The Voice Newspaper: Windrush Edition

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

THE VOICE | 73

WINDRUSH MINERS

Windrush 70 1948 - 2018 Souvenir Edition

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WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

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NOTTINGHAM

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35 years of championing diversity

We acknowledge the immense contribution of the Windrush Generation and their families to British society over the last 70 years.

As we celebrate this anniversary let us salute their resilience, dignity and creativity and extend our congratulations for their tremendous achievements.

It has been a privilege to produce this souvenir edition for the Windrush celebrations as a tribute to the pioneers and those who have followed in their footsteps.

The Voice is proud to have served this community over the past 35 years and will continue to be a platform for their aspirations. We would like to thank all our contributors.

The Voice is a multimedia platform with an average weekly engagement of approximately one million persons globally, covering the UK, USA, Africa and the Caribbean. It is a vehicle through which organisations effectively engage with our community.

Support the Voice Newspaper and keep connected to your community!

For convenience, subscribe and get The Voice delivered directly to your door. email: subscriptions@thevoicemediagroup.co.uk For enquiries or advertising telephone: 020 7510 0340 +

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ISSUE NO. 1837 | JUNE 21-27, 2018

Britain’s top black weekly

THE VOICE

With no family ties when he arrived on the Empire Windrush

CELEBRATING CELEBRATING

YEARS YEARS

OF CHAMPIONING OF CHAMPIONING A DIVERSE BRITAIN A DIVERSE BRITAIN

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John Richards settled at the Deep Shelter in Clapham

WHAT THE PAPERS SAID IN

1948

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WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

NOTTINGHAM

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

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JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

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MESSAGES

Windrush messages

Leading figures mark the 70th anniversary of the Empire Windrush arriving at Tilbury Docks and pay tribute to the pioneering migrants who travelled to the UK

T

HE 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks in Essex gives us a fitting opportunity to celebrate the invaluable contribution the Windrush Generation has made to British society ever since.

The Caribbean diaspora in the UK symbolises the indelible bonds between our two sets of islands.

There is no better example of that contribution than the dedication of people from the Caribbean to our National Health Service, itself marking 70 years on July 5.

Without them it would not be the institution we hold dear today, providing incredible healthcare, and envied across the world.

Those from the Windrush Generation worked in the nation’s essential industries, including public transport, the

post office, construction and the armed forces, and are central figures in many communities.

Today their children are civil servants, healthcare workers, business owners, professionals, and leading lights in music, sport and film. They are key to Britain’s success.

I doubt that there is a corner of Britain that has not been inspired and enriched by the Windrush Generation and their descendants. From their efforts in reviving our great cities after the war, to Britain’s first black MPs entering Parliament and demanding that all Britons have a stake in society.

The pioneering Caribbean racial and social justice campaigners who pushed for legislative and social change calling for a fairer Britain.

And let’s not forget the power of our sporting and cultural heroes, who through their skill,

by West Indian pioneers like Sir Garfield Sobers and Sir Viv Richards.

The Caribbean community has been integral to creating a Britain that is fairer, more tolerant and more at ease with itself in a changing world.

The real beginning of Britain’s contemporary diversity is with those first men, women and children who made the journey from the Caribbean and disembarked at Tilbury Docks on June 22, 1948.

Lord Tariq Ahmad of Life held many hardships Wimbledon - Minister of State, the Commonweath and the UN for those who arrived and the streets were certainly not ‘paved with gold’. Many were talent and discipline used their even returning to the UK havgifts to make an indelible mark ing already served here during to help create a proud, united the war. and multicultural Britain.

The fortitude shown as they There is the impact players overcame daunting challenges such as John Barnes MBE and and built successful lives and Ian Wright MBE have had on businesses for themselves and football in England. Cricket their families has come to rephas been hugely influenced resent a strength in spirit that

we continue to see today. It is an experience and spirit that I personally relate to as it is reminiscent of the challenges my parents themselves faced as well as the opportunities offered by their adopted nation.

The Windrush Generation came from several countries including Jamaica, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. The UK continues to enjoy strong relationships with these and other Commonwealth Caribbean countries reinforced by the personal ties of the diaspora.

The UK is the single largest bilateral donor to the Caribbean. Our investments are helping to make the lives of Caribbean people today better in a number of ways. Through the UK-Caribbean Infrastructure Fund, the UK is investing over £300 million in critical economic infrastructure across the Caribbean; increasing resilience to natural disasters

and climate change; promoting growth; and creating jobs.

Following last year’s devastating hurricanes, the UK contributed more than £196 million to help the region’s recovery. This includes £19 million, announced at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in April, to strengthen disaster preparedness and resilience across the Caribbean region.

We are also supporting the Caribbean’s future development and prosperity with ongoing collaboration on regional priorities such as security and fighting crime.

As we take a moment to consider this momentous occasion and its role in UK-Caribbean relations, it is my honour, as Minister of State for the Caribbean and the Commonwealth, to join in celebrating the achievements of the Windrush Generation and its legacy.

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MESSAGES

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Messages and homage to those brave, cherished pioneers H.E. GUY HEWITT, BARBADOS’ HIGH COMMISSIONER TO THE UK

A

S BARBADOS’ first London-born High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, a product of Commonwealth migration to Britain, I am officially and personally honoured to be part of the 70th anniversary celebrations of the arrival of the Empire Windrush.

The Windrush arrival should be remembered in perpetuity as the symbol of the birth of multicultural Britain.

Between 1948 and 1973, in response to the call from the ‘Mother Country’ for assistance in the rebuilding of postwar Britain, approximately 550,000 West Indians (over 10 per cent of the Commonwealth

Caribbean population) made the bold sacrifice and migrated to the United Kingdom. It is estimated that 28,000 Barbadians were part of that journey.

However, this commitment was not without peril. Many

Nonetheless, they persevered and with toil, sweat and tears played an essential role in helping to build a modern, global Britain.

Some of the many outstanding individuals who left the

“The Caribbean migrants played an essential role in helping to build a modern, global Britain” Caribbean migrants faced indescribable hostility. Some still recall the infamous Teddy Boys and the Notting Hill race riots and the signs which read, ‘No Irish, No blacks, No dogs’.

West Indies to subsequently call the UK home include nursing pioneer, Mary Seacole; broadcasters, Sir Trevor McDonald and Moira Stuart OBE; bishop, The Rt Revd Dr

Wilfred Wood, KA; composer, Errollyn Wallen; footballers, the late Cyrille Regis MBE and John Barnes MBE; train guard, Asquith Xavier; academic, Professor Stuart Hall; athlete, Linford Christie OBE; actors, the late Norman Beaton, Carmen Munroe OBE and Rudolph Walker OBE; racehorse trainer, Sir Michael Stoute and the late author, Samuel “Sam” Selvon.

It is with great regret that in the year that we celebrate this milestone, the nation found itself embroiled in the Windrush Generation scandal.

However, the resolution could be described as a modern-day miracle. In less than a week, a story that was for too long begging for attention be-

came front page news and in the process won the hearts of a nation and engaged the mind of a government.

The apology, the offer of full British citizenship and an offer of compensation are much appreciated and reflect the spirit

of the Commonwealth to work as a family and to uphold fundamental human rights.

However, there is a wider issue. As we gather to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Windrush, 50 years on from Enoch Powell’s odious Rivers of Blood speech and 25 years on from the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the incontrovertible truth is that Britain appears ill-at-ease with matters of race and migration.

Perhaps the celebration of the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury, will provide the opportunity to bring this multicultural society together and begin the process of having a truly United Kingdom.

H.E SETH GEORGE RAMOCAN, HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR JAMAICA

I

WARMLY greet readers of this Windrush 70 souvenir issue of The Voice and thank The Voice Media Group for affording me this opportunity to join in highlighting through this medium, the 70th anniversary of the docking on June 22, 1948, of the SS Empire Windrush at Tilbury.

The arrival of close to 500 Caribbean migrants, who came, settled and provided well-needed labour to assist in the rebuilding efforts of Great Britain after the Second World War, was a defining moment in the history of a multicultural post-war Britain. This ought to be appropriately recognised and celebrated. The commemoration

of this important milestone fittingly coincides with the 70th anniversary of the National Health Service and the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Nurses Association, UK, which are important links between Caribbean nurses and their contribution to the development of British society.

It is well known that many of the Caribbean nationals that arrived on the Empire Windrush were employed to the fledging National Health Service and were known to provide high quality healthcare.

On this important occasion, I am reminded of the strength, determination and resilience of the Windrush Generation and their

descendants, who struggled against the odds and triumphed over adversity to play a pivotal role in helping to shape modern British society. Their influence can be felt across various

fields such as business, education, entertainment, health, politics and religion. The Notting Hill Carnival for example highlights the crosscutting influence of persons such as the late Sam B. King, MBE, Jamaican Windrush pioneer, who was not only instrumental in paving the way for Britain’s first multicultural festival, but was a community activist and politician who became the first black mayor of the borough of Southwark.

It is indeed regrettable that despite their valuable contribution to Britain’s development, many immigrants from the Windrush Generation have been subjected to humiliation, embarrassment and injustice due to existing UK

immigration laws. We are pleased that relevant actions are being taken following the call by CARICOM Heads of Government during the recently held 2018 CHOGM. We hope that the crisis will be addressed speedily, thoroughly, decisively and fairly so that the victims of these grave injustices can feel a sense of hope and security and that their dignity has been restored.

Finally, I commend The Voice for its role in promoting understanding and preserving the important memories of the Windrush Generation. I also encourage readers to attend and support the various activities which have been organised across the UK to mark this milestone.

CLLR LIB PECK, LEADER LAMBETH COUNCIL; CLLR SONIA WINIFRED, CABINET MEMBER EQUALITIES AND CULTURE

L

AMBETH HAS been a constant and significant backdrop to the Windrush story. It was where the majority of the passengers from the Caribbean headed when they disembarked the Windrush at the port of Tilbury 70 years ago.

Many settled in the borough, building businesses, bringing up families and creating the borough we have today - proud of its diversity, tolerance and openness.

Lambeth Town Hall has played its part too and we are delighted that after extensive refurbishment it was re-opened in January this year and will be the venue for a number of Windrush 70 events including

a tea party for older residents on June 22, a special performance by the Phoenix Dance Theatre and an exhibition of Harry Jacobs’ photographs.

Music played in the town hall found new and enthusiastic audiences and became firmly entrenched in Britain’s cultural heritage. It was where the famous No Colour Bar Dance was held in 1955 and this year it was where we were delighted to welcome communities minister Lord Bourne to the launch of the Windrush70 logo and website designed by young people from the Brixton based social enterprise Champion Design.

There is a fantastic range of events taking place around the

TOUCHING TRIBUTES: Sonia Winifred, left, and Lib Peck country to mark this special anniversary and organising those events has brought people and communities together.

What’s been most inspiring in Lambeth is the inter-gen-

erational mix that has seen Young Lambeth Co-op work alongside the Windrush Foundation and others on a series of workshops, talks, and of course the Windrush 70 domi-

noes tournament in Windrush Square. The shared enthusiasm, the thirst for knowledge and understanding about the Windrush Generation and the massive impact on Britain breaks down any age barriers.

More importantly, the involvement of young people means that 2018 doesn’t just commemorate history, it keeps the legacy alive and creates new memories, new histories and heritage to share.

Lambeth has been, and continues to be, enriched by people who come and make their homes here. We are proud to have welcomed more Syrian refugee families than any other London borough and the contribution of Lambeth’s

Portugese, Somalian and Ethiopian communities enrich us all. What people bring to our borough are treasures to share - knowledge, skills and experience from their lives and other lands - recipes passed down through generations, music and stories from distant childhoods, art, literature, imagination and ideas.

Windrush 70 is not just a commemoration of a long journey made by several hundred people, but a recognition of their legacy which has changed all our lives - culturally, socially, economically and politically. As the Windrush 70 logo says, it’s part of our DNA and nowhere more so than Lambeth.

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WINDRUSH MINERS

CELEBRATING TH THE 70 ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE EMPIRE WINDRUSH IN TILBURY PLEASE JOIN US ON FRIDAY 22ND JUNE, 1PM - 6PM AT THE LONDON CRUISE TERMINAL, TILBURY

The Windrush disembarked its passengers at Tilbury in 1948 and became an important landmark event in the history of modern Britain. To mark the anniversary The Tilbury Riverside Project, Thurrock Council and The Port of Tilbury are hosting a free community event that celebrates how Caribbean culture has become a vital part of British society and transformed aspects of British life.

WHAT’S ON AT THE EVENT Movement of the People See an excerpt from the acclaimed new production for 2018 marking the anniversary of the arrival of SS Empire Windrush Royal Opera House Thurrock Community Chorus Listen to our local residents who have found their voices and are part of the Community Chorus Gary Cordice The spoken word and the story of the Windrush

And more: • Dance performances from our local dance groups: Elite and Tiny Tappers • Heritage displays • Kinetika puppet • ‘Songs of the Lower Reaches’ from the William Palmer Trust • Face painting with a carnival theme

Star Sports Can you sprint like Usain Bolt? Come along and race your friends

• A talk from an ex-crew member of the Windrush

Commedia Dancing and singing with a Jamaican flavour

FREE ENTRY TO ALL EVENTS! WWW.FORTHPORTS.CO.UK @FORTHPORTS FACEBOOK.COM/FORTHPORTSCOMMUNITY

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THURROCK

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

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16ft puppet no tall order for students and local artists THURROCK-BASED artists Kinetika have created a 16ft tall puppet of a Tilbury Docker, which will be debuted at the celebratory event.

