisyear(photo:GettyImages)

Inspiring Errollyn speaks to hearts and minds

GROUND:BREAKING

ENDORSED

“This was unprecedented because at that time, opera was Greek myth and tragedy. There was nobody looking at what was happening in London, present day London, Queen Nanny of the Maroons, the women of the Windrush,” she said “I wrote about the Windrush, an operatic piece about the Windrush in 1991. That’s how early I was looking at the Windrush when nobody else was.” Though she still harbours ambitions of landing a Grammy or playing at some of the world’s

GaryrecognisedisThompson’sShirleyworknowbeing(photo:Thomas)

Thompson has always had a vision, one that comes from an inherent ability to see a pathway which connects to her musical utopia, even if that pathway didn’t literally already exist. She said: “As an artist, you have to have a vision, and in ways I have acted on the visions I’ve had for a very long time. I created the doors and opened them. “I’ve had to create my whole path in the industry of classical music. I’ve always been pan-Africanist, from university.” As a teenager, Thompson set up a supplementary school for children of African descent. Being a part of a pan-Africanist group at that time, she believed that education was “the best way forward for everybody”. Her self-set challenge then and now was to ﬁnd a way to ‘marry the radical with what she was doing in classical music’ in order to make it sound “approachable and attractive”. She explained: “I would, for example, on the violin, I would play African folk songs, Caribbean folk songs, and the audience loved it, it brought the house down. “I’d found a way of attracting audiences of African descent into what I was doing as a classical composer. There was nobody doing that at the time. At the same time, I was also introducing my new classical works and people loved what I was doing.”

greatest venues, Thompson’s craft has been endorsed at the highest levels. Currently Reader in Composition and Performance at the University of Westminster, her works are seeing growing interest from around the world. “In 1981, I wrote a piece about SUS, stop and search,” she said. “It’s like I was making documentaries in music. I was trying to ﬁnd a representation for myself within this platform where I wasn’t at all represented. I didn’t see myself anywhere.” She added: “I’ve been the only woman of African descent to do any of those things. But as far as I was concerned, I’m born and brought up in England and I am on the same platform as any of my contemporaries. So I don’t measure myself in that way.”

VISIONARY

Dr Shirley Thompson has achieved many ‘ﬁrsts’ in the world of classical music. She told Joel Campbell what drives her COMPOSER, CONDUCTOR and violinist Dr Shirley Thompson knows a thing or two about the music genre of opera that may help to shape the minds of the future. Thompson has been immersed in music her whole life. Hailing from east London’s Forest Gate, she tells The Voice that, having written over 300 pieces throughout her career, it’s only now they are being Undeterredrecognised.bythe lack of widespread adulation, Thompson has identiﬁed the dynamic as a pattern that keeps repeating itself, especially where black people in the classical music space are concerned. “My violin teacher, Edmund Reade, was a Jamaican virtuoso. He came over to England and at 16 years old, he went to the Royal Academy, where normally you are 21,” she said. “He came here with a scholarship and went on to lead all of the main orchestras in the country. He also led the English National Opera orchestra for 20 years. But nobody saw him on television. I’m thinking, why isn’t he being shown? “I glimpsed him once at the London Palladium when the leader of the orchestra was introduced to the Queen. “It was a glimpse and that was it, but it was a Jamaican man leading the English National Opera for many, many years.”

Thompson has never been put off by the notion of not being able to see people like herself SEEING ERROLLYN Wallen enveloped as the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s Artist in Residence last year, served as a true beacon of light for black people aspiring in the classical music space. The composer and musician’s residency ‘is the start of a long journey together’, said director of music Tim Rhys-Evans at the time. He added: “Errollyn is an artist that embodies our values as a college. She’s changed the perception of what music means to society and we’re looking forward to her inspiring future work from our composers, and that our work will inspire her.” As Shirley Thompson says, the importance of including the narratives of all of society within the fabric of the arts is key to ensuring the story and the art itself, is relatable to the many. Wallen’s appointment at the college, of which The Prince of Wales is President, brings about a confidence that Thompson’s journey need never be repeated. The lessons have been learned and recruiting the best in their fields should always be the “Communicationagenda. is central to Errollyn’s work — engaging the audience, speaking directly to hearts and minds, and creating work that responds to the community and enhances it,” said head of music performance Kevin Price. “Our job is to train professional listeners and Errollyn is the ultimate example of someone who has deep empathy and care, and that’s the influence and inspiration we want to bring to our students as they train to be the musicians of the next generation.”

“My parents’ motto was ‘whatever you have the mind to do, which means the vision, you can do it’,” she said.

Music ‘I’ve opened the doors I created’

BEACON OF LIGHT: Errollyn Wallen within the classical music world. Her parents instilled a level of self-belief in her which has seen the artist cross every frontier that has presented itself.

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202244

Learning about some of those who have inﬂuenced Thompson’s career leaves you in no doubt about why the “visionary artist and cultural activist” is the ﬁrst woman in Europe to have composed and conducted a symphony within the past 40 years. New Nation Rising, A 21st Century Symphony performed and recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, is an epic musical story celebrating London’s thousand-year history, and one in which the RPO is accompanied by two choirs, solo singers, a rapper and dhol drummers, a total of nearly 200 performers.

Galvanising an unconventional following brought Thompson into conﬂict with “the mainstream” of contemporary classical music. Playing a mixture of reggae and soul but with classical music as well, Thompson set up her own orchestra in the 1990s, ﬁlling venues such as the Royal Festival Hall with her unencumbered sound which was turning heads Having started to write opera, Thompson began to further impose her will on the classical music scene, producing music that would stand the test of time.

Eva Omaghomi’s remarkable journey, and what it’s like accompanying The Prince of Wales on overseas visits

HE IS the Nigerianborn Christian minister who is advisor to the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall. Eva Omaghomi is respon sible for helping the House hold reach across cultural and faith boundaries, both here andButabroad.despite having worked with the royal couple for more than a decade, Eva started at the town hall, not the palace. Her career began as part of Ken Livingstone’s team when he was the mayor of London. Part of the team that won the London Olympic bid, Eva was also in the office the next day when the tragic London bombings happened on July 7, 2005. Her move to the palace, nearly 15 years ago, made her the second senior black com munications professional to advise The Prince of Wales.

“I need to believe in what I do. The Prince’s Trust is one of His Royal Highness’s greatest achievements so it was a real honour to be asked to help.” And the impact of Eva’s work was evident at The Prince’s Trust USA Global Gala in New York this April. Hosted by Li onel Richie and Vogue editor Edward Enninful, the event raised more than $1 million (£850m) to increase oppor tunities for some of the most disadvantaged young people. Under the guidance of the Africa Advisory Board, The Prince’s Trust now works in six African countries and 14 oth ersEva’sworldwide.new mission is to support The Prince and The Duchess in the newly created role of Director of Commu nity Engagement. The role is a direct response to the COVID pandemic’s effect on minor ity communities and the Black Lives Matter protests. One of her first tasks was to support The Prince at the ceremony in Bridgetown as Barbados became a Republic, forgoing a future King Charles. At the ceremony, The Prince acknowledged the “appalling atrocity of slavery”, and also made clear just how comfortable he is with the self-determination of those nations that still have the Queen as their monarch. It is a process that if it happens, The Prince believes will do so “calm ly and without rancour”. Since taking up her position as Director of Community En gagement at Clarence House, the Royal Household is pub lishing its diversity figures as part of the continued commit ment “to reflect the communi ties they serve”. In the first year since the publication, the fig ures have increased from eight per cent from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background to 12 per cent. Eva is keenly aware of the convening power of The Prince of Wales. So it is no surprise that some of her first interven tions include working with Baroness Doreen Lawrence (see page 21) to bring together so cial media and faith groups to try to tackle hate crime. The Prince’s passion to reach across cultural divides now has a new champion. It will be in teresting to see where Eva fo cuses next.

News feature SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 45

ACHIEVEMENTS For Eva, The Prince’s Trust was a natural fit. The Prince’s Trust has helped more than a million young people through education, employment and enterprise.Thecharity now extends to the Commonwealth, the US and beyond. She said: “I wanted to have a role that made genuine, impactful social change.

She followed in the footsteps of Colleen Harris (see page 52), the former communications secretary, who has served prime ministers as well as princes, and now runs her own firm. For many years, the House hold of The Prince of Wales has believed strongly that his team should have the di versity of all the countries that The Prince serves. Eva was part of the awardwinning Clarence House team which managed all media plans for the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton, now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, in 2011. She was the one tasked with finding the gospel choir for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding. Kingdom Choir’s rendition of Stand by Me was one of the most mov ing moments of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s day. Eva has travelled to more than 50 countries on behalf of The Prince and The Duch ess and also The Duke of Sus sex. Most memorably, she accompanied The Prince’s to Nelson Mandela’s funeral in his hometown of Qunu in the Eastern Cape. Eva describes the trip: “As an African, I know how we celebrate a long life well-lived but I have never seen anything like the arrival of Madiba’s coffin into Qunu.” “People were singing, danc ing and it became sheer eu phoria,” she added. “Seeing that and being in his hometown was one of the greatest privileges and most moving moments of my life. “Even in his death, his pres ence had that much agency.” She has helped plan for the royals at Commonwealth Games in Delhi, heads of gov ernment meetings in Sri Lanka, and UN Assembly meetings in New York. It is not surprising, then, that nearly five years ago, when Prince’s Trust International (PTI) was looking to start pro gramming in Africa, group chief executive Dame Martina Milburn looked to Eva for help. Dame Martina said: “Eva came to the Trust to help sup port on several levels — to use her impressive network to help expand our global reach, and to see if the charity could sup port young people in Ghana and“ItNigeria.isatestament to Eva’s skills that PTI started its Ghana programme a few months ago and is hoping to be working in Nigeria by the end of the year. “Added to that, Eva also helped the charity in Rwanda and Kenya and was pivotal in supporting its expansion across the Caribbean. She is a person who delivers and who is deter mined to use her drive and en thusiasm to help others.”