Based on the many dockers who once worked on the docks in Tilbury, students from the Gateway Academy in Thurrock worked with Kinetika’s artistic director and puppet designer to develop an initial design. It was then finalised with further input from students on South Essex College’s Costume Construction degree course.

Thurrock celebrates Windrush milestone Action-packed community event planned to mark the 70th anniversary

B

“

Y Thames to All People of the World”, is the motto of Thurrock and it never rung more true than on June 22, 1948, when Tilbury Docks welcomed nearly 500 people from the Caribbean to their new home.

The arrival of the Empire Windrush marked the birth of multicultural modern Britain and remains of huge significance to the borough.

Ever since opening in 1886, Tilbury Docks have helped link Thurrock and Britain to the rest of the world, opening the way for trading goods and operating passenger line services.

While a number of notable people have travelled through the docks, including Mark Twain from America and George Orwell coming back from France, no passengers have ever had as significant an impact on Britain and Thurrock’s heritage and culture as those aboard the Windrush.

Indeed, the borough’s motto, which appears on its Coat of Arms, reflects the importance of the River Thames and Tilbury Docks in connecting Great Britain with the world.

CELEBRATION: The arrival of the Empire Windrush remains of huge significance to Thurrock The significance of the arrival of the Windrush has come into full focus in recent weeks as the borough and the rest of the nation prepare to celebrate 70 years since the vessel arrived from Kingston, Jamaica.

To mark the occasion locally, Thurrock Council has been working with the Tilbury on the Thames Trust, Tilbury Riverside

Project, Heritage Lottery Fund and Tilbury Fort on a free community event to celebrate the important milestone in our history.

The event takes place at London Cruise Terminal in Tilbury on June 22 (1pm to 6pm) and will celebrate Caribbean culture becoming a vital part of British society and how the Windrush gen-

eration transformed aspects of British life.

Highlights include: • An excerpt from a new dance production by Phoenix Dance (Movement of the People) • A performance by the Royal Opera House Thurrock Community Choir • Guest speakers, including the spoken word and the story of the Windrush and a talk from

an ex-crew member of the Windrush • Live music from the William Palmer Trust • Dancing and singing with a Jamaican flavour • Dance performances from local dance groups Elite and Tiny Tappers • Heritage displays • Caribbean food stalls

the Tilbury Riverside Project in hosting a special Empire Windrush exhibition over the last month.

The exhibition, which has been based at Tilbury Hub and is open to the public, featured a display of local history, stories and images of the vessel arriving at Tilbury Docks 70 years ago.

Cllr Deborah Huelin, Thurrock Council’s Portfolio Holder for Communities, said: “The arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks is not only an important part of our local heritage, but it marked the birth of multi-cultural Britain. It is important that we celebrate the contribution of the Windrush generation to our country.

“The community event planned to mark the 70th anniversary on Friday 22 June promises to be a wonderful event. I encourage residents and visitors to the borough to come along to the event at the Tilbury Cruise Terminal.”

Thurrock has welcomed many

Council backing for local exhibition Thurrock Council has supported volunteers

also and

Even prior to the arrival of the Windrush, a great many migrants disembarked onto the docks of Thurrock during its rich history.

From Bronze Age Beaker people to the Romans, Saxons (Thurrock is a Saxon word), Normans (Grays is named after the Norman knight Henry De Grey), Dutch sea wall builders and, more recently, Czechoslovakian shoe manufacturers in the 1930s, the borough has witnessed the arrival of people from across the world.

Many of the companies operating in Thurrock today are multinational, including the likes of family and household care products manufacturer Proctor & Gamble.

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THURROCK

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Agriculture to industry – the evolution of Thurrock since 1948 On June 22 1948, 492 migrants from the Caribbean disembarked at Tilbury Docks, arriving in response to adverts to help Britain in the aftermath of World War Two. Just what would have greeted the new arrivals back then and how would it have compared today?

O

NE of the first sights the new arrivals would have seen is the now-closed Tilbury Riverside station. The railway was nationalised into British Railways in 1948, becoming part of the London Midland Region. Now, after a number of changes, the line through Thurrock has been operated by c2c since 2002 and the borough is today just a 35-minute train journey from central London.

Although 70 per cent of Thurrock remains greenbelt, the borough is much more built up now and the population has significantly increased since 1948, with housing estates built at Aveley and Belhus in the 1950s in the west of Thurrock. In the east, Corringham has also expanded with new housing, while the borough is set to undergo significant growth and regeneration in the years to come, with a further 32,000 new homes expected over the next 20 years.

Thurrock was more agricultural than industrial in the Windrush era, but after the Second World War, industry began arriving, with Van Den Bergh’s margarine factory opening in Purfleet and Ford later opening in Aveley. The cement industry, which had

been in the area for decades, gradually diminished and the borough is now home to retail and creative industries. The first phase of High House Production Park in Purfleet was completed in 2010, bringing a totally different dimension to Thurrock. Facilities at the park include the Royal Opera House and the Bob and Tamar Manoukian Production Workshop and Costume Centre, a national training centre for creative and cultural skills, and Acme Artists’ Studios.

Thurrock also boasts one of the country’s leading shopping centres, Lakeside, which, together with its connected retail park, is among the largest retail areas in Europe.

In 1948, the A13 was an entirely single carriageway road. Parts of the road now have three lanes, while a further 2.3-mile stretch is set to be widened to three lanes as part of a multi-million pound Thurrock Council project, supported by the South East Local Enterprise Partnership and the Local Growth Fund, which will have significant benefits to businesses and residents.

Approval was first given for a tunnel between Purfleet/ West Thurrock and Dartford in Kent way back in 1929 and a pilot tunnel was completed in 1938, but the Second World

War meant no further progress was made until the subject was raised again in the 1950s.

The crossing was eventually opened in 1963 when the toll for cars was 2s. 6d. (12.5p) per crossing and just 11,000 vehicles a day used it. Following a huge increase in usage, a second tunnel was completed in 1980 and the Queen Elizabeth II bridge opened in 1992, with about 140,000 vehicles a day now using the crossing.

Nowadays Thurrock is well positioned on the M25, with excellent transport links into London, Essex and Kent. The borough is at the heart of global trade and logistics, with no fewer than three international ports (Tilbury, DP World London Gateway Port and Purfleet Thames Terminal) and the UK’s largest logistics park. The Port of Tilbury continues to grow, with plans to develop Tilbury 2 on the site of the old Tilbury Power Station.

Despite its growth and development, Thurrock retains a unique cultural identity, including two historic forts and many areas of wildlife and natural beauty such as Chafford Gorges Nature Park, Rainham Marshes and Thameside Nature Park.

With special thanks to Thurrock Local History Society.

FLASHBACK: The Port of Tilbury as it looked in 1948, including the now closed Tilbury Riverside Station

EVOLVED: The port is much-changed nowadays and there are plans to develop Tilbury 2 on the site of the old Tilbury Power Station

MEMORIES: South east Lakeside was still relatively undeveloped in 1948

SHOPPING: Lakeside is now part of one of the largest retail areas in Europe

What next for Thurrock?

REGENERATION: Plans are afoot to create a new waterfront destination in Purfleet

THE planned growth and regeneration of Thurrock over the next decade is expected to ensure the borough and its residents prosper for generations to come.

Immediately to the east of London, with its riverside location and strategic transport links, Thurrock is already home to some of the most exciting industries and organisations in the country, including the internationallyrenowned Royal Opera House and three international ports at the heart of global trade and logistics.

The borough is one of the largest growth areas in the UK and has major regeneration projects concentrated around six growth hubs in Purfleet, Grays, Lakeside and West Thurrock, Tilbury, London Gateway and Thames Enterprise Park.

More than 24,000 jobs will be created through the regeneration.

With 1,000 acres of land ready for business development and £20 billion of planned investment in creating jobs, homes and infrastructure, the future is certainly very bright for Thurrock.

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JAMAICA TO THURROCK

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‘This is my home – it’s where my family is and has been a good place to live’ Peter Braham followed his parents from the Jamaican countryside to the UK in the late 1950s ... and he never regretted making the move

W

HEN HE first arrived in the UK, Peter Braham couldn’t understand why his parents had chosen to start a new life in a country without sunshine, but looking back 59 years later he is glad his family had emigrated from the Jamaican countryside as part of the Windrush Generation in the 1950s.

In the 59 years since he moved here, Peter has raised a family, established a successful TV repair business, and is now happily semiretired and enjoying the fruits of his labours, all in Thurrock.

Although his family, which includes eight brothers and sisters, did not come to the UK on the Windrush itself, they were part of the same movement which answered the call for skilled workers to move from the Caribbean and start a life here.

“My dad and his brotherin-law came over in 1955 to have a look and see if they thought they could start a new

life here,” he said. “They were both carpenters and at that time Britain was calling out for skilled workers to emigrate here. After he was here a week he wrote home and said to my mum ‘We’re moving here’ and that was that - my family was starting a new life in England.

“He had flown out and mum followed him months later in 1956. He came by plane but she came on a cargo ship on a two-week voyage.

“I stayed back in Kingston for another couple of years and finally flew out to join them in 1959, just before my 12th birthday.”

When he arrived he was taken aback by how different Bow, where his parents had settled in London’s East End, was from the Jamaican countryside he had grown up in.

“I said to my dad, ‘When does the sun come up?’. It was 50s London, there was smog and it was cloudy all the time; it was all so different to everything I was used to.

“I was amazed that everything closed at five o’clock. I

“I never remember any trouble or feeling like we were treated any differently”

NEVER LOOK BACK: Peter Braham grew up in London’s East End before starting a new life with his family in Thurrock had grown up with shops open all hours and I couldn’t believe that everything closed so early. That has all changed since then but in the 1950s life here was very different.

“At the same time I felt like we had integrated straight away. We were always a part of the local community and I never remember any trouble or feeling like we were treated any differently. From the moment we landed here I never looked back and I have always felt British.”

Over the years his family moved further from the East End, first heading to Barking

FAMILY MAN: Peter with his late wife Patricia – the couple had two children

and Dagenham and then Peter and his wife Patricia moved to start a new life in Thurrock.

Peter said: “I wanted to get out of town and move somewhere with more green spaces and that is what led me to Thurrock.

I had trained as a TV repair man and once I got to Thurrock I went out on my own setting up my own business. Initially I worked from home as a mobile TV repairman and installer, then in 1991 I opened my own shop repairing TVs and selling sets and Hi-Fis.” Peter closed his business in the early 2000s and has since semi-retired in the house in

North Grays which he shared with his wife Patricia, who sadly passed away three-and-half years ago. In the time he has lived here he has seen Thurrock grow and change but has always thought of it as home.

“When I moved here it was like moving to the countryside and then the town seemed to move out to catch me up,” he said. “First the A13 then the M25 and since then there have been more houses built in places like Chafford Hundred.

“I am proud of the life we made here. This is where I raised my son and daughter. My wife was a teacher at a local school

so whenever we went out we were always meeting people who knew us - either people I had met through my business or former pupils who wanted to say hello to Mrs Braham.

“I have never looked back to Jamaica. My life is in the UK. My parents went back for a holiday in 1965, but other than that none of us have returned since we came out here in the 50s. I am pleased that my dad came here and saw that this was a country where he could build a life. This is my home – it’s where my family is and has been a good place to live and grow.”

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WINDRUSH MINERS

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LEGACY

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

The generation that changed a nation When the Empire Windrush passengers arrived in Britain, they couldn’t have imagined the huge impact they would have on this country, writes Arthur Torrington

T

HE CONNECTION between the Caribbean and Britain has been close for more than 400 years.

When Britain needed a helping hand during the war with Nazi Germany, the British appealed to the Caribbean people who responded positively.

More than 15,000 men and women volunteered to leave home and join the fight against Hitler, and thousands more served as merchant seamen.

The Royal Air Force gained more recruits from the Caribbean than any other part of the British Empire, with around 400 flying as air crew.

After the Second World War ended in 1945, most of the servicemen and women were demobbed and were obliged to return to the Caribbean.

However, the economic situation in the Caribbean was dire. They could only hope for a better life abroad and they knew that Britain needed people to help rebuild the country after the war.

The SS Empire Windrush an-

swered their hopes.

In 1948, Britain was just beginning to recover from the ravages of war.

Housing was a huge problem and it stayed that way for the next three decades.

There was plenty of un-

They knew that Britain needed people to help rebuild the country skilled work available for the ex-servicemen who decided to return to Britain after the government, faced with labour shortages, appealed for people from the Caribbean to come to “the Mother Country” and work. However, for the new arrivals from the Caribbean, the experience of discrimina-

tion was common.

But alongside the conflicts and racism, another process was taking place.

Excluded from much of the social and economic life around them, they began to develop systems that enabled them to not just survive the tough conditions but thrive.

Pardna, a co-operative method of saving common in many parts of the Caribbean, enabled them to buy their own homes.

This was a direct consequence of seeing signs on notice boards which said ‘No Irish, no blacks, no dogs’.

At the same time, they began to participate in institutions to which they had limited access such as the local councils, trade unions, professional and other associations.

Other migrants joined British Rail, the newly formed NHS, London Transport and other public transport establishments that had begun to recruit almost exclusively from the Caribbean. By the start of the 1970s, African and Carib-

HISTORIC TIMES (clockwise from top left): Windrush arrivals are welcomed by British officials; the 1970s and 80s saw the children of Windrush migrants develop a black British culture; revellers at the Notting Hill carnival in the 1970s bean men and women were a familiar and an established part of the British population, and they had achieved more than mere survival.