DIVERSITY

HELPFUL PERSPECTIVE: Eva Omaghomi has advised the Prince of Wales on ways to reach across cultural and faith boundaries I wanted to have a role that made genuine, impactful social change. I need to believe in what I do. It was a real honour to be asked to help She is a person toisdelivers,whowhodetermineduseherdriveandenthusiasmtohelpothers

From Town Hall to the Palace — and beyond

MBE speaks to the Bishops of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, and Croydon, Rosemarie Mallet Black Lives Matter changed something in me. Rt Rev Rose BishopHudson-Wilkin,ofDover

COMPASSION: Bishop of Dover, Rose JustinoftheDay;toWaterlooMonumentNationalunveilingWilkinHudson-attheoftheWindrushatStation,markWindrushfarright,withArchbishopCanterbury,Welby

WHEN THE Bishop of Dover, the Rt Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, was growing up in Montego Bay, Jamaica, she never dreamed she’d be ordained as a Bishop of the Church of England. She recalled: “It was never amongst my wildest dreams. I felt a call at a very early age to be a priest, but expected to serve in Jamaica. It’s only because I came to the UK to study at 18 and met my husband that I stayedBishophere.”Rose did her studies at the Church Army at a time when the CoE did not ordain women as priests let alone Bishops. However, she trusted God to bring to pass his calling on her life. God has more than worked things out for Bishop Rose and she’s grateful. She said: “I have an overwhelming sense of the love of God alive in my life. I know if it had not been for God my life would be on a different trajectory.”BishopRose is currently one of the most inﬂuential and most well-known black female church leaders in the UK. As the Bishop of Dover and Bishop in Canterbury, she presides over 300 churches in the Canterbury Diocese which stretches from Maidstone and includes Ashford, Dover, Thanet, and the Isle of BishopSheppey.Rose is not fazed at all by the responsibility that comes with her role. “It’s a challenge — but it’s a welcome challenge. In the book of Jeremiah where he said I’m only a child, God’s response was don’t say you’re a child, I’ll give you the words. I’ll equip you. “For me, the important thing is to not remain daunted but to recognise that God gives whatever you need in order to lead in the places God calls you to be.” During lockdown, the Bishop’s work became particularly challenging because churches closed down and moved services online. She believes the lockdown provided the church and individuals an opportunity to reset their lives. She shared: “An elderly gentleman, in his 80s, told me, ‘I have been involved in churches all my life, but for the ﬁrst time in 60 years I’ve had to learn how to pray beyond being in the building.’ But for that one person, I am delighted that we were able to do that.”

Saluting our black

PROTEST Bishop Rose’s climb up the ranks has been a slow but sure one. She was appointed a deacon in 1991, ordained as a priest in 1994 and served at St Matthew’s Church, in the Diocese of Lichﬁeld. She then presided over two churches in the London Borough of Hackney, (Holy Trinity with St Philip, Dalston and All Saints, Haggerston) for 16 years.In 2007, Bishop Rose was appointed as Chaplain to the Queen and in 2010, she became the ﬁrst woman to take on the role as Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons. She was appointed Bishop of Dover in 2019. Whilst serving in Hackney, Bishop Rose often had to comfort families who had lost children from gun and knife crime and was often frustrated by the fact that the black community acted more angrily to the killings of black people by the police as opposed to their response to black on black killings.However, she too became angered by the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. She attended a Black Lives Matter protest in Canterbury and addressed the crowd. She recalled: “I remember something changed in me. By the time BLM things were going on in relation to George Floyd here and across the world, I was in no doubt that I was going to go out and march as well, in spite of the fact that we were in lockdown. I was willing to be prosecuted. That was something worth going out for. We saw it with our eyes.” She has seen a very slow shift by the CoE to deal with issues of racism. The Bishop believes the killing of Floyd upped the ante.Despite being Bishop in a predominantly white area, Bishop Rose still takes a keen interest in black issues. She played a major role in the commissioning and unveiling of the Windrush Monument at Waterloo Station — attended by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge — and currently serves as a patron of The World Reimagined, a national art education project to transform how people understand the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its impact on the world. She’s keen to see black people take stock of where they’ve been, where they are going and thrive. Amidst all that she does, Bishop Rose is keen to serve God and others from a pure heart.

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202246 Faith

Marcia Dixon

INFLUENTIAL VOICE: Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin at her consecration service

“My commitment always is to ask God to give me wisdom that I may be a faithful shepherd of the sheep, a faithful pastor, a faithful bearer of the good news worthy of the calling that has been laid on me.”

The ordination service took place at Southwark Cathedral in June. Those present included The Archbishop of Canterbury the Rt Rev Justin Welby who ofﬁciated the service, the Bishop of Dover, the Rt Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, well-wishers, family, friends and black clergy from other Christian traditions. Bishop Rosemarie shed tears during the service. It was a truly spiritual moment for her. She recalled: “On the day of the consecration, as the Archbishop poured the anointing oil over my head, I felt my life cup ﬂowing over, with God’s abundant love for me.

queens and bishops

Faith SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 47

ROSEMARIE MALLET’S appointment as the Bishop of Croydon — the first black woman to be appointed as Bishop in the Diocese of Southwark — caused great joy and not just because it marked a historic moment in the Church of England. The appointment also caused great jubilation in Barbados — Rosemarie’s island of birth. Mia Amor Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, sent Bishop Rosemarie a letter of congratulations.Shewrote:“Whenever a Barbadian excels anywhere in this world it brings joy to us all, and the fact that Bishop Mallett, the first woman to hold this high office, is following in the footsteps of another Barbadian, the Right Reverend Wilfred Wood, who distinguished himself as the first black Bishop of Croydon, makes this latest achievement even more commendable.”Theappointment of Bishop of Croydon sees Bishop Rosemarie, 63, presiding over an area that spans the boroughs of Croydon, Sutton, the district of Tandridge, the vast majority of Reigate and Banstead district, and parts of the borough of Bromley and Mole Valley District. Bishop Rosemarie is well aware of the pressures that come with making history. She said: “Being the first woman bishop in the diocese, and a woman of colour means that young girls, and young girls of colour from poor working-class backgrounds like mine, can see that nothing is impossible with God. “I have my brother in Christ, the Bishop of Woolwich, the Rt Revd Dr Karowei Dorgu, who has been a significant role model for black clergy in the diocese, and I hope to play that role for women of colour also.”

PROUD MOMENT: Bishop Rosemarie Mallett ﬂanked by fellow Bishops at her ordination service at Southwark Cathedral; above, Bishop Rosemarie presides over an area which includes Crystal Palace Football Club I hope to be a role model for women of colour Rosemarie Mallett, Bishop of Croydon

“Since I felt the call to ordination, everything I have done in, for, with and through the church has been in service to God’s people and to his world. To be appointed to the responsibility of a senior shepherd of the ﬂock is truly humbling, but I also recognise the responsibilities that come with the role. To whom much is given is much expected, and I know that the church and the community will be both watching and praying forAme.”woman of many talents, Bishop Rosemarie’s broad range of experience is well suited to her role. Though born in Barbados, the Bishop was raised in the UK. She studied at Sussex University and Warwick University and worked as a research sociologist and academic, specialising in international development and ethno-cultural mental health. She trained for ministry at the South East Institute of Theological Education (SEITE) and was ordained Priest in 2005, serving as Priest-in-Charge at St John the Evangelist, Angell Town, from 2007 and was appointed Vicar in 2013. She was appointed as Archdeacon of Croydon in 2020 and served on General Synod from 2011-2021. Bishop Rosemarie is particularly known for her work with young people. Over the years Croydon has regularly been in the news due to youth killings in the area. However, in recent month there has been a reduction in serious youth crime. The Bishop sees this as a good thing. She said: “We have a saying about not putting your mouth on something in case it goes wrong. So, each day is a prayer for the safety of our young people, and for more and better working together by all those who have been collaborating in helping to lower the levels of serious youth violence for the past two and more years, which we pray is making the difference.”TheBishop also named others who have played a role in reducing youth crime. This included young people themselves resisting temptation, families that made an effort to listen to young people and who sought help to cope with challenging behaviour as well as schools, councils and community organisations that provided much-needed support.Sheadded the police for their commitment to good community relationships and churches who advocate, mentor and pray for young people. It’s Bishop Rosemarie’s hope that Britain’s black community would reconnect with their faith to become a spiritual force to be reckoned with. She said: “Come together more, pray together more, sing together more, worship together more, work together more for the building of the kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. Be as one, as Jesus and the Father is one.”

HAND:GUIDING inPrimaryMatthewspupilspeople,withforwhoRosemarie,BishopisknownherworkyoungwithfromStCoESchoolRedhill

ERICA OSAKWE wanted to give survivors of domestic violence a long-standing voice that she didn’t have, which she fought to have heard in law across England and Wales. For thousands of women, their search for justice was often unknowingly cut short because the law didn’t allow survivors to report common assault beyond six months. Erica took part in campaigning that eventually saw the period extended by up to 24 months. Erica told The Voice that her own experience of domestic abuse was shared by countless other women.

MAGNITUDE Black women are 57 per cent less likely to report domestic abuse to the police, according to Sistah Space, but Erica says she hopes the “small change and me being an example, will encourage people”.

JUSTICE FOR WOMEN

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“I was overwhelmed and joyous and just proud of everyone that stood by my side and fought alongside me.” The feat of her efforts has even been noticed by the Royal family, as Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, a passionate advocate of domestic abuse survivors, wanted to meet the young activist and express her gratitude towards her work.

Camilla gives her support to an abuse survivor’s efforts to tackle domestic violence.

By Leah Mahon violence

Erica recalls their meeting, just months before her campaigning work came into law, as a “beautiful moment”.“Wewent to a refuge in west London, where I was so fortunate enough to meet some of shestory,”theirsharedwhothereresidentstherecalls.“And alongside the Duchess, we had conversations with them in order to just understand the magnitude and the seriousness of the current situation surrounding abuse.” She adds: “When you are royalty, you have privileges, you tend not to experience the harsh realities of injustice. I was nervous about knowing whether she would understand me, but it was beyond that. “She was invested and that investment I saw of Refuge and other charities like it to “galvanise and inspire us all towards a world where women and children can live in safety, free from fear”. Erica, who is now an ambassador for Refuge, says she hopes the extended period for survivors to come forward will prompt more black women in particular to report their perpetrators to the police.

LANDMARK

“I created a space online where I was talking about the signs of abuse, assault. “Things you should look out for which were over a couple of years and things you should look out for to help people.

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voicenews@thevoicenewspaper @thevoicenews | THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202248

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She says it’s still too early to know just how many of the countless women, with 1.6 million of them experiencing abuse in the year ending March 2020, have been impacted by the landmark change. But she believes that thousands of women that had lost out on justice now had more time. “It’s a huge range of emotions [when the laws was passed] one of them would be relief, and I say relief in the sense that so many women will beneﬁt from this... up to 13,000 cases were affected by this previous law and knowing that it was potentially 13,000 perpetrators that continued to walk the streets without any sort of justice whatsoever for these victims was absolute insanity for me,” she says. “So, it’s the relief of knowing that women could come forward and feel that they’re being heard and that things are being done, which is the most important thing.

“I touched upon my own experiences, which were over a couple of years when I was quite young. It was with a person that I, of course, trusted.” Erica endured physical abuse at the hands of her perpetrator for three years which she chose to undergo counselling for before seeking justice for what had happened to her. “Due to an unrelated incident, the police became aware of all of that had happened and they actually contacted me, and said that they wanted to help me and to support me, but they can’t force me to report it, but they would recommend it and they would do everything they could to ensure that I received the justice that I Ericadeserved.”saysshehad the chance to speak about her experience with the willing support of the police when it usually “takes the strength of a survivor to come forward before anything is done”. However, a few months into the police investigation, she received the devastating news that her case had passed the crucial six-month deadline. It inspired her to create the Victims Too campaign in October 2020 that would challenge legislation that saw survivors like her “timed out” before being able to report theirWithabuse.the help of Refuge, a domestic violence charity supporting women and children, they campaigned alongside each other for months. On June 28 2022, Erica saw the law change for the ﬁrst time in history to protect survivors of domestic abuse.

“I did receive an email from a survivor who had told me that her mother is currently beneﬁting from the law change,” she says. “I was overwhelmed with emotion, even though it’s just one person who told me that because of the small change their mother is going to beneﬁt from it, it allows her more time to come forward... it really just shows the magnitude of what my work has really done.”

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charity suping March 2020, have been tentially 13,000 perpetrators News feature

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When she began her career as a race equality officer in Lam beth, did she imagine her CV Baroness Valerie Amos talks about coming to England and her glittering career in public service. By Lester Holloway would be as it is today? Amos says “no”, before pivoting to understanding how power works in an institution in order to change Diplomacythings.comes naturally to Amos, often weighing up her words carefully, but dur ing our interview also gives hints at her lifelong passion for equality.Parttechnocrat, part politi cian, she has a tendency to approach policy questions by stating her principles followed by discussing the managerial tactics she might use to bring changeThere’sabout.lots of policy to talk about, but what about the real Valerie Amos? For someone who has achieved so much, isn’t her public profile is rela tively low. Has she tried to avoid the limelight? “I don’t know if I’ve tried to avoid it, I certainly haven’t sought it out,” sheHerreplies.style? “I think I’m un It would be odd to think wantedeverythingachievedyou’veyoutodo derstated. Collaborative. I’m decisive, many people think de cisive means that you can’t be collaborative, I think you can doIsboth.”sheshy? There’s the faint est hint of surprise at the ques tion. “To be honest, I’ve never thought about it like that. I think shyness is just a personal ity trait. I’m a kind of observer and listener. I’m not an ‘out there’ kind of person. It doesn’t make that more valuable or less valuable than somebody who is much more of an extrovert.” Amos was born in Guyana, and back in the day, when the late Bernie Grant was an MP, and Trevor Phillips was head of the old Commission for Ra cial Equality, the jokey phrase ‘Guyanese Mafia’ was used to describe them collectively.

BARONESS VALERIE Amos is carefully sip ping mustard-coloured soup in a corner of a fairly swanky restaurant near Green Park, London. She greets me with a friendly smile as I emerge dripping from the oven-like heat outside. As ever, she comes across as cool-as-a-cucumber, poised but unassuming, and with no trace of an ego. Yet, here is one of the highest-achieving women in public life. She has been Leader of the House of Lords and Interna tional Development Secretary in the last Labour government; British High Commissioner to Australia; United Nations head of Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief; director of SOAS, and now Master of Uni versity College, Oxford. And before that, she led the Equal Opportunities Commis sion, which was later merged into the present equalities watchdog.Given all that, has she achieved all she set out to do? “There’s always more to do”, she says with a faint laugh. “I think it would be very odd to feel that you’ve achieved everything that you’ve ever wanted to do.”

University access “One of the things that has become quite successful are the degree ap prenticeships. I think it’s important that we have pipelines that our young people can access to get them into university, and that they need to be properly resourced and funded. And if funding is stopped to one of those pipelines, we need to monitor very carefully what is happening as a result.”

Criticism of ‘fashionable courses’ “Well, more fool them, I would say. My [cultural studies MA] helped prepare me for a world which is notThestraightforward.morethatwe’re able to actually appreciate and understand some of the foundations — and then how that impacts on our ability to work with each other and relate to each other — and some of the complexities around that, the better.”

Rhodes Must Fall “I was asked about this even before I started at Oxford, and I said that I felt the Rhodes statue should come“Becausedown. I think that there are some individuals whose historic role has been so egregious and where even in their own time how they behaved was in question. “We should not be looking up to those individuals. I think that’s very different to thinking that every single statue needs to come down.”

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202250 News feature

“Part of it is about building a pipeline into academia, because of the significance and the represen tation of academics of African and Caribbean, British academics of African Caribbean heritage.”

NO ROLE MODEL: The controversial statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University

Proportion of black students “Oxford and Cambridge have more work to do in terms of the culture of colleges, and Oxford University as a whole is changing so that we are more inclusive. And that applies as much to race as it does to other areas of representation.

Unassuming heroine

Baroness Amos on…

News feature SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 51

with a drive for change

Me and The Prince of Wales

“He is also very, very interested in educational opportunity and achievement, and what has been holding back young people of colour in terms of access to education.

atusedPeopletostareusalotandwanttotouchourskin they thought. For me, I want black women to feel comfort able about how they look and who they are, which is about them.“And how they want to look is not about them wanting to fit into some kind of stereotype.

“My hair, that’s me and that’s how I want to look and what makes me comfortable. If other black women want to wear a weave or a wig or to have their hair differently, I’m absolutely fine with that.” It was worth asking. Amos took a masters in cul tural studies at Birmingham University because she wanted to learn from the late Professor Stuart Hall, a celebrated cultur al theorist who found fame on BBC’s Open University. After life in London local government, her big break was leading the gender-specific Equal Opportunities Commis sion.She was appointed to the Lords shortly after Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997, and soon began a decade-long glit tering career in government. Anti-racist activists were none too pleased when, as a foreign office minister, she was sent to Durban, South Africa, to represent a UK government position at a United Nations World Conference Against Racism that slavery, while com pletely horrific, was legal at the time.Yet those same activists did not hold this against Amos personally, but instead put the blame on Blair. Amos is widely respected for her achievements. She has successfully navigated around many barriers, and although she says this is less now than in the past, we can guess what she may have encountered.

DAYS:GOVERNMENT Amos with former Labour prime minister Tony Blair

BARONESS AMOS has known The Prince of Wales for a quarter of a century, and they had many conversations when she was Commonwealth minister in the Foreign Office. He visited Amos at the University College, Oxford, where she is Master What do they talk about? “We talk about young people, culture, and the environment. But crucially, how you release the voice of those young people across the Commonwealth. Issues around race, employment opportunities.

Changing the conversation, I ask whether she has faced preconceptions because of her trademark hairstyle. “My hair?!” she says with surprise. Did you say my hair?!” I guess she’s never been asked this“Mybefore.haircut hasn’t changed that much. It was sharper and more angular when I was younger, so it’s a tiny bit softer. “I have been told that some times people fear meeting me because I can look very serious. And that I’m much warmer and nicer when they meet me, than

Wakenaam, in the mouth of the Essequibo river near George town. It was a tiny place, you knew everybody and we worked very hard at school. We left when I was nine.” Her parents were both teach ers with a strong interest in politics. She remembers arriv ing in Heathrow in 1963, and the journey to Belvedere, by the mouth of the Thames. Her first impressions of England? “It looked pretty dull and grimy and dark, and the houses looked very small. I come from some where with lots of sunshine and veryOnlush.”her first day at school, she and her sister were instant ly put in the bottom class with out any tests, and the next day her mother made her way into school to complain. They joined the top class. This was an era before African communities moved into the Thamesmead and Erith areas, and racism was commonplace on the streets. “We lived where there weren’t a lot of black people. People used to stare at us a lot and want to touch our skin and our hair. “My parents were incred ibly good at getting us to un derstand why that was and to be proud of who we were and where we had come from.”

POWER PLAY: Baroness Amos talks to former Labour deputy leader BeckettMargaret

“He came to Oxford to talk to students at University on the Opportunities Programme to talk to them and about wanting to understand what it was like now being in Oxford, but crucially, what were some of the barriers that still remained. “I hope that he sees me as somebody that he can come to have challenging conversations with.”