One indication of their effect on British life is the Notting

Hill Carnival.

The carnival took place in the same streets where they had been attacked and pursued by angry crowds of teddy boys in 1958.

As it developed and grew in

prominence, it became clear that here was a Caribbean festival where people of all backgrounds were welcome.

Also, throughout the 1970s, the children of the first wave of post-war Caribbean mi-

Many who came to Britain on the Windrush had nowhere

NEW START: A settler prepares for bed at the Clapham South Deep Shelter and the new arrivals look for work

JUNE 22 is a day on which people of Caribbean heritage commemorate the 70th anniversary of the arrival of a ship called the Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks, Essex.

The 500 men and women who disembarked at Tilbury heralded the start of a mass migration from the Caribbean which would eventually lead to huge changes in Britain’s cultural make-up.

The inclusion of the Empire Windrush’s arrival in the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony cemented its status as arguably the

country’s most iconic symbol of migration, one that highlighted the dawn of a multicultural Britain.

Not all of those who arrived were Jamaicans.

They also came from other British Caribbean colonies like Trinidad, British Guiana, Barbados, and Bermuda.

However, most had nowhere to stay during their first days in this country.

Many of the migrants who landed here had nowhere to live so the Colonial Office, a government

department which oversaw the affairs of the British government, appointed a man called Baron Baker, a WWII RAF serviceman from Jamaica, to help them.

He had volunteered for the Royal Air Force aged 19 and remained in London after the end of the war in 1945.

Baker took on the responsibility of arranging temporary accommodation at the Clapham South Deep Shelter in south London.

Baker recalled telling Major Keith of the Colonial Office: “The Air

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LEGACY

Politicians give Windrush arrivals a hostile reception

By David Gleave

grants began to develop a ‘black British culture’ which is now part of mainstream pop culture.

When the passengers of the Empire Windrush walked down the gangplank onto Brit-

ish soil they could not have imagined that they, and their children and their grandchildren, would play such vital roles in creating a new concept of what it means to be British.

AFTER THE Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury, life in Britain would never be quite the same again.

Many of those who came on that historic voyage were searching for a chance to better themselves.

Work was scarce in the Caribbean colonies after the war and the men (and some women) made the decision to come to Britain in search of employment after the British government appealed for people to come and help rebuild the country.

They paid their own fare, £28 and 10 shillings, the equivalent to about £1000 in today’s money.

But far from welcoming the new arrivals, the reaction from some MPs was, at best, lukewarm. Even before the ship had docked, various MPs were grumbling about its imminent arrival.

Manchester MP William Griffiths claimed that there were already “a considerable number of unemployed coloured men” in the city he represented.

Griffiths then urged the government to “do everything possible to dissuade these irresponsible people who are sending shiploads of West Indians to this country”.

The MP for Bolton later commented that “in the East End of London there are 300 to 400 coloured people unemployed,” although he didn’t explain how an MP for Bolton would know this and the minister responsible for labour, whose job it was to know such things, said he wasn’t aware of an issue. A group of MPs took it upon

Far from welcoming the new migrants, many MPs were critical of the decision to invite them

ADVENTURE: Windrush migrants arrive; Clement Attlee

themselves to write to prime minister Clement Attlee, stating their view that “an influx of coloured people domiciled here is likely to impair the harmony, strength and cohesion of our public and social life and to cause discord and unhappiness among all concerned”.

Attlee’s reply gave them short shrift.

He said: “It is traditional that British subjects, whether of Dominion or Colonial origin (and of whatever race or colour) should be freely admissible to the United Kingdom. That tradition is not, in my view, to be lightly discarded.”

Not every MP was hostile.

Marcus Lipton, whose constituency included Brixton, spoke of the local community making the newcomers “as welcome as possible”. And Tom Driberg, MP for Maldon

in Essex, also took a broadly sympathetic interest.

Government ministers did their best to dispel some of the ignorance being displayed. The minister for labour (Ness Edwards) said that “these men are coming to Britain at their own expense and of their own initiative”.

A minister at the Colonial Office, Arthur Creech Jones, also made it clear that the men had been warned it may not be easy to find work.

“The men concerned are prepared to take their chances of finding employment,” he said.

And workers were obviously needed to rebuild the shattered British economy.

The government was actively recruiting workers from continental Europe.

Under the European Voluntary Workers scheme, 60,586

had been recruited at a cost to the government of £2.75 million. But, although people in the Caribbean spoke English and had been educated in schools with a curriculum similar to the UK, in 1948 it seems no thought was given to recruiting from there, that came later.

Set against over 60,000 European workers, the number coming on the Windrush was small.

Yet the civil service in London was thrown into a panic about the imminent arrival of the ship which was described as “a formidable problem”.

However, the Colonial Office took up the cudgels on the behalf of the Caribbean passengers.

It is difficult to believe that anything other than racism explained the different approaches to European and West Indian workers who had recently come to Britain.

Perhaps such attitudes were widespread, but they certainly weren’t universal as a letter from “an ordinary household” that was kept on a file at the Colonial Office.

Dorothy Day, writing from Folkestone, asked if there was “anything in the way of comforts, amusements etc, which could be sent by an ordinary household” to the new arrivals on the Windrush.

In her view “it would not seem right or friendly to overlook our own fellow citizens, especially those who are living in a country strange to them and among people of another colour”.

to live. One remarkable man helped to change all that...

Raid Shelter had been used to house Italians and German prisoners of war, and even myself, when I came to London sometimes and could not find accommodation. So why not open it for the people on the Windrush?

“However, he told me to get in touch with Joan Vicars (later Dame Joan Vicars). I also got in touch with Fenner Brockway and Marcus Lipton (the then MP for Brixton).

“We had a long discussion about the situation. Finally I told Major Keith on June 22 1948, that I was

going on board the Windrush that night.

“I added that if a telegram were not sent to me to say the shelter was open, then I would tell the passengers on the ship that none of them should disembark until I got assurance.”

Continuing his account the former serviceman said: “I went on board that night, and about an hour afterwards I received the telegram.

“So it was not until the last moment that a decision was made to open the shelter. That night, the

shelter housed 236 Windrush settlers. The decision to open it was important in the making of Brixton as a multi-racial community.

“It was about a mile from the centre of Brixton and most of the settlers found lodgings in the borough.

Some of them also settled in Wandsworth, Southwark and Lewisham.”

In a book called 40 Winters On, published in 1988

by The Voice and Lambeth Council,

of the culturally diverse city that London would become.

He said: “It is a nice feeling, because when I came you could travel all over London and there was no black person to be seen. To find one I had to go to Aldgate East.

“But today, every corner I TUCK IN: Arrivals enjoy a meal at go to I can see four and five the Clapham South Deep Shelter black people.

“It makes me feel that what I’ve done in the past, Baker, revealed how he felt about and am now doing, has not been a playing a key part in the creation waste of time.”

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WINDRUSH SERVICE

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Spirit of the Windrush Bishop Joe Aldred shares details of special Abbey service

By Alannah Francis

B

ISHOP JOE ALDRED of Churches Together in England and chair of the Ecumenical planning group behind Spirit of Windrush – Contributions to Multicultural Britain, a commemorative service at Westminster Abbey tomorrow (June 22) to mark the 70th anniversary of the Empire Windrush’s landing, shares details of how the service came together.

“This was always seen as one of the various activities that would be taking place, possibly one of the few that would focus quite singularly on the Christian community and slightly wider faith community,” said Bishop Aldred.

Choosing the venue A few locations were considered but ultimately the Abbey was decided on. Bishop Aldred explains why.

“We chose to go to Westminster Abbey because we felt that the importance of the 70th anniversary of the contribution of Caribbean people of the Windrush generation was of such universal value that in fact we should take the service to the centre of national church life in Britain, certainly in England, which we feel is Westminster Abbey.”

Commemorating Windrush contributions The Windrush legacy extends far beyond the first groups of people who came over from the Caribbean on board Empire Windrush and in the immediate aftermath.

Recognising this, those behind the service were determined to ensure that young people were involved and well represented.

“We wanted a strong involvement of younger people as well as a fair sprinkling of

the first generation,” Bishop Aldred said.

The Revd Canon Joel Edwards agreed to preach, with the Very Rev Dr John Hall, the Dean of Westminster, officiating.

Themes The service was designed to explore the themes of invitation, mixed welcome, resilience and overcoming.

The need to organise the service months in advance meant that the programme was developed before the Windrush immigration scandal erupted.

However, Bishop Aldred said that the service would embrace that in some way but will be broader and deeper.

“We wanted to look more holistically at the way in which the Windrush Generation, in spite of the challenges, have massively contributed to life in this country and to give God thanks for that.”

Caribbean creativity The planning team devised a programme that celebrated a range of aspects of Caribbean culture.

The programme will include: l Karen Gibson and a specially convened 70th anniversary Windrush choir l Shirley Thompson was commissioned to write a piece of music especially for the service l A performance by Shernell Street Methodist Steel Band l Terry Duffy’s celebrated 14ft painting, Victim, no resurrection l Museumand’s exhibition on the ‘grip’, a term for the usually brown suitcases carried by people from the Caribbean on their travels to the UK l Gospel soloist Carla Jane l Young performers directed

by Roy Alexander Wise Legacy Bishop Aldred said: “Since the landing of the Windrush, there’s a significant contribu-

VENUE: Westminster Abbey, and inset, Bishop Joe Aldred tion that has been made to help building the National Health Service, as well as the field of transport, and the fields of education, sport and faith.

“I hope people will go away feeling that sense of progression, that over these 70 years we have pulled our weight and

contributed significantly to the development of British life.

“As a Christian, I’m hoping that what we will do is to give thanks to God for the strength, the resilience, and for the ingenuity that we showed in that time.”

TURN UP THE FLAVOUR WITH OLD JAMAICA GINGER BEER.

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THE VOICE | 13

WINDRUSH MINERS

14 | THE VOICE

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

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POLITICS

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‘THEY ALL LED THE Politicians of Caribbean heritage played a hugely important role in tackling racial discrimination in the post-Windrush years

By Vic Motune

W

HEN BERNIE Grant and Diane Abbott became the first Caribbean heritage MPs to enter the House of Commons in 1987, it was heralded as an event that helped change the face of politics in Britain.

Along with their fellow newly-elected MPs Keith Vaz and Paul Boateng they blazed a path for other black and minority ethnic (BAME) MPs to follow.

There were other attempts

by Caribbean heritage politicians to enter Parliament since the arrival of the Windrush Generation in 1948.

The most notable of these was made by Grenada-born Lord David Pitt of Hampstead.

He was selected as the Labour candidate in Hampstead for the 1959 general election.

But during the campaign, Pitt and his family were subjected to racist death threats.

However he refused to withdraw, eventually losing to the Conservative Henry Brooke.

Pitt stood again in Clapham in 1970 but once more the

HISTORY: The late Bernie Grant and Diane Abbott were game changers

campaign was marred by racism.

He later founded the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination, Britain’s first civil rights organisation, and entered the House of Lords in 1976 where he was influential in the passing of the 1976 Race Relations Act. So how was it possible for Grant and Abbott to succeed where Pitt had faced huge obstacles?

Their success was a journey that began with the Black Power movement of the 1960s and continued with trade union activism and communityled responses to police stop and search tactics in the 1970s and early 80s. This response led to “uprisings” in Brixton, Toxteth and St Pauls among other areas.

STRATEGIES

During the 1980s there was also a powerful network of BAME councillors and council leaders pushing for the adoption of anti-racist strategies.

For example, Grant, born in Georgetown, Guyana, was an experienced trade union activist and local councillor before going on to become the first ever black leader of a local authority in Europe, when he became Haringey Council leader.

A n d speaking about the impact of the inner city riots Abbott, the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons, said soon after her election victory that they HISTORIC: How The Voice reported the news of were a the first black MPs at Westminster

wake-up call to a Britain indifferent to the demands of disenfranchised black people.

She said: “First and foremost, it was the urban insurrection of the early 1980s that created the politics which enabled me to be an MP.” The other reason as to why they were able to break new ground is linked to their membership of the Labour Party, which enjoyed huge support among black British voters.

By the early 1980s a growing number of activists within the partyhad argued that Labour needed to be more representative of the country.

Black activists, led by key figures such as anti-racism campaigner Marc Wadsworth, argued that Labour’s black members should have the right to organise a section that had a formal voice at all levels of the party.

The Labour Party Black Sections was founded in 1983 supported by the likes of Bill Morris who went on to become the first black trade union general secretary in 1992.

Abbott, born to Jamaican parents in west London, was one of the leading figures in

the Black Sections movement along with Grant.

Soon after becoming MPs Abbott and Grant made a huge impact.

Grant established and chaired the Parliamentary Black Caucus, modelled after the Congressional Black Caucus of the United States. The organisation was committed to advancing the opportunities of Britain’s ethnic minority com-

fierce critic of the way that police used stop and search tactics and was also vocal about the way in which the education system fails children of African Caribbean descent.

Reflecting on their impact Lester Holloway, a former councillor, and now head of communications at the Runneymede Trust, said: “Politicians of Caribbean heritage played an enormous role in

“BernieGrant Grantand andDianne Diane Abbott “Bernie Abbott shook up the political system shook up the political system and demanded demanded change” change” and munities. He broadened his focus to campaign on issues in other parts of the world such as apartheid in South Africa and the development of the Caribbean region.