With two young children at the time and an already busy career working with the govern ment, it was a final push from her husband that told her to “go for it” after mounting up years of expertise at No10. As headlines across the UK announced the news, it wasn’t unbeknown to Harris that she would be taking on the top job as the first black member of the royal household in a time when debate around diversity and in clusion hadn’t yet hit the main stream.Sheadmits that she was used to working “in a very white environment,” as she took on the new appointment, but that it was something the Prince of Wales was attuned to as well from the very “Governmentstart. was quite white anyway in the areas that I worked. I was often the only black person in the room for meetings. I think if you work for any of the major establish ments, you’re used to that as a black person. The thing is that the Prince, I think he was very aware that some of the tradi tionalists might be a bit un comfortable, and so when he appointed me, I became a mem ber of the household, which is very senior in that area. So, I had quite a lot of influence and status, if you like. He was quite aware that I would need that in order to get the job done.” It was, as Harris remembers, a “highly sensitive” time for the royal family, particularly for Prince Charles who dealt with a “very acrimonious” relation ship with the British media at the turn of the new millennium. asked with the role of trans forming this image was diffi cult. She adds that protecting the young princes — William and Harry — as they were in troduced to the press was “a tightrope” that she and the PR machine had to tread carefully“Theyon.were just young boys and we managed that quite carefully to intro duce them gradu ally, with special photo calls and photo opportu nities. I think we managed that quite sensitively over the years and gave them a chance to have a bit of privacy, but also to get used to dealing with the media as well,” she says. “The first time the media had heard Prince William’s voice, it was something that I had set up. So, that was a big thing, because they had never heard him speak and it was on a skiing trip. He did a little chat with the media. That was very exciting for everybody.”

Ex-press secretary to Prince Charles, Colleen Harris looks back at her time in the royal household. By Leah Mahon B

ATTENTION He was the best royal to work for, she admits, because he spent a lot of time bringing atten tion to “diversity in our society, neglect, people that have been forgotten”.“Iwasproud to work for him. I’m proud to have helped him to do the things that he wanted to do,” Harris says. I do think he has a lot of good work and he wasn’t always recognised for it. I think we’ve managed to shift some public opinion and to look at some of the good things that he’s done, particularly around ethnic mi norities, diversity, faith, all those sorts of areas as well as the en vironment and other issues. But he has focused a lot on issues that matter to us as ethnic mi norities.”Inthe summer of 2003, Har ris resigned from her role as a key press aide after half a dec ade in the royal household. At the time, she said she had “loved every second” of the job and is now retired from a career in PR and communications after a stint that lasted over 25 years in some of the country’s most powerful institutions. She remembers Prince Charles as a “renaissance man”, a good guy that represented her values during a defining era for the royal family and for herself as she worked for him, which she believes has continued till today.

DAY TO REMEMBER:

Colleen Harris (right) being interviewed by Good Morning America before the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding in 2011 (photo: Getty Images)

“The legacy hasn’t stopped, has it? He has recruited other ethnic minorities. It didn’t stop there. He didn’t do it as a one off gesture, it’s continued,” she says. “And that’s what I’m proud of because often we look at other organisations and it’s just a one-off gesture and they don’t recruit any other people, they don’t do any more afterwards. “It hasn’t happened with the Prince of Wales, in his house hold. It is diverse and it contin ues to be like that.”

Amid calls today for repara tions and an apology for the monarchy’s past involvement in the slave trade, Harris be lieves that the Prince of Wales is “looking forward” and remains still as invested about the social issues at the forefront of the black community.

EHIND THE media glare of the royal fam ily during the 1990s and early noughties was a PR machine being headed by one of the industry’s most formidable figures. Colleen Harris, 66, became the first black member of the royal household in 1998, but she was a PR guru in her own right before bagging the cov eted role with royalty. She worked in government in the Department of Trade and In dustry as Downing Street’s first black press officer and, most controversially, worked for Mar garet Thatcher during her time as Prime Minister.

LIFETIME During her years at No10, Har ris dealt with PR calls from almost everywhere, but tells The Voice that she never expect ed to secure the job of a lifetime after a phone call from the pal ace one day. “We had a good conversation. It was following that they asked me to come in for a further con versation and that led to me ap plying for a new role as Deputy Press Secretary to His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales,” she“Irecalls.wentalong basically to go to the palace. It was my first visit and I was very excited. I bought a new outfit and eve rything. I had no expectations at all. The first meeting was just a cup of tea, and then as time went on they explained that they had this new role and they wanted me to go for it.”

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202252 Interview

While managing the image of some of the most famous faces in the world, Harris also had to manage how at times others also perceived her. As the first black member of the royal household and one of Guyanese heritage, she understood the British royal family’s connec tion to slavery for the Caribbean diaspora.Herparents were tradition alists and so her upbringing, like much of those growing up throughout the British-Caribbe an, had values passed on and steeped in royal pageantry and British culture. She says: “Obviously, you’re aware of the history as well, and some of it is very uncom fortable, but that is who I am. I am a legacy of that history and I can’t deny it. But, what you can do is look to the future. I’m very aware of my slave history, of my Commonwealth history, but on the other hand, you think we’re going to try to look forward and see if we can build some kind of unity together and improve things for everybody.”

PrincewithtoProudworkThe

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If we stand back and watch we will intosleepwalkingbedisaster

Taking action on hate crime Nero Ughwujabo group as I believe strongly that Join the debate voice-online.co.uk/opiniononline tackling this issue requires bold and ambitious leadership, and a cross-sector collaborative approach that builds on the successes of front-line organisations.Prince’s Trust UK has helped more than a million young people to date and helps tens of thousands more across the UK each year. The Trust has experience in dealing with hate crime-related content in its programmes and is currently exploring what further steps it can take to support young people to be part of the solution as agents of change in their communities. One of the insidious aspects of hate crime is that it makes people from different backgrounds feel less welcome in British society, and less likely to play an active role in public life, and our democracy. I understood this all too well whilst in government. Building an accurate picture of hate crime is notoriously challenging due to a lack of awareness of what constitutes a hate crime, significant under-reporting, and the belief amongst many victims that they will not be taken Increasesseriously.inhate are evident across all types of hate crime; homophobic hate crimes increased by seven per cent to 17,135, while disability hate crimes increased by nine per cent to 9,208. Transgender identity hate crimes increased by three per cent to 2,630. However, as in previous years, the majority of hate crimes were racially motivated. These types of hate crimes accounted for around three-quarters of such offences (74 per cent; 85,268 offences); an increase of 12 per cent between year ending March 2020 and year ending March 2021.This is particularly troubling given all the work that has been done since the death of Stephen Lawrence, who was murdered in an unprovoked racist attack in London in 1993. Even amidst the Black Lives Matters protests in the summer of 2020 which sought to draw attention to racial inequity and long-term system racism, racially motivated hate crime spiked. It’s been said that the increases in police-recorded hate crime in recent years have been largely driven by improvements in crime recording and better identification of what constitutes a hate crime, but I believe that this is not the complete story; we are seeing genuine increases in hate. What is also evident, is that there remains a significant challenge of under-reporting, and many of the groups who monitor the different types of hate crimes report significant increases as well. So, there is sufficient evidence of increasing hate and we should be concerned; hate is growing and we need to Alongsideact. the increases, I am concerned that hate crime is also changing. A significant proportion of perpetrators and victims are now young people; we are seeing a growing amplification of hate on social media, with more individuals sharing hate online; and the so-called ‘culture wars’ is blurring the boundaries between mainstream commentary and extremist groups. Some who should lead and tackle the deepening divisions in society are more committed to fighting a ‘war against woke’ than helping to build bonds and bridges between communities and enhance cohesion in society. Others are having to step up, minding the gap, to provide the necessary leadership in tackling hateWhatcrime.brings me great joy looking back was the sheer volume of black, Asian, and minority ethnic individuals that we brought into Downing Street not just to take part in receptions, but crucially to have conversations with policymakers.

HATE CRIME is on the increase and from my work in communities and in government, I have seen ﬁrst-hand the devastating impact that hate can have on individuals, communities, and how it can exploit and deepen divisions in society. This is why I believe it is time to act decisively if we are to stem the decline, particularly among young people. Incidents of hate crime have signiﬁcantly increased since 2013. Back then, just over 40,000 cases were recorded. In the year ending March 2021, there were 124,091 hate crimes recorded by the police in England and TacklingWales.hate crime has been a long-standing interest of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. Last year, he convened a group of leading voices against Hate speech to look at what more can be done to tackle the issue.The taskforce includes policing leaders of the hate crime response; civil society organisations from communities affected by hate crime, other voluntary sector organisations, social media giants, and the Prince’s Trust UK. The taskforce is hard at work, looking at key areas of possible interventions. I am delighted to be part of this group as I believe strongly that CAUSE CONCERN:FORHate crime can have a devastating impact on the individual; inset, Nero with the Rev Al Sharpton at 10 Downing Street We must tackle the causes of deepening divisions in our society

I am proud that we were able to introduce the Stephen Lawrence Day to commemorate Stephen’s life every year on April 22. We also announced the Windrush Day and the Windrush Commemoration monument which was unveiled at Waterloo Station recently. Diversity built Britain and as we seek to tackle hate crime and its wider impacts, it is right that we acknowledge and celebrate the contribution of diverse populations to Britain. Hate crime is on the increase across the globe, and we can see how this is deepening divisions in other countries. If we simply stand back and watch we will be sleepwalking into disaster. We have an opportunity to dramatically move the dial to confront those who seek to exploit the weaknesses in our society and create lasting divisions. I am excited that alongside climate change and concern for diversity and equality, young people consistently identify tackling hate crime as one of their key priorities. It is through them that we can make progress and strengthen the values and bonds that unite us.