Abbott meanwhile strengthened her reputation as a passionate and tireless campaigner on issues that affected the black community upon entering Parliament.

The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP was a

paving the way for the wider representation of BAME communities in politics. The likes of the late Lord David Pitt and of course the legendary Bernie Grant and Diane Abbott, shook up the political system and demanded change. Many of the leading lights in the Labour Party Black Sections were either born in the Caribbean or had parents from the islands.”

Holloway continued: “There was also a major push for bet-

ter political representation that took place outside politics in the anti-racist movement, led by people like Marc Wadsworth and Darcus Howe, union stalwart Lord Bill Morris and the late academic Stuart Hall.

It was a broad movement of people of Caribbean descent uniting with people of colour from across the former Empire that created the shoulders on which today’s politicians rest.”

Despite the momentous events of 1987, calls grew for a parliament that was much more representative of the diverse, multicultural country that Britain was becoming.

That pressure grew in the 1990s. It was a period that saw a growing number of deaths in police custody for which no one was held accountable.

In addition the then Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Paul Condon, took the already strained relationship between the police and the black community to a new low in 1995 when he said: “It is a fact that very many of the perpetrators of mugging are very young black people.”

It was in this context that the Operation Black Vote

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POLITICS

FIGHT FOR CHANGE’

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Brent MP Dawn Butler; Diane Abbott addresses an anti-racist action conference in 1992; the influential David Lammy; Baroness Howells; Lord Morris; Baroness Doreen Lawrence and OBV founder Simon Woolley (Photo: Steve Eason / Getty Images); (OBV) campaign was launched in 1996, 18 months before the 1997 general election.

The campaign focused on voter registration, lobbying politicians and mentoring schemes with an overall aim to inspire black voters to engage with politicians and address the perceived inequalities in areas such as the criminal justice system, employment health and education.

OBV’s efforts galvanised major party leaders into paying attention to black voters, something that was unheard of before 1997. These efforts continued after 1997.

Last year’s general election saw 52 BAME MPs elected to the House of Commons, the highest ever figure beating the previous number of 41 in the 2015 general election.

Among their number are Caribbean heritage MPs David Lammy, Clive Lewis and Dawn Butler who are equally as passionate about social justice issues as the late Bernie Grant and Abbott, who has now been an MP for 31 years.

Many equality campaigners argue that the role played by Caribbean heritage politi-

cians is now more important than ever. Brexit has raised concerns not only about how equality law in this country may be affected but also the potential economic impact on Caribbean and African countries in the Commonwealth.

Brent MP Butler said: “PostBrexit politicians of Caribbean heritage will have a particularly important role in challenging any possible rollback of rights. We know that if any equality rights are diminished in any way it will be our diverse communities who will be most impacted. We must fight against this.”

She continued: “We can also play an important role in championing trade and closer partnerships with Commonwealth and Caribbean countries. This is what I am seeking to do as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Jamaica, identifying where there are opportunities for even closer ties post-Brexit and facilitating that.”

Issues such as institutional racism in the police force, criminal justice system, education and employment as highlighted by the Macpherson Re-

port, has shown the need for strong voices in Parliament to hold the government to account.

The role played by these MPs, and Lammy in particular, in challenging the government over the recent Windrush immigration fiasco illustrate why this is so important. The scandal saw members of the Windrush Generation lose jobs and access to healthcare and benefits because they could not prove their British citizenship. Lammy was the sub-

ject of national media attention when, in a powerful Commons speech, he accused Theresa May’s government of presiding over “a national day of shame” after it emerged that some Windrush generation members may have been deported by mistake.

May later issued an apology to Caribbean leaders and representatives at 10 Downing Street. The issue also led to the resignation of home secretary Amber Rudd.

Lammy said: “My view is that there are powerful forces

TURNING POINT: The 1981 riots in Brixton played a key role in the election of Britain’s first black MPs

in Britain that want to erase the contribution of black people to Britain. Some of them are attached to the Brexit Leave campaign, others to far right groups. It’s hugely important that we have fearless advocates for our multicultural country but also people who are prepared to speak truth to power because the contribution of Caribbean people to Britain is second to none.”

He continued: “It’s important to remember the sacrifice and the wealth that we have given to this country.

“Many of our public services would have collapsed were it not for the contribution of West Indian and Caribbean people. So we don’t come to doff our cap. We come standing as full citizens very aware of the contribution that we’ve been making to Britain for hundreds of years.”

The work of MPs like Lammy, Butler and Abbott is supported by Caribbean heritage peers in the House of Lords such as Baroness Ros Howells, Lord Herman Ouseley, Baroness Floella Benjamin, Baroness Valerie Amos and Baroness Doreen Lawrence who have

championed issues of equality and diversity.

So how optimistic should we be that a future generation of Caribbean heritage politicians will emerge? At a meeting of the British Caribbean Association last year fears were expressed that although the Windrush generation was politically engaged it was getting older and the number of Caribbean organisations with a political voice has dwindled.

OBV founder Simon Woolley understands the pessimism but remains optimistic.

He said: “The black voluntary sector used to provide a platform for aspiring activists, local councillors and MPs to express themselves and hone their talents but it has been decimated in recent years due to government funding cuts.

“Yes, I would like to see an even younger generation coming through but I do think that activism and awareness are still strong. When I look at the likes of Kehinde Andrews, Akala, Lee Jasper and David Lammy I’m assured that the flame lighted by people like Darcus Howe and Bernie Grant still burns very brightly.”

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WINDRUSH MINERS

Celebrates

THE WINDRUSH GENERATION on the

Anniversary of the arrival of

The Empire Windrush in the UK Your pioneering spirit continues to inspire others.

Thank you.

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Jamaican boy who became a Lord Mayor Roy Walters forged a career on the buses and in local politics, before holding a key position during the Commonwealth Games

By Abigail Reid

R

OY WALTERS is a quiet reserved man, but he held nothing back when overcoming the challenges to his success.

Born in a place called Mount Zion, Rock River District in the parish of Clarendon, Jamaica, to John and Keturah Walters, Roy was part of a large family of eight siblings and had what he describes as a happy childhood.

In 1958, at the age of 19 he followed the love of his life, Hylsa, to England, settling in Moss Side, Manchester. Theirs is truly a love affair that has withstood the test of time.

They met at the West Indian Sugar Company where they both worked. Roy was a research assistant. They married two years after he first touched British soil and over the years Hylsa gave birth to three girls and one boy. There are now four grandchildren and next year they celebrate 60 years of marriage.

Roy was too young to be a passenger on the Windrush, but he still remembers the vessel he eventually made his own voyage on – the Iripina.

“It was a long time ago,” he ponders as he lists all the places the ship docked – Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia, Italy, France.

This was the first time he had left Jamaica. “It was fascinating; meeting up with different people speaking different languages. We all got on board as strangers, but you tried to build up a relationship with the people sharing a cabin with you.”

He knew very little about his destination. “Someone told me a little about Englan. So I knew the houses were built near to each other, they had outdoor toilets, fire outside and lots of smoke coming out of the chimney. There was discrimination, but I didn’t experience

THE VOICE | 17

WORK: Roy the bus conductor

it directly. I saw the signs – no dogs, no blacks, no Irish and all the rest of it - but it didn’t affect me.”

An explanation for this is Roy’s positive approach to life.

“It happened, it’s gone. I’ve got a life to live and I’ve got to move on. That’s not to say we mustn’t draw attention to it in the right quarters, but it mustn’t be a barrier. I’m not going to be a victim from it.”

INVOLVED But it didn’t take long for Roy to settle into routine life up north. In 1960, he got a job with Manchester Corporation Transport starting as a conductor and working his way up to become Depot Operations Manager by the time he took early retirement in 1991.

In 1993, he was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to transport.

It was in 1962 when he was encouraged to get involved in politics that his civic life began.

“I joined the Labour Party and attended ward meetings and found out what was happening at the council. I decided I would get more involved in the future because I wanted to give something back to the community.”

True to his word, he did; serving as a magistrate from 1985 and then becoming councillor for the Moss Side Ward in 1998. But not one to rest on his laurels, Roy continued to strive forward.

“My greatest achievement was to be the Lord Mayor of Manchester during the Commonwealth Games. It was a good time and a first for Manchester. My wife supported me all along.”

Hylsa was in fact by his side, as she had always been, assisting him in his duties as the Lady Mayoress.

In 2004, Roy was the recipient of an honorary degree, doctor of laws, from the Victoria University of Manchester. And earlier this year he received Maundy Money, commemorative coins given to pensioners as part of a traditional royal service.

The event, dating back to the 13th Century, was held at St George’s Chapel – where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were married in May. Roy’s achievements and accolades are many, far too many to fit a page, but what is certain is that the list will continue to grow. He is not a man to stand still.

When asked if he ever has plans to retire home’permanently, he replies with his usual reservation that ‘you can never say never’.

“We all had a five-year plan and the five years isn’t up yet,” he laughed.

“We’re still working on it.”

HONOUR: Roy, as he is now; Roy with his wife Hylsa, left, when he was Lord Mayor of Manchester

18 | THE VOICE

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NORTH

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Five years turned into 70!

By Abigail Reid

“

T

HERE were no lows, only highs,” says Alford Gardner. His eyes dance to the memories of a long and fulfilling life, one that has clearly brought him much joy.

If I expected to find a frail pensioner who was none too quick on his feet, then the reality was far from those expectations. And while the dates might be sketchy, the details in between are as vivid as they would have been had they happened yesterday.

Alford, 92, hails from the town of Springfield located in the suburban parish of St James, Jamaica. The fourth eldest of 10 children – seven girls and three boys.

Of his childhood, he says: “It was brilliant. My dad was a policeman and when I say strict, he was very strict. Everybody was scared of him. Anywhere he was stationed people were in fear of him because he took no nonsense.

“But we grew up with love.

We all sang in the church choir and on Sunday mornings, everything had to be ready and spot on.

“We were well dressed. All momma did was look after us and anytime you came to the house she was sewing.”

Alford’s dad used to ship many goods over from the UK and when the packages arrived with new fashion magazines, he said his sisters would be dressed in all the latest styles that his mum crafted.

Alford also recalls how his best friend Dennis would whistle for him in the morn-

Ex-RAF man planned to head home to Jamaica but fell in love in Britain and stayed here your poppa’ and he gave me £50. The fare was £28.”

LOVE

Alford Gardner, 92 years old ings to go and milk the cows belonging to Dennis’ father.

When they finished milking, the best part of the milk, which was “nice and warm” would be shared between them.

It was in 1943 at the tender age of 17 that Alford’s life changed. He joined the RAF as a motor mechanic engineer. In June, he travelled to England and Dennis, who had also joined the RAF, arrived in November. When they met up in Blackpool, the first thing they did was have their photographs taken to send home.

Dennis returned to Jamaica and passed away some years ago, but Alford still treasures that photo to this day.

He was based in Gloucestershire for four years and during that time he often hitchhiked to meet Dennis in London, who was stationed in Hereford.

In December 1947, Alford returned home. He says: “The

night I returned I had my youngest sister on one leg, my youngest brother on another. With my mum and dad and siblings around me it was the happiest night of my life. I can still feel the love.”

However, it was not long after, in 1948 that Alford returned to England on the Windrush. He couldn’t find work in Jamaica and despite being a skilled motor mechanic he did “absolutely nothing at all” there. Long before the Windrush sailed from England, “a chap who worked in the government office” told Alford’s sister about it and she in turn told her brothers.

“My brother was off to Kingston in a flash to buy his ticket, but I had no money.

Momma said: ‘Ask

On the journey across to the UK, he recalls sleeping on hammocks with 12 men who occupied one cabin.

“A lot of the men were exRAF boys from Trinidad and Barbados. We knew each other from here. When we left England they went their way, we went ours. We didn’t think we’d meet again but here we were, back on the boat, back to England and we knew where we were going,” he laughs.

But despite this chance reunion all the men dispersed and “went their own way, did their own thing” when they arrived in England. They didn’t

keep in touch.

“Everybody had to fend for themselves. When we came off the boat we had a pass given to us by the RAF to travel up to Leeds, but we had to go the labour exchange to get work and then find a place to live. A lot of people had never been to England. But I’d lived in Leeds as a civilian for six months so I knew what I was doing.

“The plan was for five years and then back home. But at the end of those five years I had a family.” His voice trails wistfully at the end of this sentence and I’m left with a fleeting impression of the tug of love between his homeland and his new family in the UK. “I bought a house and settled down. A new life had begun,” he continues and his cheery laugh resonates once again.

He may not have found work ORIGINAL PASSPORT: in Jamaica, but Alford Gardner Alford was very

productive over here in the UK. His final position from which he retired was with International Harvester, which manufactured tractors.

And it wasn’t just work that he found, but former girlfriend Norma, whom he met while in the RAF. In 1952 they were married and went on to have nine children. With the exception of the child they lost, all live within close proximity to Alford who is now a widower. So, once again he is surrounded by love – the love of 14 grandchildren and 20 greatgrandchildren.

Alford’s other legacy is the Caribbean Cricket Club he founded in 1948. This year the club, located in the Chapeltown area of Leeds, also celebrates its 70th anniversary.

Alford is not yet ready for a quiet retirement. He plays bingo every afternoon. He also travels frequently to the USA to visit his siblings.

“Every year I visit” he says.

He merrily looks across at his son and granddaughter and adds: “If it wasn’t for this lot I’d probably be there now.”

Windrush stories from other Caribbean islands

THE CARIBBEAN population of the UK is scattered widely across many regions, with the highest population residing in London. However, there are also significant communities in cities such as Birmingham, Leeds and Huddersfield, to name just a few.

Moss Side in Manchester is where a significant number of people from the Caribbean originally settled, although now they are dispersed throughout the city and its wider area.

The majority of the city’s Caribbean population is of Jamaican origin, but people also originate from other islands like Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Mont-

fore. What my parents had out there was a multi-millionaire lifestyle. How many countries can you live in where you own acres of land with livestock and are able to design and build your own home?”

serrat, Anguilla, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Guyana.

Voice reporter Abigail Reid recently met with Jennifer Rouse-Burgundy, chairperson of the Leeward Islands Peoples’ Association, who introduced her to members from other parts of the Caribbean who recounted their memories of coming to the UK.

n Enith Williams (Nevis) “I was seven when I came over on a plane on my own in 1964.

My mother and father were already here. When I reached our home I thought, ‘What! Why is there a fire in the house, it will burn down’. It was freezing cold and miserable. I didn’t understand why this was a better life from what I had be-

n Ondain Williams (Nevis) (Enith’s father) “I came over here as a boy, I was 17. It was too much hard work in the West Indies.

I didn’t know what I was expecting to find here, but it was completely different to what I knew. I had never seen conditions like that. We never had such cold and snow. I got a job as a fireman and then became a driver for British Rail.” n Annette Leader (St Kitts) “When our parents came here

they were qualified and experienced professionals, but those qualifications were not recognised and they were just put to work in the factories.”

them for protection. My mum started a play scheme and the children were looked after there when the women went to work.”

n Judith Gordon (Jamaica) “I came here in 1967 with my younger sister when I was five. I lived in Bristol. My parents had already bought a house there. We lived there for many years.”

n Jennifer Rouse Burgundy (St Kitts) “My mum was a seamstress and we were always the first to have the latest fashions.”

n Versil Pemberton (Nevis) “All I remember was my dad preparing to go to work. But it wasn’t like he was going to work because he was always armed against attacks from the Teddy Boys. He had a cutlass that he would keep in the house for cutting meat, but they also used to keep

n Yvonne Bailey (Antigua) “The streets were apparently lined with gold, but we came here to find snow and fog. I worked in a restaurant, as a machinist, in a hospital and then returned to catering. We lived in shared accommodation and we would worry about who was using the bathroom first and if all the hot water would run out.”

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

THE VOICE | 19

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20 | THE VOICE

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

NORTH

By Abigail Reid

T

HE man affectionately known as ‘Whitty’ could light up a room with his presence.

Often described as humble, Councillor Whit Stennett’s true nature becomes apparent when he begins to talk. His passion for life, his drive and his commitment to principle all shine through and I see another fine example of how a man with determination is able to overcome absolutely any obstacle in his path.

Whit Stennett MBE was born in Discovery Bay, St Ann, Jamaica: “Where Columbus landed in 1492,” he adds ruefully.

His grandfather, Samuel Stennett was born just after emancipation and Samuel’s father, Prince, a pet name also given to Whit, was a slave.

Prince I claimed he was a prince from the Gold Coast.

Perhaps Whit inherited the name because both were renowned for their streak of rebellion – it was said that his great-grandfather would never accept that he was a slave. He was a quiet man, but was always fighting t h e

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

Cricket-loving scholar and a bittersweet life Trafford’s first black mayor recalls a wonderful childhood back in the Caribbean countryside establishment. Whit also had a large family – two brothers and five sisters born to William and Maud.

“Family life was fantastic, man,” he enthused. “We were land rich and money poor, but we never went to bed hungry.

“I was the youngest boy and I used to give my mum trouble.

My school teacher always used to say ‘that boy Stennett is behind that’.

My dad taught me all the skills of survival needed in a country setting. He taught me how to make a ‘gig’ or a ‘top’ (a hand-

made spinning toy), to climb a tree, make a catapult... survival.”

He becomes emotional when he talks of the respect he has for his father, who also instilled in him the importance of taking care of his sisters and ‘womenfolk’. In fact, when his father passed away in 1946, Whit took on the responsibility of taking care of his mother.

Listing his brothers by their pet names he pledged

to himself: “If Boysey don’t manage, Kiddy don’t manage, Dick don’t manage, I’m going to manage.”

His mother lived until she was almost 100 and it was Whitty who repaid her debt to Brown’s Town Benefit Building Society, now the Jamaica National Bank.

The debt was accrued when his parents were forced to secure a loan in 1944 to rebuild their home after a hurricane struck and ‘destroyed every single thing’.

“I paid off the mortgage and at the time I was man-a-yard,” he says laughing.

His dad had dreams of him becoming a dispenser and his mother wanted him to be a teacher. “But you know what Whitty wanted? To play cricket!”

And it was cricket that opened doors for him. He knew quite a bit about England from the international players he had met playing cricket in Jamaic so when he arrived here in 1959 at the age of 23 he was eager to start his new life.

“I left Jamaica, where we had a shower and a flush toilet and came here where a lot of people were still bathing just once a week in a tin pan. There was a lot of poverty.”

In England he was welcomed by his Uncle Leicester Gor-

TOUGH GUY: Whit in his gymnasium in the back yard at Discovery Bay; and main, Whit in his conservatory reading a book

“I left Jamaica, where we had a flush toilet, to come here where people were bathing in a tin pan” don, who at the time owned a shop on Moss Lane East. Whit then had a trial with Northampton cricket team, but Uncle Leicester advised him that his prospects would be better if he took a job at the post office. He still continued to play cricket.

“I played in the civil service competitions, I played the inter-department competitions, I played in the Wednesday League and it was fantastic.”

Whit also immersed himself in many community organisations and played a big role in the Jamaica Society and in December 1960 he met his wife, Gwen at the Colonial Club.

“That was one of the best things that could ever have happened to me,” he recalls softly. They now have two daughters and three granddaughters.

While working at

the post office, he attended college.

It wasn’t easy doing shift work and studying, but Whit held a vision of gaining a higher education. And that dream was realised when he was accepted at Manchester Metropolitan University in 1974 to study youth and community work.

And so emerged Whit the scholar who went on to gain an MA and self-publish a book about his life. The book, A Bittersweet Journey, recalls the highs and lows of his life.

But his achievements don’t end there. In 1993 he became the first black person to be elected councillor in the borough of Trafford, as well as the being the borough’s first black mayor.

He now enjoys his time in his garden and listening to jazz. But Whit, who still has the ‘grip’ he travelled with in 1959, will never forget where he came from.

“I want to see minority people moving in this society.

“The contributions they have made and continue to make should be valued.”

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

THE VOICE | 21

NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE

Recognising the longstanding African-Caribbean contribution throughout the 70 years of the NHS

Contributors: Professor Elizabeth Anionwu DBE and Joan Saddler OBE

T

his year marks the 70th anniversary of both the launch of the NHS and the arrival at Tilbury Docks of the Empire Windrush from the Caribbean.

We wish to take this opportunity to celebrate, recognise and value the legacy of the contribution of African-Caribbean people throughout the

period of the NHS. As we write this, three points come to mind: 1. The story of the Windrush Generation currently being played out does not reflect our total experience.

2. Many of us are descendants of, and personally connected, to the Windrush Generation in a myriad of positive ways.

3. The Windrush legacy gave rise to the successful and globally recognised NHS that we have today and which is generally thought of as a national treasure.

We want to shout out about the positive impact that the Windrush legacy created for the NHS. The creation of the NHS galvanised the ambition and passion of the Windrush Generation and other Commonwealth citizens to invest in the UK. Such experience fuelled the

post-war development and growth of public sector services.

The Windrush legacy is characterised by people who had good leadership skills, resilience and the ability, as many of them might say: “To make something from nothing”. We now call this innovation.

We wish to acknowledge and remember them for their commitment to the NHS. In this way we: • Remember our past • Celebrate our achievements and the Windrush legacy • Invest in the future

The Voice has published a special supplement to mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS. If you would like to read the supplement in full, please email subscriptions@thevoicemediagroup.co.uk for a copy.

WE PAY TRIBUTE TO

THE WINDRUSH GENERATION!

THE DYNAMIC JAMAICAN PEOPLE WHO TRAVELLED TO THE UNITED KINGDOM, TO HELP SHAPE AND BUILD THIS NATION. WE RECOGNISE THE HARD WORK AND SACRIFICES MADE TO STRIVE

ONWARD AND UPWARD!

www.PortRoyalPatties.co.uk

22 | THE VOICE

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

VIEW FROM SALUTE THE WINDRUSH PIONEERS Friday, June 22 will be an important moment in black Britain’s history as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the arrival to Tilbury docks of the MV Empire Windrush, a former German naval vessel, bringing nearly 500 Caribbean pioneers who were looking for a new life in Britain.

Little did they know that their entrance would have a major role in shaping today’s multicultural Britain.

The Windrush arrival was to be the first of many such sailings from the Caribbean to Britain bringing many more people who are now regarded as the Windrush Generation. Their contribution has been catalogued in so many ways that there is virtually no corner in Britain that has not been impacted and enriched by it.

They worked in the essential industries like the health service, public transport, the post office, construction and the armed forces. Their influence in politics, culture and sports has been integral in shaping our society.

The National Service of Thanksgiving entitled ‘Spirit of Windrush – Contributions to Multicultural Britain’ to be held at Westminster Abbey tomorrow (Friday) will be a fitting tribute to those first men, women and children who made the journey from the Caribbean and disembarked at Tilbury as well as their descendants, the Windrush Generation.

Many messages of support have come from the leaders in the country, including the Prime Minister Theresa May who said we owe much to the Windrush Generation and everyone should take the opportunity to reflect on all they did and on the achievement of those who followed din their footsteps.

The Voice is also proud to pay its own tribute by producing this souvenir edition in honour of the Windrush pioneers. Read the interviews with two of the passengers who came on the Windrush and enjoy their journey as we reflect on the achievements and contributions of the Windrush Generation.

THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE VOICE

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JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

Dotun Adebayo

I

t’s taken seventy years and a political scandal, but finally Britain is acknowledging the post-war pioneers who arrived in this country on the Empire Windrush (what a name, you couldn’t make it up) at Tilbury Docks on June 21, 1948, WITH HOPE IN THEIR EYES. This is how they got there...

One of the largest batches of passengers to leave Jamaica in peace time will sail this morning when the troop ship Empire Windrush leaves port on a long voyage to England, taking a total of 900 passengers from Kingston, is how the newspaper The DAILY GLEANER on the 27 MAY 1948 reported the beginning of a journey that a month later would represent the most significant sea voyage to these UK shores since a certain William of Normandy landed with an invading flotilla in 1066.

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

How the Windrush journey began NEW ARRIVALS: A Caribbean couple arrives in England

IMPACT Arguably the Windrush and the people on it have had a greater impact on Britain than William the Conqueror. Certainly plenty more immigrants would arrive here from the Caribbean, Africa and South Asia in the wake of Windrush than would follow from France after the Battle of Hastings. And, unlike the marauding Normans, these 1948 arrivals came in peace.

During its three days at port in Jamaica, waiting for the passengers that would make its return journey to Britain financially worthwhile after offloading the cargo it had carried westwards across the Atlantic, the Windrush became easily the most popular ship that had docked in the bustling Kingston harbour for a long time. The DAILY GLEANER of the day continues: The Royal Mail Wharf was a scene of activity and animation as sailing preparations proceeded.

RUMOUR It had all started as a rumour, the type that was enticing to hear, but no-one really paid any mind to.

It was only when T. Cooper saw the newspaper advertisements that he truly believed what the gossips were saying: “A boat is going to England and Jamaicans, as long as they had a valid passport, a signature from a Justice of the Peace saying you are a responsible citizen and a signature from the police stating that you are not a criminal, you can get a passage for 28 pounds 10 shillings.”

It was a lot of money for an average Jamaican, but a fraction of the cost of the usual fare to England.

T did not care much for going so far away from his family, but there was the promise of work in England.

“Six jobs for one man,” a friend had told him.

With that T made up his mind. He would go, stay a few years, earn some money then come back home a rich man.

He was 23 and he was from the country - St Catherine’s. He lived in a small two-roomed wooden house with a red galvanised roof, outside toilet and tin bath. They relied on the drain in the roof to collect rain water. He shared the shack with his mother and eight brothers.

His father had died some years earlier.

T was a cultivator by trade, earning most of his living from the giant rows of bamboo-like sugar cane that surrounded his dwelling. Each year when the cane had matured, T would go through the same ritual: At dawn he would ignite the undergrowth to scare away snakes and rodents that might be lurking. Then, with a freshly sharpened cutlass, hastily hack away at the crop while his brothers stacked the cut cane into tidy bundles on a cart. When the heat from the sun became too intense, T sat under a coconut tree sipping lime juice and handing out fat strips of the pale sugar cane nectar to the local children who wandered by to satisfy their palates.

Yes, England would be dif-

ferent. T had heard that the war had killed off a lot of the working population, and industry was crying out for good men.

T. Cooper left home before sunrise that morning to guarantee his place on the Windrush. The night before he had laid out his prized navy suit - the new style with slit pockets, pegged trousers and a red and gold tie and trilby hat to finish the look off nicely. He then counted out the money he had saved for the journey. It only amounted to a couple of pounds, but his mother emptied her emergency box and given him the contents. T vowed to pay her back many times over once he started work in England.