Nero Ughwujabo is Senior Strategy Adviser for Equality Diversity and Inclusion at The Prince’s Trust and former Special Adviser to the Prime Minister

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202254

Art and exhibitions Now in its final weeks: the Hayward Gallery ex hibition In the Black Fantastic curated by writer and broadcaster Ekow Eshun is open until Sun day 18 September. It’s the UK’s first major show dedicated to the work of Black artists who draw on science fiction, myth and Afrofuturism to question our knowledge of the world. Time Out called the exhibition ‘defiant, em powering and brazenly loud’ and The Evening Standard gave it five stars and stated there’s ‘Un likely to be a better show this year.’ Encompassing painting, photography, video, sculpture and installations, the exhibition cre ates immersive aesthetic experiences. Fantasy becomes a zone of creative and cultural libera tion and a means of addressing racism and social injustice by conjuring new ways of being in the world.Inthe Black Fantastic is at the Hayward Gallery from Wednesday –⁠ Sunday until 18 September 2022. It’s open late until 9pm every Wednesday. Tickets are £13.50 and there is a special £5 ticket price available for under-30s and Lambeth residents.Thereis also free outdoor art across the South bank Centre site (until Sunday 4 September) showcasing artists who use fantasy in their work, including renowned artists Hew Locke, Wangechi Mutu and Lina Iris Viktor. Summer: In the Black Fantastic Dive into contemporary Black art and culture with Southbank Centre’s summer season, taking inspiration from the themes of the Hayward Gal lery exhibition In the Black Fantastic. Riverside Stage Throughout the summer there are weekends with free DJ takeovers, live music and performance on the Riverside Stage, with artists exploring how the fantastic can be a gateway to Black creative and cultural liberation. Guest curators and artists include Circle and Colourful. Music The Southbank Centre’s venues will be alive with a varied programme of music as part of Summer: In the Black Fantastic, spanning club, cosmic and cutting-edge new talent. Lose yourself in the soulful world of sing er-songwriter Tawiah’s poignant second album, Ertha, created in collaboration with artist Al Moore on Saturday 27 August. London-based rapper and producer John Gla cier carves soundscapes with her punk-poet elec tronic songs on Saturday 3 September.

Talks Writers Courttia Newland and Michael Salu dis cuss the fantastical in their work with Ellah P Wakatama at literary event Writing in the Black Fantastic on Thursday 15 September. Saturn Returns (Wednesday 7 & Thursday 8 September) is a choreopoem by Sonny Nwachuk wu exploring the psychospiritual clashes pro duced in Black people by the weight of history. This event is also available to watch online. Visit southbankcentre.co.uk for the full summer programme.

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InstallationCREDIT: view of Nick Cave works, In the Black Fantastic at Hayward Gallery, 2022. Copyright the artist. Photo Zeinab Batchelor, Courtesy of the Hayward Gallery. www.voice-online.co.ukvoicenews Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Mandrake Hotel Collection.

Summer: In the Black Fantastic at Southbank Centre

@thevoicenewspaper @thevoicenews In the FantasticBlack UNTIL SUN 18 SEP  ‘Unlikely to be a better show this year’ Evening Standard  Time Out  The Guardian WEEKSFINAL Nick Cave, Soundsuit , 2014.

This summer, the Southbank Centre is exploring contemporary Black art and culture with an ex traordinary season of multi-artform events, fea turing a major five-star exhibition, outdoor art, music and performance as well as plenty of free events.

VISION: Lord Woolley with Prince Charles at Homerton College mucking about with the white lads and ended up crashing a car. He thought he would be sacked, but was just given a warning.Oneof the Asian mechanics came over to him and said “Si mon, if you want to be a car me chanic, learn this trade properly. Bring your toolkit and come over to the other side”. Soon, the young Simon was immersed in Asian culture. The crash had provided the jolt the young man needed, and — al though he didn’t know it at the time — set him on the path to be one of Britain’s most prominent campaigners for race equality. He recounted the story in his recent autobiography Soar. He told The Voice: “After they took me under their wing, I would learn about their food, learn about their language, and they’d take me to their home and I’d be singing in Gujarati.”

Now the Principal of Homer ton College at Cambridge Uni versity, Lord Woolley believed it was an important time to reflect not just on his personal journey, but on the anti-racist struggle that he was central to over the past.

In the run-up to the 1997 general election, OBV were making waves, running a nonpartisan voter registration cam paign, boosted by a hard-hitting poster campaign designed by the late Jon Daniel and Trevor Robinson.Theshadow home secretary Jack Straw asked Woolley to hold a press conference where Straw announced they promised a public inquiry into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence. Suddenly, OBV were on the na tional stage. Twenty-five years later, OBV has achieved much success including shadowing

“There was an opportunity from Black Lives Matter, but groups have to re-emerge bottom-up, not“Wetop-down.areliving in an anti-black political moment that is rolling back gains and says ‘if you sup port anti-racism, you’re against white people’. It pits us against each other; actually poor black and white people should be fighting together — that’s what we had in the 70s, 80s and 90s. That needs to find a rebirth.”

Woolley had grown up with adopted white parents after his mother struck up a relationship with a white man she met in Leicester, and as their relation ship deteriorated, the man de manded he would only return to her on condition that the young Simon left. His new home was loving but they were poor, and he remem bers seeing his new mum Pippi steal food from Tesco so they could eat. After enrolling as a mature student at Middlesex University to study Spanish, Woolley learnt of the antiimperialist struggles of South America, and connected this to the conversations he heard in his local barber shop in Leices ter talking about the trials and tribulations in the Caribbean. He became increasingly inter ested in the ‘democratic deficit’ of black people (African, Carib bean, Asian and all racialised minorities) being less likely to vote and being woefully under represented in parliament. He quit his job as a salesman and began work for Charter 88, a democratic reform campaign.

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202256 News feature

‘We have the power to change the system’

Lord Simon Woolley says growing up in Leicester taught him we are stronger together.

REBIRTH: Lord Woolley says poor black and white shouldpeoplebe fighting together

“I have said before that our di versity is our greatest strength, and I become ever more convinced of that truth as time goes by and as I see fresh examples of that principle – as I do so clearly.”

‘Diversity is our greatest strength’ schemes that have boosted the numbers of black MPs and other politicians (alumni include Hel en Grant, Marsha de Cordova, Clive Lewis, Marvin Rees, Say eeda Warsi and Tan Dhesi). But there is much more to do.

DYNAMIC The advert had the opposite ef fect; Leicester was now the pre ferred destination, just as Tower Hamlets became to Bangladeshis after the council leader flew out to discourage migration to the east London borough. Woolley had suffered a daily barrage of racism growing up on a primarily white estate, but in the workplace, the expanding Asian community brought a dif ferent“We’redynamic.allbombarded with prejudices,” Simon, now Lord Woolley of Woodford, said. “When Idi Amin expelled Gujurati Indians, the Caribbean cohort that had been in the UK 20 years before were desperate to belong in white society. “So when the Asians came, the white kids would say to you, we like you, you’re not like them, you don’t smell, and not only that, you’re Christian.” His garage was in reality racially-segregated, white me chanics on one side, Asians on theThenother.16 years-old, he was

T BEGAN with a car crash. Simon Woolley was a young apprentice mechanic, work ing out what to do with his life, having grown up on a nearby rough estate in Leicester called St Matthews. He was a hustler, earning extra cash as a tout outside the old Fil bert Street football ground, sell ing matchday tickets he bought cheap direct from the players. The garage was on a road in the Asian area of the city, now known for the huge Belgrave Baheno Peepul Centre built by race equality campaigners like Rita Patel. In the 1970s and 80s, Leicester was a city divided. It still is, but those divisions were even more stark. As Ugandan Asians faced the threat of expulsion, Leicester council had taken out an advert in a Ugandan paper warning them against coming to the city by claiming there was no housing, schools or healthcare for them.

By Lester Holloway

Prince Charles said at the time: “As Lord Woolley knows, this is a subject which has always been close to my heart, and which I have sought to take forward, and to support, as much as possible for much of my life. For our society to successfully meet the huge chal lenges before us, we will need all our talents and all our contributions. That is not simply a good intention –it is the most profound good sense.

Last year, Cambridge admitted nearly three in ten (29.3 per cent) UK undergraduates from black backgrounds – up from 27.8 per cent the previous year.

PRINCE CHARLES visited Lord Woolley at Homerton College at Cambridge University to find out about the work being done to support black students. Woolley said: “It’s extraordinary when the future king comes to Homerton and he is excited about our vision for team, diversity and academic excellence.”

SPARK The spark that propelled Wool ley to set up Operation Black Vote (OBV) was the 1995 con troversial death-in-custody of Wayne Douglas in Brixton. He linked up with Derek Hinds and Lee Jasper, and began to cal culate the difference that black voters could make in elections. “So the conversations began — we’ve got this power, we have to use it. The research gave us the eureka moment and every thing just crystallised. The poli ticians understood the power of the black vote more than we did. They knew their success or fail ure might depend upon this.”

About 98 out of 100 people who use their NHS bowel cancer screening kit need no further tests. Janet Murungi, 56, from Hackney, recently took her bowel cancer screening test and was surprised by how quick and easy it was. “The instructions were very straightforward,” says Janet. “It’s very easy to do - you just follow a few simple steps and you’reJanetdone!”isnow

Bowel cancer screening saves lives. For further information, please visit: https://www.healthylondon.org/BCS

Dr Austin, ColorectalConsultantSurgeon

PREVENTABLE In the UK, 43,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year. Yet it is one of the most preventable cancers.

EARLY STAGE

ADVERTORIAL

“Screening can help prevent bowel cancer or find it at an early stage when it’s easier to treat. That’s why the NHS sends out free bowel cancer screening kits to use privately at home. They are for people with no symptoms and most people do not require any further investigations. If you are sent a kit, please use it.”

SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE| 57

LEADING BLACK celebrities - Sean Fletcher Good Morning Britain presenter, Kriss Akabusi MBE, Olympic athlete as well as healthcare professionals are rallying behind a life-saving NHS campaign. The new campaign encourages people in London who have been sent a free NHS bowel cancer screening home test, to use it - to check if they could have bowel cancer.

STRAIGHTFORWARD

Olympic athlete, Kriss Akabusi MBE says “If you are aged 56-74 I urge you to take the simple bowel cancer screening test that comes through the post. As a fit, healthy and strong-willed man in my 60s I thought I was invincible, however, I had a cancer scare and it was a wakeup call. Do it for yourself and your loved ones.”

“If you receive a bowel usescreeningcancerkit,itassoon as possible. You could stop cancer before it starts.”

encouraging others to do the same. “No mat ter what, you must not ignore your test. Bowel cancer screen ing saves lives and early detection means you can get treated sooner if something doesn’t look right. I encourage everyone to be safe and do it as soon as possible.”

Good Morning Britain Presenter, Sean Fletcher, is support ing the campaign and said: “My mother passed away from bowel cancer - and the impact this had on us was devastating. I am calling on all those who have received a bowel cancer screening kit to do it straightaway. It only takes a few minutes - and could save your life.”

Taking a bowel cancer screening test is easy. It’s a free NHS home test kit called a faecal immunochemical test (FIT). To do the test, you use the kit to collect a small sample of your stool that is sent to a lab via a prepaid postage label (no stamp is needed). The sample is checked for tiny amounts of blood. Blood can be a sign of polyps or bowel cancer. Polyps are growths in the bowel. They are not cancer but may turn into cancer over time.

Bowel cancer screening movement in Black communities across London to stop cancer before it starts

Bowel cancer is one of the most common cancers and regular screening can help prevent it. The free NHS bowel cancer screening kit is available to everyone in London aged 56–74. The kits are for people with no symptoms and most get the all clear. To learn more, visit healthylondon.org/BCS

Dr Austin Obichere, Director of UCLH’s Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, said: “It’s important to normalise con versations about bowel movements and stool within Black com munities in order for people to stop feeling embarrassed and complete their bowel cancer screening test when they receive it.”

Regular screening could stop cancer before it starts.

Bowel cancer screening can help prevent bowel cancer by find ing it at an early stage when it’s easier to treat, and research shows that those who do their test are 25% less likely to die from the disease.

Other committee members expressed delight to be involved in this unique project and are all working assiduously to ensure this initiative progresses quickly.

The Voice caught up with Floella shortly before she was due to record an audio version of her recently-launched new autobiography entitled What Are You Doing Here?

DicksonEnowateMbi CULTURAL ICON: Baroness Floella Benjamin speaks before the unveiling of the WIndrush Monument; below, meeting Prince Charles in June (photos: Getty Images)

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202258 News feature

The Windrush Portraits project is an initiative by The Prince of Wales to mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Windrush generation to the UK. The Prince has expressed his wish to capture the essence of the Windrush generation on canvas as a permanent legacy for future generations. This project seeks to recognise the immeasurable impact of that generation on UK public life. The portraits will be unveiled next June and exhibited across the nation. Baroness Benjamin has been asked to lead the Windrush Portraits Committee of volunteers; The Rt Revd Rose HudsonWilkin MBE, Bishop of Dover and the ﬁrst black woman to become a Bishop in the Church of England; Rudolph Walker CBE, much loved actor of Trinidadian heritage and well known for various roles in television including Patrick Trueman in EastEnders; and Paulette Simpson CBE, Executive Director of The Voice and Deputy CEO of JN Bank UK, Britain’s ﬁrst Caribbean-owned bank. The project is to commission portraits of 90-years-plus members of the Windrush generation. Sadly, four names on a list have already joined the ancestors, so the job of selecting and painting people so elderly feels slightly precarious.“Idon’twant any more to die before they’re celebrated and their families see that they have been honoured in this way,” she sighed. “So it’s terribly important that their portraits are done and for them to be in a place where other people can go and see them knowing that they’ve paved the way for future generations.”

Baroness Benjamin leads The Prince’s initiative to paint Windrush generation. By Lester Holloway interview that was ostensibly about 14 - 15 October 2022

“I think Prince Charles has got huge ambitions for this,” Floella beams.Floella, who has excelled in many walks of life, is perhaps still best remembered as a presenter on BBC’s Play School in the 1970s and 80s. More recently, she was Chair of the Windrush Monument Committee which delivered the monument.

The Windrush Portraits project is an extension of the successful erection of the National Windrush Monument at Waterloo station. The impressive bronze ﬁgure, created by sculptor Basil Watson, was unveiled on Windrush Day, 74 years after the SS Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury Docks on June 21, 1948. The portraits would be unveiled at Buckingham Palace in time for the 75th anniversary of Windrush and then tour Britain as part of the Royal Collection. The committee are keen to see black artists in the commissioning of the portraits.

While many will be familiar with her celebrated children’s book Coming to England, the latest offering is for adults and goes into far greater depth about her experiences growing up in Trinidad, and for the first time delves into her career as a singer, actor and TV presenter. It becomes apparent that Floella views adults in many ways as overgrown children, in that she recognises the inner child in each of us. And where children are starved of love, she is conscious of the hole in their spirit, in the adultIronically,world. an interview that was ostensibly about the Windrush pioneers, some of whom are centenarians,nowquicklypivotstotheyoungestinsociety.Butthatshouldnotbeasurprise,givenhowmuch of her life has been dedicated to encouraging, entertaining and informing children. She often refers to fans of BBC’s Play School as her “Play School Babies” and spends a lot of time embracing people who were inspired by her presence on TV, in an era where black people on TV were few and far between, especially in a positive role. “I gave them love and affection and showed them that they were worthy. And when I meet people, they just fall into my arms. Some say ‘I lived in a children’s home, and I had no one to love me. But you, Floella, the way you used to say ‘hello’, is “Childhoodeverything.’lastsa lifetime. And what we give to children, those early foundation years, stay with them forever. I think it’s really important that you tell children that they are worthy, and they can achieve if they work hard, and most of all, to know that they’re loved.” Floella echoes sections of her autobiography when she waxes lyrical about how the love of life and of people inside her was nurtured by her parents, particularly her mother, and perfectly complemented what she learnt from herYetfather.growing up in Penge, south London, in the 1960s, she began to lose that self-love as she suffered a daily dose of racism, including from random adults on the street who would shout abuse or lift up her skirt to see “if I had a tail”. She got into fights on a regular basis, and got good at fighting, but described this period in her life as “hell”. At 19, she got her big break being cast in the musical Hair, followed soon after by a part in Jesus Christ Superstar. More stage roles followed before a chance move into children’s TV with Play School. Floella and the committee are looking forward to the delivery of the Windrush Portraits which follows on from three similar projects that have been initiated by The Prince; portraits of surviving servicemen to mark the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 2010, D-Day Veterans in 2015 and Holocaust survivors in 2020. Slowly but surely the contribution of the Windrush Generation is being recorded in British history.

BARONESS FLOELLA Benjamin appears to have the faces of Windrush pioneers etched into her memory. “Their faces tell a million stories”, she says. “They’ve really gone through it, put up with so much adversity.” There is urgency in her voice. It feels like a race against time.

PORTRAITS OF THE WINDRUSH PIONEERS

Both Shimmy and Mary love all that the UK has to offer but they are particularly looking forward to getting the show on in Manchester.

Mulovhedzi explained: “I think Manchester is my fa vourite place. I think it’s the busyness of the place. It’s like in South Africa, the vibe there is exactly like in South Africa. I love it, I feel at home there.”

Sat 15 Oct DARLINGTON Hippodrome 01325 405405 Sun 16 Oct WOLVERHAMPTON Grand 01902 42 92 12 Tue 18 Oct LONDON Cadogan Hall 020 7730 4500 Thu 20 Oct MALVERN Festival Theatre 01684 892277 Fri 21 Oct ABERYSTWYTH Arts Centre 01970 62 32 32 Sat 22 Oct MANCHESTER The Stoller Hall 0333 130 0967 Sun 23 Oct BIRMINGHAM Town Hall 0121 780 3333 Tue 25 Oct HULL City Hall 01482 300306 Wed 26 Oct BRADFORD St George’s Hall 01274 432000 www.sowetogospelchoir.com HHHH “It’s impossible to spend an hour with them and not leave with a big smile on your face” In Daily First 12tourUKinyears! SOWETO GOSPEL CHOIR “FREEDOM” CONCERT, YOU WILL BE ‘SPOILT FOR CHOICE’

Advertising feature SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE| 59 SO, YOU’RE planning on attending the Soweto Gospel Choir’s “Freedom” concert to the UK and you want to know what to expect? Well, it’s a good thing the Voice News paper sat down with founding members Shimmy Jiyane and Mary Mulovhedzi. We know there will be Afri can gospel, freedom songs, and international classics, but what else?“The concert is all about cel ebrating Nelson Mandela and all of the freedom fighters that fought for our struggle in South Africa,” Shimmy said. “It’s also to thank them for what they have done for the ‘Rainbow Nation’ which is South Africa. Our audience must expect a high and ener getic performance with a lot of dancing and drumming with beautiful harmonies that are coming from the heart of South Africa.“We’ll also be showcasing our different cultures and eleven official languages that we have in our country. In the show we sing in six of those. “So, people will be spoilt for choice because everything is coming.”Withthe global lockdown stopping the choir from tour ing, Shimmy said the group were chomping at the bit to show the UK what they have been“Whenmissing.Covid started we were finishing a tour of Australia, it stopped and we had to go home. We did two and a half years not working, not being on stage, not interacting with our audience and our fans. “But while we have been quiet we have been cooking something, we’ve been work ing behind the scenes so that’s what I’m saying, the show that is coming to the UK is going to be a very emotional and pow erfulExplainingone.” what being a part of the Soweto Gospel Choir means for her and how she found herself in this position today, Mulovhedzi, who is one of the choir’s managers, per forming Alto singer, dancer and now apprentice choir mas ter enthused: “I’m here to rep resent that little girl from South Africa, from the dusty roads of Soweto.“Who didn’t know that one day she would be touring the world, sharing our history, sharing our stories. Giving little girls in South Africa, that priv ilege, that hope that we can do this, we can bring the change.