MONEY It was difficult for T to leave her. He could not wait until he reached England and was able to send her some proper money.

“Wrap up, because me hear England so cold. And don’t forget to write,” she repeated, fearing this would be the last time she set eyes on her son.

“Me see you soon, don’t worry. Me nuh stay long,” he promised.

At the end of the long pier, a grand old trooper ship stood silently on the quay. It had arrived from the Middle East. Like a gigantic wedding cake, it was made up of many layers. At its base, four rows of minuscule port holes decorated its smooth

off-white sides. Symmetrically between the round holes, were the bold letters EMPIRE WINDRUSH, LONDON. This was the vessel that was going to change lives and fortunes. Its importance was such that the military and local police had been assigned to watch over it.

PASSPORT It was early yet a flock from all corners of the island, dressed in Sunday best -- trilbies, suits and ties for the men, frilly starched dresses for the women had already begun to assemble. A stout, ebony-coloured woman sat proudly on the stone wall, trying desperately not to crumple her crimson flared dress.

Military men stood on the gangplank inspecting travel documents, others roamed around the ship randomly questioning passengers. One man argued that he had lost his passport, after giving it to a relative to hold for fear of being pickpocketed. Another tried to board using a friend’s ticket and passport. Both men were escorted off the vessel.

Finally, the funnel let out a loud groan then choked thick black smoke. The last lucky passengers scrambled on, and they were off, across the Caribbean as Jamaica grew smaller and smaller until it was just a dot on the horizon.

NEXT WEEK: After their arrival - what happened next.

Dotun Adebayo presents Up All Night on BBC Radio 5 Live on Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings (1am-5am) and the overnight programme on BBC Radio London Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings (1am-4am). He also presents the black-interest debate programme Dotun On Sunday on BBC Radio London on Sunday evenings (8-10pm).

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

THE VOICE | 33

WINDRUSH MINERS

24 | THE VOICE

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

WINDRUSH MINERS

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

The untold stories of Britain’s black miners Memories of African Caribbeans who worked in Nottinghamshire’s coal mines are being preserved for future generations to share

T

HE SAYING, ‘You are only a handshake or two away from a coal miner’, seems to resonate now more than ever before in Britain’s social, political and industrial landscape.

However, little is known about the experiences of miners of African Caribbean heritage.

Nottingham News Centre, a community interest company that aims to improve the sourcing, collating and sharing of diverse local history and community news, has set out to change that.

GRANT

In 2016, it was awarded a special grant to create a project looking at the history of African Caribbean miners and document their memories.

Norma Gregory, inset, historian and former journalist who runs Nottingham News Centre, says it was very important to preserve the history of African Caribbean miners.

Her book, Jamaicans in Nottingham: Narratives and Reflections, provided the initial starting point for publishing some of the oral histories of black miners.

Born in 1969 to Jamaican parents in Nottingham, Gregory recalls growing up seeing many black miners in her close-knit community.

“My parents grew weary of living in the crowded and notorious Hyson Green Flats in Radford and wanted to own their home,” she says.

“When I was seven, the family moved to the leafy suburbs of Nottinghamshire, and I grew up near Gedling Colliery, one of the few coal mines that employed hundreds of West Indian men, particularly Jamaican men, from the early 1950s until its closure in 1991.

“I used to walk to school and wonder what was happening over the hill tops where machines were tipping coal waste from the mine. Now I know.”

Academic research is slowly starting to awaken to the previously hidden histories of black miners throughout the UK and its importance to the wider story of British coal mining.

Many coal mine personnel records were disposed of in the late 1980s following the rapid closure of pits across the country.

Since then, oral history as a qualitative research tool, has played an increasing role in the collection and preservation of interview data.

“Hundreds, if not thousands, of ex-miners of African Caribbean heritage contributed to the economic and industrial development of Britain, during their relatively short period in coal mining history dating back to Roman times,” says Gregory.

“But why is it that their voices have yet to be heard?

Giving a sense of recognition to the contributions made by these forgotten ‘industrial pioneers’ is what I aim for and what I stand for.

“British history has failed to notice the economic, social or political effects on many black communities across the UK since the burial of the British coal mining industry.”

Black miners are now known to have worked in Welsh mines such as Deep Navigation Colliery and Maerdy Garth and Caerau Colliery in the Glamorgan area. In England, black miners have been located from Sutton Manor Colliery Lancashire, and from Dawdon Colliery in County Durham.

Gregory has discovered that 25 of the 51 collieries around the Nottinghamshire area had black miners working for them in particular Gedling Colliery,

REUNION: Norma Gregory with miners: Oswald Roberts, Carl Phillips, Councillor Vivienne McCrossen, Lincoln Cole, Andrew Nembhard; front row, Fitzalbert Taylor, Robert Johnson, Garrey Mitchell Nottinghamshire, nicknamed the ‘Pit of Nations’ due to its diverse workforce, with miners from countries such as Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, Commonwealth of Dominica, Poland, Ukraine, Italy, Ghana, Nigeria, Hunga-

“I used to wonder what was happening over the hill tops’ ry, former Yugoslavia, Cyprus, India and Ireland.

At one time it employed some 1,400 men in the 1960s, with a quarter mainly coming from Jamaica.

Around 131 men lost their lives at Gedling Colliery, including Jamaican miner Vincent Glen Nam in 1965 after

the collapse of a roof. The pit closed in 1991 and became a country park in March 2015.

“Miners would travel from 5am in the morning, waiting on the cold, smogfilled streets to hail the colliery bus provided by Skills coach company.

“They would work morning or night shifts to extract their designated nine yards of coal,” Gregory explains.

CHALLENGE “Many ex-miners are now senior citizens with recurring ill health issues such as emphysema, pneumoconiosis or ‘black lung’ (coal dust in the lungs) and chronic bronchitis.”

Working with white British and European miners was a challenge but one which many black miners managed well, despite limited prospects for more leadership or managerial work.

Garrey Mitchell, 59, whose father, Clifton Theodore Mitchell was also a miner, born in

‘COAL IN THE VEINS’: Left to right, Ex-miner Garrey Mitchell, whose father Clifton was also a miner; camaraderie was an essential part of working in the mines; Rupert Meikle, a coal miner from Nottinghamshire, in the 1950s. (Photos courtesy of David Bell and Nottingham News Centre)

Jamaica, before opening the first Caribbean food shops in Nottingham in the late 1950s, says: “We used to watch each other’s back and made sure we got on with each other.

“If miners didn’t get along, the officials would move you.

“It was a different world down there – yes ‘brothers beneath the surface’, but on ground level, it was different – things changed.”

Fitzalbert Talyor, born in 1928 in Old Harbour, Jamaica and a miner at Gedling Colliery from 1960-1985, recalls: “There were arguments and fights between men from different countries when people were careless and making mistakes over and over again.

“I can remember a Jamaican chap called ‘Greeny’ who was being hit by a Polish bloke with a ringer (a piece of iron) that releases the coal. I couldn’t believe it.

“The chargehand (supervisor) was there who should have prevented this but he just looked on. Greeny was not fighting back but he managed to bear it.

“I jumped over the stage load to stop this. Fighting was one thing you were not supposed to do down in the pit as you could be sacked immediately.”

Lincoln Cole came to the UK from Kingston Jamaica in 1957 aged 19. Cole, father of England football legend Andy Cole, was a miner at Gedling Colliery from 1965 to 1987.

Now 84, he remembers the camaraderie as a crucial necessity for teamwork underground.

“It was scary and rough” he recalls. “But if your finger hurt, there was somebody there to give you a helping hand.”

For further information please visit www.nottinghamnewscentre.com or send an e mail to: info@nottinghamnewscentre.com

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

THE VOICE | 25

LORD OUSELEY

NEVER FORGET: Lord Ousleley is a patron of the Windrush Foundation

Reflections of a peer A personal connection

“My personal connection is linked through people I worked with back in the 1970s in Brixton, in Lambeth.” [Ouseley became the first black race equality advisor in local government in 1978 and the first black policy advisor with the Greater London Council in 1981.]

“I came to this country as a child in 1957, which was only nine years after the Empire Windrush landed.

“But the connection became one when I met with people like Rene Webb who served in the Air Force, who was a veteran of the war, worked in Brixton, ran an organisation called the Melting Pot along with other colleagues who worked in and around the area. He told me stories about being part of the Windrush generation...

I also got to know people like Sam King, former mayor of Southwark.”

Rene Webb was born in Jamaica. He joined the RAF during the Second World War. After the war ended he settled in the UK and later became the secretary and chairman of the West Indian Ex-Servicemen’s Association.

Sam King came to the UK on

Although he didn’t come over on the Empire Windrush, Lord Herman Ouseley’s life has been intertwined with its story through his own journey to the UK from Guyana, the contributions he made to building a better Britain and the relationships he made with others from the Caribbean living here. He shares some of his thoughts on its legacy the Empire Windrush. He became the first black mayor of the London borough of Southwark in 1983. He also helped establish the Notting Hill carnival and set up the Windrush Foundation with Arthur Torrington in 1995.

‘We didn’t win the war for you people to come here and take our jobs and our homes’, I felt quite bad because I thought I don’t know what I’m doing here, people don’t want me here. It’s only 10, 20, 30 years later you start to understand

how many black people from Africa, the Caribbean...served in the wars and made a contribution.”

Resilience

Despite racism and the hostile environment in which he rose

Racism

Ouseley has been the first black person to hold a number of positions, as well as those previously mentioned, he was also the first black chief executive in a local authority in England and the first black executive chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality. His achievements and the context in which he made them meant that he often stepped above the parapet and experienced racism.

“When an adult said to me,

MAKING AN IMPACT: Former Southwark mayor, the late Sam King, with Baroness Boothroyd

to the top, Ouseley has had an unquantifiable impact on not just Britain’s black community but the landscape of race relations. As the founder and chairman of Kick it Out, he’s worked for 25 years to improve inclusion and equality in football.

“Resilience is obviously a quality that’s quite important when you’re up against people who may not like you, people who probably have a view that you’re inferior to them and people who have the power to treat you in a secondary way.

“I learned from others watching them that in spite of how you’re treated you work hard to better yourself, to get your qualifications, to gain experience. I always felt I was carrying a lot of baggage because people expected me –

on the one hand – to fail, and people were hoping I was carrying that banner that would be successful to allow them to come on behind me, which is what I hope has happened.”

Legacy

As a patron of the Windrush Foundation, Ouseley is helping to ensure that contributions made by black people from the Caribbean are not forgotten.

“What we’ve got to do is to keep campaigning and make sure that the researchers, the historians who have been writing British history include us rather than have us airbrushed, as we have been, out of it.

“The positive legacy has been expressed through the recent [Windrush] crisis where there has been recognition of people who came here from the Caribbean.

“Many of them had served in the war and they came back to serve the country - at a time when the country said it needed help - and gave help and settled here, worked hard, paid their taxes, made their contribution culturally, socially and economically and their families and the ensuing generations are equally doing likewise.”

26 | THE VOICE

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

NOTTINGHAM

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

Why sharing our story is so important Museumand gives a voice to the Windrush Generation and allows them to share their Caribbean history with their children and grandchildren.

It also preserves the past through people’s accounts of their life in the UK and artefacts from each decade

By Catherine Ross, founder and director of Museumand, the National Caribbean Heritage Museum

W

E SET UP the museum to give the Windrush Generation and their children and grandchildren a way to tell their stories and to share Caribbean history, heritage and culture from a black Caribbean perspective.

We’re a museum without walls in every sense and work with communities around the UK. We’ve held exhibitions and events everywhere from Caribbean takeaways and bus depots to carnivals, music festivals and schools. Wherever we go we find people have a long-held desire to tell their or their family’s story.

Many Windrush parents didn’t tell their children about the hardships they faced settling into the UK in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s – because they didn’t want their experiences to affect their children, who were in turn dealing with their own experience of being black and British. It was ‘big people business’.

We’ve heard stories up and down the country about the networks the Windrush Generation had to forge – to ensure their safety, find work and get

help with welfare issues – because they weren’t catered for by mainstream organisations Many second and third generation Caribbeans, and those with dual heritage, have told us they didn’t know about these things until they came along to our exhibition or event.

That is why it’s so important to preserve our shared social history through people’s stories and artefacts from each decade.

REPRESENTATION Understanding how life was for the Windrush Generation is vital to understanding what life was like for subsequent generations of black children growing up in Britain, and what it’s like today.

It’s also an essential part of re-examining mainstream British history and providing representation and context from black perspectives.

Especially in the current climate of ‘nostalgia’ that’s allowing right-wing rhetoric to flourish post-Brexit.

Sadly, scandals like the Windrush deportations remind us that history is rarely in the past. It forms the journey that leads us to where we are now.

The UK owes a huge debt to the Windrush Generation and through them, Caribbean history, heritage and culture continues to enrich UK society in all kinds of ways. These

HERITAGE: Members of the Windrush Generation with some of the original suitcases they used when they left for the UK unsung heroes are worthy of celebrating every day, not just once a decade.

The following extracts have been condensed with the kind permission of Caribbean Journeys.

1.‘Travelling to the United Kingdom’ — Carmeleta Burke Preparing to travel to the UK was exciting. I packed all my clothes in my suitcase given to me by my grandmother.

I remember the elegant matching skirt and top: sky blue with a stripe and the

with smoke coming from the chimneys.

I did not know what to expect. There was no gold lining the street as I was led to believe.