Shimmy added: “I think it’s the same thing for me because I am a Manchester United fan. So for me it’s like I am coming to perform at home and it’s also what Mary said, the audience there make us feel like we are at “Whenhome. we sing, they stand up and dance with us, they give us that energy. They feel the songs and actually know the songs. What we are talking about, the freedom that we are talking about, they have been through it, they know it.”

“I’m happy that I am bring ing the change to some of the girls that didn;t even know that it does happen. There is growth in each and everything that you put your heart in. You just have to give it all.”

| THE VOICE AUGUST 202260 SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS WWW.VOICE-ONLINE.CO.UK OCTOBER 2021 • ISSUE NO. 1923 £2.50 DO YOU KNOW WHO THEY ARE? inside BORN LEADER England’s rst black captain takes his place in HallnationalofFame TV historian David Olusoga tells The Voice why these figures of Black British history should not be forgotten Celebrating Black History Month 2021 national EXCLUSIVE Find out, turn to page 3 Celebrating 25 years of OBV Seepages25to32 UK BUSINESSBLACKGUIDE 2021-22 The story of Speedy’s Delivery Service Our customers make us grow p74 Emmanuel Asuquo has a passion for finance Knowing what you are worth Uncle John’s Bakery feeding the nation A legacy of sweet bread Moses Otunla and Bleu furniture An eye for collectible furniture ISSUEOCTOBER African&Caribbean 6 Edition Digital 2021/22 A Voice Media Group Publication Vegetarian Recipes Catering Chefs Profiles Restaurant Listings RESTAURANTGUIDEFOOD & It’s easy and convenient! Support The Voice in 2022 Get it delivered directly to your door SUBSCRIBE TODAY! TATE2021MODERN JANUARY ISSUE ONE’S WATCH:TO Our tips forthe top in 2022WWW.VOICE-ONLINE.CO.UK A hasofpredictedbe the last crystalpanel turbulent forequality “thedeliver changeforward.Britain wasnew panellistentrepreneurship.activismtidechanging.” conclusionoed most seniorunion Newmessage, forceworkerstackleRead page 8 THE VOICE PANEL VERDICT:After a tough year for the blackcommunity there’s room for hope TIDE WILL TURN IN Happy New Year to all our readers 2 22 AHEADOFTHEGAME onDirectorsaysthisyear’stournamentwillbreaknewgroundinfocusingmentalhealthofdisadvantagedyoungathletesinNorthofEngland created league’s haveLeague(RLWC2021) communitiesunderlined estabLeagueuniquepartnershipsand HealthRLWC2021 will closelyMHUK partnerMovember delivermentalconversationsSeptemberas Suicide Preventionthemecampaign TogetherPrevent education seeks along needuncertain WC2021’s InspirationALL legacyprogramme Cares deliver men’s‘Movembercharity mentalthroughcommunityexpertsMovember Game’adaptprogramme Rugby ing360young‘AheadLeagueRLWC2021’sbothandorganisationssuccessfullydeliverCharter.Workingreachparentswithresiliencementalamongplayers, Planning already underway sessionsbeing start October. HealthleadalsoRugby Cares resilienceyearprogrammewhichelite performanceDELIVERED deliveredRugby professionalandclubs’scholarships(14-16-yearacademies(16-18-yearPower,RLWC2021 RLWC2021 beinitia NationalStatisticsrevealed the Leaguestrongholds Englandthementalsufferdisproportionatelycomparedfiguresdemonstrate RLWC2021Mental impact Rugby “Wecomlooking campaignsandtogetherequipknowledge,Rugby andtechniques Game’clubs“WorkingwithcommunityRugbyLeagueacrossthecountry,‘Aheadofthewillreach8,000youngathletes” PRIZES: prestigious trophies grabs RLWC21 OFSPORTNEWSPAPER COVERAGETOPSPORTS24/7VOICE-ONLINE.CO.UK/SPORTRLWC21SPECIAL APRIL onmentalhealthofdisadvantagedyoungathletesinNorthofEngland Leaguecreated RLWC2021(MHUK). Septembermentalas this invest ence Britons seniorculturejustice tle defence Mundydocumentarylmmaker, History three and theoftheirture, space commonalitieswhilsting backwardscontinue forwardyond. Co-organiserNwosu culture, and that world-renownedthe speakers, leadingexperts. being and chalfuture-facing professional Histories few thingsimportantContemporary lenges makescontributionminating experiences ons continuinginformayond.org.uk.www.blackbritainbe-about ‘Black Britain and Beyond’ virtual symposium ” here, embeddedwe’rethroughhistory,culture,contributiontackle ‘virtual’on symposiversationsposiumwiderchallenges.progress,forumand and any seniorHistory SPECIAL FEATURE OCTOBER The Nurse and Midwife Behind the Mask 12 monthly issues £38.88 ONLY! Includes package, postage and our special publications Simply contact our office on 0207 510 0340 or 0207 510 0353 and pay with any major credit/debit card. Print subscription can be also purchased by visiting our website: voice-online.co.uk/subscriptions For further information you can email: subscriptions@thevoicemediagroup.co.uk Connecting, Campaigning and Celebrating with our community for 40 years 30 Sep - 1 Oct Botis2022Seva’sBLKDOG

Rodney Hinds speaks to Shaninga Marasha, who set up the BigKid Foundation, about the work to engage and inspire young people ON THE BALL: The ofraiseandthroughyoungengagedhasFoundationBigKidalreadymanypeoplesport,hopestotheprofilegirls’football

OF SPORT

ROYAL TOUR: The Prince of Wales visits the BigKid

RH: Tell me about your first instance or experience with The Voice and when it was. SM: So that was about 14 years ago, when we won a football tour nament. We were a youth charity, we started a football programme with about maybe 12 boys from Brixton, and we were training out of Kennington Park, delivering leadership sessions like gang awareness, anti-knife. We took part in a tournament and ended up winning, and The Voice published it, which was amazing.

RH: What have been amongst the biggest challenges that you’ve faced over the years? SM: The challenge is different year on year. Most recently COV ID was a big challenge for us, but we overcame that, because we’ve got a really good team. Our pivot was really quick from lockdown and that helped us en gage with our kids, run our pro grammes and we actually grew. We went from working in two locations to nine boroughs and 16 locations post-COVID. So that was a challenge, but we turned around, we were quite resilient. Another challenge was when we first formed in 2008, it was right at the heart of the recession. We came into this line of work with no money and there was no money to look for either. We built up a Weresilience.always have fundraising challenges, especially in the age of austerity and people having fi nancial difficulties, it’s really hard to try and convince people to do nate from their pockets. There are loads of challenges like the rise of the internet. When I started doing this work about 20 years ago, there was no kind of internet bullying, none of that stuff existed. Now if a kid gets beat up or bullied or exposed, or something happens, a million people chime in. We’re dealing with a different realm of mental health issues that young people are dealing with, which is a huge challenge. What we’ve decided to do is hire our own counsellors who are in-house. They then have caseloads from the kids we work with, because when we were trying to refer them into the borough and into local authority, they just had a massive backlog. RH: Share a little bit with me about your work/association with the Prince’s Trust. SM: We’ve worked with the Prince’s Trust, the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation and Clarence House for over ten years now on a number of projects and initiatives.Oneof the most impactful in teractions we’ve had has been most recently when HRH came to Brixton to visit our youth and com munity hub (Dexters). Not only was this a great thing for our or ganisation as it was an endorse ment of the impact we have made over the last 15 years, but more importantly the young people felt a sense of pride as well as value. As one young person put it, “the future King came to see me-this is big”.Alongside visiting different parts of the centre and meeting partners and members of the BIGKID community, HRH spent 20minutes talking to a group of young leaders - which in itself was incredibly inspiring but he also exchanged stories and encour aged them to keep going and keep building. He shared a story of when he was in the sea cadets and how the uniform brought him self and the other young people together - at this point one of our young people agreed and said that the green BIGKID hoodie does the same for them, which was a very nice moment. We are immensely proud of the work we do and have a vision to end youth violence and I think continuing to work with partners like the Prince’s Trust, Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation and Clarence House we will continue to help us make an impact in our city..