2.‘I miss the sunshine’ — Imogen Wallace I am from Jamaica. I arrived here in the 1960s. It was not cold, as it was in the month of May. We were coming to stay with our cousin in London, but a family friend in Nottingham said we could stay with them.

So, my sister and I came to Nottingham, for we say Lon-

“All I could see were houses that looked like factories with smoke coming from chimneys” blue and white stripe camisole. With my gloves and pearl earrings and high heel shoes I looked really nice. We landed at Shannon airport.

Because I was under age, an escort was provided for me by the travel service. I arrived on October 22, 1960 which was exciting but a little bit disappointing. It was cold, damp and grey.

As the train travelled through the countryside, all I could see were trees and houses that looked like factories

don is like Kingston. Our first week in Nottingham we went to look for a job. We were given a job, we just ask if there is any and they say, ‘Yes, come in’.

We were the first black people to work at that place.

We came here with £40 each, we paid for a room to live in.

We had the job both myself and my sister.

(With) the first week’s wages we got our coat and boots and gloves. We were welcome at the workplace, they like us.

My sister say she did not want to stay in Nottingham, so she went to London.

I stay in Nottingham. I got married, work very hard for what I had, many different jobs – some going to work in snow and frost. I fell down and had to get up and go on.

The winter was very bad

sometimes. When you try to open the door your fingers was so frozen you can hardly put the key to open the door.

Times have changed, the weather is like summer now.

I miss the sunshine but I still enjoy my life in England.

When I was in Jamaica life was not too hard, for when you have your parents to look after you they try to give you the best.

That is why when the Queen came to Jamaica and say they are short of nurses and people to help for plenty of jobs, that is why we did want to come.

I been home to Jamaica about five times. It is a lovely island but everything has changed.

3.‘Dancing in the street’ — Lenny Bedward First time I went to Jamaica was in the 1980s to help my mum with some property that her mother left to her.

When we got out there, there were some squatters in the house, so we had to go to a solicitor to see how she was going to remove them.

It was a lot of money to hire solicitors out there. It took about a year to get the squatters out.

They didn’t think anyone was coming back to the house and just took over, but my mum was paying the taxes, which helped.

I used to go to dances out there. They were different and livelier in Jamaica.

There would be dancing in the street before going into the venue. I wanted to buy records and see how the DJs performed.

We went around visiting different parishes, seeing family and hearing different music.

Kingston would have all the new stuff, but in the country it was mainly instrumental music. In the Caribbean, you have to go to church on a Sunday, and you save your best clothes.

It is more lively, they are more into singing and clapping.

The Jamaican life has two sides. Some people would think you are rich and want you to leave clothes and your shoes when you go, like you are made of gold.

I felt good the first time I went because I was going to my mum’s birthplace to see where she came from, to see where my father was from, and where we went to school.

I was fortunate to go because a lot of people only get to hear about it. It gave me a good feeling to see Jamaica.

The food is fresher. The lifestyle is very different – you’ve either got it, or you don’t.

I DJ for a sound called Quantro with my brother Kenneth, and friends Robert, Keith, Johnny, Leslie, Colin and Redman. We were the first sound to play in Nottingham’s Market Square and at the Carnival.

We’ve played with all the big sounds in the UK like Quaker City and Cosan Shocker.

That took me on a lot of journeys, I got to meet a lot of people.

My father used to bring records home and he used to lock them in the front room. The front room was the best room, for guests only.

The records were locked in what looked like a drinks cabinet but sometimes I used to steal the key and sneak in and listen. And that is what got me into music and sound systems.

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BRITISH LIBRARY

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

Windrush: Songs in a Strange Land opens at the British Library Free London exhibition features many aspects of the origins of British multiculturalism

W

INDRUSH: SONGS in a Strange Land (Jun 1-Oct 21), is a free exhibition at the British Library marking 70 years since the Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks in June 1948, carrying 492 Caribbean migrants to Britain, as well as the anniversary of the British Nationality Act 1948, which established common citizenship and enabled all British subjects to settle permanently in Britain.

Using their unique collection of literature, sound recordings, personal correspondence and official reports, the British Library will be exploring the deeper reasons why the arrival of the Windrush became a symbol for the origins of British multiculturalism.

This exhibition asks where the Windrush Generation came from – not simply geographically, but also historically and culturally, and how they shaped British society before and after World War II. Windrush: Songs in a Strange Land will place the experiences and struggles of migrants in the mid-20th century within a larger narrative of Caribbean history and decolonisation, and explore the Windrush voyage in a broader context of migration and the cultural shifts that were taking place in British society. You

can learn more about the personal stories of the Windrush Generation, including that of the Jamaican feminist poet Una Marson, who became the first black woman employed by the BBC. Visitors will also have the opportunity to listen to the sounds of the Caribbean, from jazz and calypso to the speeches of Marcus Garvey and personal reflections from

COLLECTION: The British Library, venue of the Windrush exhibition; (inset, from top left): a poster featuring Diane Williams, a volunteer from British Guiana, working in the library; a map of the Caribbean; the 1899 J J Thomas book, Froudacity; a typescript of the E R Braithwaite novel To Sir With Love (1959)

some of the first Caribbean nurses to join the NHS. There will also be a number of loan items as part of the exhibition, from Lambeth Archives, George Padmore Institute and Goldsmiths University, as well as loans from individuals with personal connections to the voyage, including the novelist Andrea Levy, whose father, Winston Levy, was a passenger aboard the Empire Windrush.

Elizabeth Cooper, cocurator of the exhibition

and curator of Latin American and Caribbean Collections at the British Library, said: “This exhibition tells a vital story, placing the experiences and struggles of Caribbean migrants in the mid-20th century within the larger historical context of decolonisation.

“Windrush: Songs in a Strange Land seeks to open up a conversation about the ways slavery, colonialism, and race have, through history, structured British identity and society – a context that is today more relevant than ever, given the recent headlines relating to the Windrush Generation. It will explore the ways that culture has been fundamental to struggles for freedom and belonging.”

The British

Library has also worked closely with Colin Prescod, chair of the Institute of Race Relations, as lead external adviser on this exhibition, as well as working with an advisory board of external experts and academics, including Arthur Torrington and Dione McDonald from The Windrush Foundation, Omar Khan from Runnymede Trust, Professor Susheila Nasta from Queen Mary University and Makeda Coaston, an independent curator.

There will also be a broad range of events accompanying the exhibition, from a Caribbean comedy week with comedians such as Kane Brown and Athena Kug-

blenu, to panel discussions and talks including an evening of poetry and readings inspired by the lives of female writers from the Windrush era and a key note lecture from historian Hilary Beckles, pro-vice chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI).

The event also marks the start of Collections in Verse, a collaboration between Poet in the City and the British Library to establish a new approach to touring exhibitions.

Over three years, Poet in the City will commission new poetry and events in Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield, Reading and Exeter libraries and community spaces that tell the story of British Library exhibitions with and for audiences outside of London.

The first stop is Leeds, where three celebrated poets of Caribbean descent - Malika Booker, Vahni Capildeo and Khadijah Ibrahim - have been commissioned to explore the legacy of Windrush in Leeds today.

Their work will be presented in creative and ambitious library takeovers, poetry busking and public installations for Leeds audiences in March 2019.

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Windrush Songs in a Strange Land Free exhibition / open daily Until 21 October © GETTY IMAGES

Londonist

Events inspired by the exhibition

Before Windrush: African and Caribbean People in Britain 1900 – 1948 Monday 2 July

Join us for talks, debate, music, literature and family activities

Windrush Family Day Saturday 7 July

British Library King’s Cross St Pancras and Euston

Race Relations: An Act? Friday 6 July

London is the Place for Me Saturday 15 – Sunday 16 September Monsieur Seven Seas: A Tribute to Derek Walcott Friday 21 September Pop Story Gi Wi: A Celebration of Miss Lou Sunday 23 September

Drums and Colours: The Early Works of Walcott Friday 13 July

Translating Cultures: French Caribbean History, Literature and Migration Monday 24 September

A Far Cry from London: The Sound of the Caribbean Voice Monday 3 September

#BLWindrush www.bl.uk/windrush-exhibition

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WEST MIDLANDS

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A charitable association With a range of events and exhibitions taking place across the region celebrating the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush in British waters, leading figures in the West Midlands have been reflecting on the advancements the Windrush Generation has made to build new lives

By Veron Graham

J

UST 10 years after the Windrush docked, pioneering activists in Wolverhampton laid the foundations of what would become the West Midlands Caribbean Parents and Friends Association.

Inez May Henriques, now 91, founded the association with the support of her late husband Granville and friends in 1958.

Starting in a front room, they broke new ground in advocacy, first helping to connect those who were isolated, enabling them to obtain passports and welfare advice.

“We had our ups and downs but we helped each other out,” said Inez, who was awarded an MBE for her services to the community in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List.

The association became a registered company with a charitable arm in the early 1960s and bought a house 372 Newhampton Road West, in Whitmore Reans, a popular new home for Caribbean settlers in Wolverhampton – for the princely sum of £1,800.

It generated income and became a base to launch its work against discrimination and injustice in education, employment and housing.

The association has survived economic downturns, still owns the house and will mark its 60th anniversary with a celebration on June 30.

journey in the social housing sector.

The Christian faith has been central to its founders and board, many of whom are from the Windrush Generation. There has been an ongoing struggle by BAME housing associations like Nehemiah to house black people, who since their arrival in numbers in the UK in the 1950s, have often experienced the most severe housing needs.

Nehemiah’s chief executive Llewellyn Graham comments: “Nehemiah UCHA was born out of Birmingham’s Pentecostal and Evangelical churches in the mid-1980s and their response to both the growing needs of an ageing AfricanCaribbean community and to the deepening problems of deprivation and poor housing

HAPPY TIMES: Original West Midlands Caribbean Parents and Friends Association members; right, the Association’s historic office base at 372 Newhampton Road West in Whitmore Reans the God of Prophecy, inspired the creation of Nehemiah and United Churches Housing As-

“We are committed to the communities and we stay true to the values of our founders” in Handsworth. On the heels of the Handsworth riots in 1981 and 1985, church volunteers, including from the Church of

sociation. Both were registered as housing associations in 1989.”

In 2018, Nehemiah is a thriv-

DEPRIVATION The struggles and determination and faith of the Windrush Generation, are documented in ‘Walls of Courage,’ which was produced by Nehemiah UCHA, the pioneering housing associaton, in celebration of its 25-year

ing community-based housing association meeting the needs mainly of African-Caribbean people in the West Midlands.

It has more than 1,100 homes in management. It has assets of more than £70m and an annual turnover approaching £7m.

Llewellyn added: “As Nehemiah UCHA looks to the future, further growth in the number of homes managed and community services delivered is predicted.

“We are committed to the communities in which we operate and this depth of our experience will stand us in good stead as we look to the coming decades. But we will stay true to the values of our founders.

‘Walls of Courage’ will be built long into the future.”

RESILIENT

YOUNG AND OLD: Inez May Henrique in 1959 and 2018

Beverly Lindsay, founder of the Birmingham-based Diamond Travel agency, spoke of the importance of aiming high and not being limited by obstacles.

Jamaican-born Beverly founded Diamond

Travel in 1987, which offers a general travel service plus insurance and wedding services. She came to England as a youngster in the early 1960s to join her parents.

She said: “Like many I thought the streets of England were paved with silver and gold. We had high hopes.

“When we saw how small the houses were, how cold it was and the way society was for many of us, there was a lot of disappointment.

“The important thing to realise is that we are a resilient people. We did not give up and made the best of situations that were sometimes bad.”

Last year, when Diamond Travel celebrated its 30th anniversary, Beverly was appointed Vice Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands, promoting charitable organisations in serving as a link between the crown, the armed forces and communities. “In this capacity, I engage and get chances to share the optimism I have for the future. I never would have thought I would one day be representing Her Majesty the Queen.

“I am proud of my community and what we have achieved in the last 70 years.

Opportunities are there for us to be whatever we want to be.”

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WEST MIDLANDS

that has helped so many

THEN AND NOW: High Commissioner Seth George Ramocan, centre, with Beverly Lindsay and the Diamond Travel team at its 30th anniversary event; above, Beverly at Diamond Travel’s offices in 1987

BUILDING STRONG FOUNDATIONS: Left, leaders from the early days of Nehemiah Housing Association; above, construction of Seacole Court in Wolverhampton; below, Sir Lenny Henry CBE with residents of Henry Court, Dudley

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MEMORIES

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

‘Tribute to our father’ A personal letter to an inspirational man - Lenworth Wright

T

O THE man who has shaped our lives and made us who we are today. A tribute to the father whose stories of the treatment he was subject to as a young man while serving in the RAF built character and resilience.

The stories of your strong

sense of cultural heritage, which instilled pride in us, made you return to Jamaica.

Your ambitions in seeking opportunities, forced you to make the decision to give up your education and make that trip back to England in 1954 on the RMS Ascania with the hope of a better life. You told

stories of your early years in a country that invited you but did not welcome you.

The ‘No Irish, No blacks, No dogs’ mantra encouraged your path to home ownership as you and your relatives lived together until each of you could afford a home for yourself.

FOUNDATION A home where you built a bathroom that did not previously exist. You put up curtains that were not the norm and you created the ominous “front room” – which was off limits to us!

Those evenings by the fireplace filled with great teachings and learnings that engendered a foundation of education coupled with an ethos of hard work.

Do you think we have forgotten those many quotes and adages that you communicated over and over again? “Read-

bhm_raf_poster1_A1.indd 1

ing, says Bacon, maketh a full man”; “The heights by great men reached...”; “When a job is once begun never leave it ‘till it’s done.”