VOICE-ONLINE.CO.UK/SPORT24/7

SPORTING CHANCE SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 61

SPORTS COVERAGE

THE BIGKID Founda tion was formed in 2000 by Shaninga Marasha, who — while still in sixth form — started a mentoring pro gramme for the young people at his school who were at risk of ex clusion and on their final warning. Their aim is to engage and positively impact young people through music and sport. After two years of working with 10 mentors and 10 mentees, eight out of 10 mentees remained in school and were reintroduced into the main school population. While at university, Shaninga — along with three friends — came together with a shared vision: to change the world, one kid at a time. The Voice’s Rodney Hinds spoke to Shaninga, who was awarded the Improving Young People’s Lives Award for his work with young people in 2008, about his vision and ambitions…

RH: Explain a little about the formative years of BigKid? SM: Yeah, it has been BigKid Foundation from the beginning and that was our introduction into sport. So, prior to that, we were doing a lot of music. We’ve actu ally done a full circle now, we’ll kind of do music again. We were doing music to begin with and running music work shops. We were a rap group and were teaching kids how to pro duce and how to write, then we got forced into sport by this small group of boys that grew from 12 to 150 in 12 months. We were on to something in terms of an engagement tool because prior to that, we were almost like a service provider. So, clubs and other youth clubs that bring us in to deliver workshops. We then started running our own programmes. We always look at the kids and try to find out what is going on in their lives, what’s happening. All the youth work stuff that came naturally to us, we lead with that and then on top of that, we’ve delivered really fun, high-quality sessions. We were just attracting more and more kids and the pro gramme started to grow and then the sports just took over from theThenmusic.all of a sudden, we’re delivering really good quality sports programmes, as well as our leadership programmes, which is our flagship. That’s what we actually do. Then cut to 14 years later, we’re now running football, Amer ican football, we’ve got a sailing programme, we send our kids to snow camps to do skiing, and they do tennis. We’ve got a whole bunch of sports programmes going, and it goes all the way from just grassroots participation to elite level. We do a lot of photography and videography programmes, too. It’s telling the kids that being the guy that kicks the foot ball is not the only job you can do in football. We try to nurture and encourage.

worksomeshowcasedwhereinFoundationBrixton,theyofthetheydo

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RH: Staying with football, did you find any noticeable change or upswing when Eng land’s Lionesses won the Eu SM:ros? We have our own BigKid Foundation’s Girls’ Football Pro gramme. I think there’s still a lot of work to be done around women’s football and just bringing it into the public Certainly,eye.when it comes to girls, and the women winning is great, but we need to get them to come down, there needs to be so much more in terms of workshops and training sessions and visibility. We’ve got one of our girls right now who has just signed with Portsmouth Ladies, and we’re sponsoring her. A lot more needs to be done just around raising the profile of the game, and then diversity within the game as well.

Trailblazer Butcher the disruption of the Country Championship.

RH: Do you think we’ll ever get back to seeing West Indies supporters back in cricket RB:grounds? I think we can. Again, it’s about marketing. It’s about mak ing people feel welcome. I think probably for the last 20 years West Indian supporters have not really felt welcome in the English game. Perhaps they would have been more welcome if there was a successful West Indian team as there was in the 70s and 80s. Because the teams have been doing so poorly over the last 20 years, it’s been very easy to mar ginalise West Indian supporters, West Indian young players etc. I think the England and Wales Cricket Board has an opportunity now, and it is one they should seize with all that’s happened with Yorkshire and in Scotland, and the issue of racism within sport. I think they have a golden opportunity to resurrect West In dies support in the UK. Whether they take that is another matter, but I think an opportunity is there right now.

Roland Butcher, the first black player to represent the senior England cricket team, talks to Rodney Hinds about the sport’s new formats, racism within the sport, West Indies supporters and his new project

RH: Do you feel Test cricket is under pressure as well? RB: Not in England. I don’t think so because Test matches in England are not just the game, it’s an occasion. A Test at Lord’s is an occasion when people come out and have a good time in the really fancy clothes etc. So yes, Tests are going to survive. Now if you’re playing India, you have no problems, if it’s an Ashes series, you have noAnyoneproblems.who comes to Eng land, in the summer, to play Test cricket will be well sup ported. But the 50 overs game is under threat for sure and

RH: In regards to your role in history, do you ever have time to reflect on what you achieved in RB:1981? It could have been anyone else, it just happened to be me. So, I’m very proud, very privi leged to have had the opportu nity to be that person. There are millions of black people out there, it could have been anybody. At the same time, I’m a man of faith. So I believe that it hap pened for a reason. I put my best foot forward and tried to be the best possible role model I can be. I won’t be perfect, but I can be the best I can. Now I am retired, I have more time and people now really want to have a discussion. I probably have more time now to have a discussion on what it really means to be that person. I really do the things that I want to do now, which gives me the time to really think and discuss, you know, what hap pened in my case, and what could help people in the future.

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RB: Not at all. I mean, I am not surprised by that, because eve rybody has known what has been going on for decades. The reality is that when I was playing, you didn’t have the sort of sup port you’ve got now. I think the support people have got now to speak out has come about be cause of the George Floyd kill ing and other people’s incidents in other countries, which has brought the issue to the masses. Because of that, you now have people speaking out both black, white. Years ago, you just really held your breath and car ried on because you didn’t want to be ostracised in situations be

“I have always put my best foot forward and tried to be the modelpossiblebestroleIcan”

RH: Do any of the issues com ing out of Yorkshire, Scotland and Essex surprise you?

W HEN debuthisBUTCHERROLANDmadeEnglandTestin1981, the cricketer created sporting history.Hewill be forever remem bered as the first black player to be picked for the nation’s TestAndteam.The Voice has been lucky enough to catch up with him.

| THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 202262 Sport

INNOVATOR: Roland Butcher’s batting experience at the very highest level has helped him produce a revolutionary bat that is theircricketershelpingimproveskills significantly cause if you didn’t have a voice, you could be easily drowned out. A lot of players have tolerated situations that perhaps these days they wouldn’t tolerate. Racism has been there for a long, long time. I am absolutely delighted that it’s come up. The subject has pushed its head above the table and cricket administrations around England have to really take a good look at itself and recognise that England is a multi-racial society. There’s no question about that, and their sports should reflect that fact. Sport and society must recog nise that and provide the same opportunities, but there must be

RH: What have you made of those changes that you’ve seen within the English game? Do you see them as pluses or minuses, or just something that needed to be done to get in new audiences? RB: Well, I think something needed to be done. To be quite honest, I believe the County Championship was not looked after properly and has not been marketed over the years. Now, The Hundred has come in, there is a new cash cow in town. I think it’s done and will do a lot for the female game because, suddenly, the females initially got the opportunity to play before the men’s game, so that gives them addi tionalTheexposure.risein the women’s game, globally, at the inter national level, and now fe male cricketers are also in the Commonwealth Games and hopefully the next move will be theWhetherOlympics.it’s going to be a great thing for English crick et, I think it is going to be a problem because it’s an already packed schedule.

equity and warmth as well, and cricket, as you know, is some thing that is valued in England. It is considered an elitist sport, because it’s quite expensive, and that really has to step out in front and really be the leader in ensuring that while you may still think it’s an elitist sport we have to be inclusive as well.

“I assistoncannotbecausehaveplayersbelieveshouldthebatyoujustrelycoachestoyou”

still a major force

RH: Tell me a little about your new project in terms of training bats. Where did that idea come RB:about?The training bats were really conceptualised around the year 2000. Basically, the idea came because in my game there was a technical flaw in that balls that came back into the right-handed batsman, whether it’s fast bowl ers or slow bowlers, a lot of the balls would hit on the inner half of the bat or the inside edge. It was something I couldn’t solve or wasn’t able to solve dur ing my playing career. Even though you know the reason for it is because you’re playing outside the ball, you know that, but still couldn’t stop it. That still bothered me after my career as to why I was not able to solve that, and I wanted to know how I could do something that would be able to help peo ple in the future. It wouldn’t help me now be cause it’s too late, but how can it help people who have similar problems was my thinking. So I started experimenting with various things and then came up with this particular bat in terms of shape where the in side edge was removed, and then I trialled it myself and had other people trial it and the re sults were unbelievable in terms of when people went back to play with their normal bats. At the time, I was playing club cricket and I found that it made a huge difference. Because of that, I thought to myself, ‘well, hang on a minute’, if that is true for the ball that comes into the right-handed batsman who keeps inside edging it, the same must be true for the batsman who keeps edging the ball towards slips because he’s playing inside the line of the ball, and, as a result, he’s getting the edges.Ithen decided to create the other bat where the outside edge was removed. Trialled that, same results. I sent them to Loughborough University in 2002. During that period, I had them registered in England, obviously, as my reg istered designs etc, and Lough borough University did a twoyear study and then produced a thesis, which showed everything that I thought the bats would do, did do, and more. Their conclusion was that all the players improve immensely with the use of these bats. That was the scientific confirmation that we really needed these bats as it was something that can help people. The other thing that the research revealed, which was surprising to me, was that a bowler’s accuracy improved immensely as well. That was a bit surprising, because I was not thinking at all about the bowlers because I was purely coming from a batting perspective. With everything done and ap proved, we launched the bats at Lord’s in July. The reaction to the bats so far has been very positive. It’s been distributed by P3 cricket, which is a UK manufacturer of bats. The actual bats are made with Stone Hill, which are from Paki stan, and we’ve had people from Australia and all sorts of places wanting these bats and giving good feedback. What we really have to do, is just really ‘up’ the marketing campaign, and as more and more people use it, the better. Word of mouth is probably the best way of getting this thing out anyway, and once we get the coaches using it within the sys tem, I expect that the bats will be something that not just coaches will have in their bags, but I be lieve players should have them because you cannot just rely on coaches to assist you. When you have a problem, sometimes you need to solve it yourself. So I’m hopeful how these bats will perform in the fu ture. I know they will definitely help, it is just really convincing people who perhaps are old school and perhaps not into science and technology.

RB: Of course. I mean, they have reached out to me already. I believe they can reach out fur ther because I think I can add a lot of value to what they want to achieve and definitely, if they reached out, I would be only too willing. At the end of the day, I want everyone involved in crick et to be the beneficiaries . And, of course, the West In dian population, which has been so heavily marginalised over the years, needs also to be the beneficiaries.TheAsian situation has been well looked after. The support the ECB gives to the Asian Cricket Council here, it’s phe nomenal. The ACE programme has just managed to get the programme going with some assistance from Sport England and the ECB, but in terms of fi nance they probably get about £500,000.TheAsian Cricket Council gets three times that. So I would really like to see some sort of levelling playing field, going for ward.

Sport SEPTEMBER 2022 THE VOICE | 63

RH: If the cricket authorities were to give you a call on the subject of racism and what needs to be done, is that some thing you would consider in terms of helping to assist some of the challenges that clearly the sport still has?

ROLE MODELS: Roland Butcher, left, at the statue of Sir Garfield Sobers at the Kensington Oval, Barbados; right, Butcher in action during his glittering career. Both men have made a massive contribution to world cricket

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The Voice Newspaper: September 2022

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Baroness Doreen Lawrence

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