Do you think we have forgotten how you opened our minds to what the world holds?

That globe you spun around and told us tales about the great Pharaohs and kings and queens of Africa.

You described the wonders of the world and the great city of Alexandria.

We remember our game of memory which was learning the capital of every country.

And those Friday evenings spent eating shrimp fried rice and chicken chow mein, while listening to the music of Jamaica playing on the turntable.

Although you are no longer here, your impact on us is everlasting. We only hope we can pay it forward and continue the legacy.

RESPECT: Lenworth Wright during time in the RAF, and inset left, third from top,

24/09/2017 11:44

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NOTTINGHAM

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34 | THE VOICE

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RELIGION

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

Keeping the faith in tough times Christians of Caribbean heritage have played a key role in making Britain the multicultural country it is today. But they were far from welcome in churches when they first arrived, and had to overcome some major hurdles during the early Windrush years. Despite this, the church now offers support to people from all backgrounds, writes R David Muir

I

N THE 70 years since the Empire Windrush docked in Tilbury with the first wave of Caribbean immigrants, the black church has become the most cohesive and coherent section of the black community in the UK. And the Caribbean Christian community has played a pivotal role in making Britain the diverse multicultural nation that it is today.

Caribbean heritage Christians are represented in all the mainstream churches in the UK; and Caribbean Pentecostal church organizations like the New Testament Church of God (NTCG), New Testament Assembly (NTA), Church of God of Prophecy (COGOP) and Ruach are now recognised as important ecumenical partners and players on the national religious landscape.

In fact it is fair to say that one of the major successes of the post-Windrush era is the growth and development of Caribbean churches.

In 2012 in London alone, 48 per cent of churchgoers were black Christians.

In the year of its Diamond Jubilee (2013), NTCG had 230 credentialed ministers, 108 pastors and administrators, 120 congregations and missions, 11,000 registered members, around 40,000 adherents and an annual turnover of £11 million.

Caribbean heritage Chris-

tian leaders, like Joel Edwards, Nezlin Sterling, Eric Brown (first Pentecostal President of CTE), Angela Sarkis, Esme Beswick and Joe Aldred have had prominent positions in national organisations like the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI), Churches Together in England (CTE), Evangelical Alliance (EA) and the Church Urban Fund (CUF).

Other noted leaders include Rev Les Isaacs (Street Pastors), Dr Cheron Byfield and Rev Stephen Brooks (Excell3 and Black Boys Can), Rev Phyllis Thompson (NTCG Leadership Centre), Rev Carmel Jones (founder of the Pentecostal Credit Union) Herman and Janet Allen (Hopewell School), Marcia Dixon (journalist commenting on the black church in Britain for over three decades and Voice Soul Stirrings contributor) and Bishop Derek Webley (West Midlands Police Authority) have all made significant contributions to the church and wider society.

However, this success was not achieved without struggle.

We must not forget the remonstrations from the 11 Labour MPs who, on the very day the ship arrived (June 22, 1948), wrote to then-prime minister Clement Attlee complaining about the “discord and unhappiness” this wave of Caribbean immigrants would cause. Even though two-thirds

NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH OF GOD: George Street Birmingham

“In 2012 in London alone, 48 per cent of churchgoers were black Christians”

WORSHIP: The New Testament Church of God in Bilston, near Wolverhampton

FAITHFUL: Although times were hard for Windrush migrants when arriving in Britain, Caribbean-led churches offered support of the passengers were ex-servicemen who fought for Britain during the Second World War, these MPs stated that the country “may become an open

reception centre for immigrants not selected in respect of health, education, training, character, customs”.

The Labour MPs displayed the prejudice and fear that would set the tone for the discrimination and struggles that the Caribbean community would subsequently face.

The perspectives of pioneers like Io Smith and theologians such as Robert Beckford and Joe Aldred give us a critical insight into how difficult things were for Caribbean Christians as they tried to join British churches.

Io Smith recalls a first to a British church as a new Windrush arrival: “The first place I visited was a church, but nobody said, ‘Welcome’.

“We felt a sense of rejection straight away.

“I was looking for love, warmth and encouragement. I believed the first place I would find that was in church, but it wasn’t there.”

RACIST Smith’s experience is one that Beckford recognises.

“English churches were at best paternal and at worst racist in their response to the black settlers,” he says.

And what about the future of Caribbean churches in Britain? Although we often hear a great deal about the ‘decline’ of church attendance in the UK, the Caribbean-led churches will continue to offer

spiritual succour and practical support to its members and the rest of society.

All churches face the challenges of ‘post modernism’ and will have to find better ways to communicate the Gospel, especially to young people.

But as we look back over the last 70 years there will be echoes of praise and testimonies of God’s faithfulness in the knowledge that ‘He has brought us from a mighty long way’.

Dr. R. David Muir is senior lecturer in public theology at Roehampton University and co-chair of the National Church Leaders Forum (NCLF).

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ARRIVALS WINDRUSH

JUNE 20 - 26, 2013 THE VOICE | 39

Passage Country Passage to to the the Mother Mother Country IN THIS segment of the official copy of the Windrush passenger list we get an in-depth look into the lives and careers of the men and women who came to Britain to help re-build the country.

The register records not only the names and ages but also the skills and careers of the passengers, many of whom were machinists, nurses, accountants, clerks and schoolteachers.

Some of the names of the men and women who changed the face of Britain forever

Source: The National Archives

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MDC

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

Daniel, champion of the design world Ten years on and MDC Group chief’s business continues to grow and flourish

D

ANIEL TAYLOR is the founder and CEO of award-winning interior design and build company: MDC Group.

Ten years ago we spoke to him about his journey and his extensive contribution to business in the UK, and ten years later his business continues to grow from strength to strength.

Daniel’s parents migrated from Jamaica to England in the 1950s and later had Daniel, making him part of the Windrush Generation and an exemplary example of its success.

His journey started in his bedroom in 1998 where he had the ambition of running one of the world’s leading design and build companies, thus birthing the MDC Group.

Twenty years later, Daniel has proven to be exactly what he had hoped. He has dedicated his life to developing a business that could stand

strong in an ever-growing industry and turbulent economic climates offering bespoke solutions for office workplace problems.

Daniel has led his team to win a number of globally recognised clients including: MTV, Skype, Boeing, Facebook and Norwegian Air; and has also picked up a number of awards along the way. All in all, his success reflects the hard work, dedication and persistence of a man who was committed to breaking every barrier and every glass ceiling.

Admirably, as he has done that he has also ensured that

he lifted others in the process.

Daniel is involved with a number of charities and organisations that work with a range of people, including young BAME people.

He dedicates his time, knowledge and finances to supporting them.

Needless to say that Daniel Taylor is not only a role model, but also a true inspiration to our children and generations to come.

Everything that Daniel has managed to achieve in the world of business, as a black British man of Caribbean descent, is worthy of praise.

SUCCESS STORY: The MDC Group team proudly holding The Voice article from 2008

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HERITAGE

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

FINDING OUR FAMILIES Maya and Levi embarked on a mission to find out more about their heritage, documented by the BBC in a touching Newsround special

By Leah Sinclair

T

O MARK the 70th anniversary of the Empire Windrush’s arrival in the UK, BBC Newsround embarked on a nationwide search for children to take part in their special programme about Windrush migrants.

The programme, entitled Finding My Family: Windrush a Newsround Special, followed the journey of two children Maya and Levi - as they travelled thousands of miles to Barbados and Jamaica for the very first time to discover why their grandparents took the decision to start a new life in the UK all those years ago.

While the young children got to experience the famed sun, sea and sand of the tropical islands, they also set out on a journey to understand what it was like to grow up in the Caribbean and also have three special missions to complete before making the long journey back to England.

We spoke to both Levi and Maya about their respective journeys as well as what it means to be black British and Caribbean.

Levi is from the West Midlands and of Jamaican and British descent. He travelled to Jamaica alongside his mother, Valencia, where he set out to discover more of his roots in the Caribbean island.

The Voice: Hi Levi! What made you decide to take part Finding My Family: Windrush a Newsround Special?

Levi: I decided to take part

in the show because I really wanted to find out about Windrush and why my grandad decided to leave such a tropical country to come to England.

Also, I wanted to know why he would leave all of his family behind to come and start one here with his wife.

“I’ve learnt to really think about the struggles that people have faced” The Voice: How much did you know about the Windrush Generation prior to taking part in the show?

Levi: I didn’t know a lot about Windrush prior to the show.

All I knew was that it was about boats, but I didn’t know when it occurred and what my family had to do with it.

The Voice: What did you learn about your family and you’re origins in Jamaica that you didn’t know before?

Levi: I learnt that my grandad had to leave his wife and son to come to England and that my nan had to leave her son to come to England with my granddad and the hardships they had to go through.

The Voice: What was the most important message you took away from your trip?

Levi: I think the most important thing I took away was that I now understand more about my family and I can relate to them better – especially my grandad.

Also, I realised all the hardships that not only my family went through but what many families went through when they came to the UK from the Caribbean.

The Voice: Now you had three missions you had to complete on your trip, including to find something your grandad loved.

Did you face any challenges while completing your missions?

Levi: Most of them were relatively easy to do but finding the church my grandad went to as a child was difficult.

It was hard to find exactly where the church was as it was all the way up in the mountains. But when I did finally get there it was so welcoming to me and it was just a lovely little church.

The Voice: Lastly, what would you like people to take away from watching the show?

Levi: I would like people to think about people and how hard it was and still is to make that change.

Meanwhile this is what Maya had to say...

The Voice: What made you decide to take part in the show?

Maya: I heard my mum talking about it and I thought it’d be a really great opportunity to see some family I’d never met before.

ALL SMILES: Maya and her mother Jenny as they begin their journey to Barbados The Voice: What did you learn about your family and you’re origins in Barbados that you didn’t know before?

Maya: I learnt that my family built some of the roads in Barbados, I learnt what time they came to England, what it was like the first time they came over, what my grandad would’ve suffered, too.

The Voice: What was the most important message or thing you took away from your trip to Barbados?

Maya: I’ve learnt to really think about people a bit more and to think about what struggles they would’ve faced.

To think they came over here, and they would have suffered a lot of racism and discrimination against them.

The Voice: What was your favourite part of the trip?

Maya: Meeting one of my cousins for the first time, who I’m quite close to now. I can officially say I made a new friend while I was out there.

The Voice: What’s your favourite thing about being Caribbean?

Maya: The food is amazing!

But also the people and the history I love. I get to learn a lot more about it now. I learn

a lot about being British at school but I don’t hear much about being Caribbean but it’s good that I know more now about my heritage instead of just learning about England.

The Voice: What would you like people to take away from watching the show?

Maya: I‘d like people to have a greater understanding of what people had to suffer, it wasn’t easy for people to leave everything they knew to come to a foreign country to do better and get some work for their future generations and I want people to really understand that.

THUMBS UP: From left, Levi enjoys the Jamaican waters; with his mother, Jenny; sampling food at a local school; Maya in Rihanna Drive – formerly Westbury New Road – in Bridgetown, Barbados

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MEMORIES

My memories of a pioneer Zena Burland’s father was one of the young men who arrived on the Empire Windrush in June 1948. Here she recounts how he found life in Britain

I

N 1948 my father was one of the many young black West Indians who arrived on the Empire Windrush that docked at Tilbury.

He, with many others, came over to England to help with rebuilding Britain after the war. Many women and children came as well. My father had joined the RAF in Jamaica, so he already had a role to play.

White British people treated my father and others like him shamefully – name calling, slamming doors in his face, not allowing him in bars – even though he was wearing the Queen’s uniform.

He met and married my white English mother here. I was born in 1950 and due to my father being in the RAF we were posted to Egypt. I was

“Who the hell does he think he is marrying a white woman?”

Then it was my turn. “What a pretty little thing. Pity she’s a half caste”; “You can’t play with me. My mum says you’re dirty”; “How do you comb her hair?” The horrid insults went on and on.

CRUEL

FATHER: Laurieston Davis christened with the water from the River Nile.

Not long after that my sisters were born and then two brothers. There were difficulties as I grew up in a world where I constantly heard “What is that woman doing with that n****r

Later dad was posted to north Devon to the RAF base at Chivenor.

Dad was a stickler for making sure we were kept busy. He would give us essays to write or sums to do – and this was during our summer breaks!

It felt like this was cruel and unnecessary, but now I realise it was his way of keeping us safe, away from those who would accuse us of doing

something just because they would remember the black face in a crowd. That was easy in Devon.

Dad continued to serve in the RAF and after 22 years he came out. He was awarded the British Empire Medal for his services to the RAF. He got a job with the Ministry of Overseas Aid and Development in London and then later he worked with the housing department of the North Devon District Council.

Like so many who arrived on the Windrush, he was smart from the very day he arrived in Britain. He died at the early age of 45.

A week later his appointment as a magistrate came through the post; this would have made him the first black magistrate in Devon.

FAMILY OUTING: The Davis girls during a day out in Barnstaple

UNISON-PROUD TO CELEBRATE WINDRUSH 70TH ANNIVERSARY

U

NISON is proud to celebrate the contributions of the Windrush generation’s 70th Anniversary of long, hard working and dedicated service to rebuilding postwar Britain. Many were and are members of UNISON, working in the public services and the newly created NHS, also celebrating its 70th Anniversary.

We thank them for their magnificent work and we celebrate their legacy in enriching British Society.

We are outraged by the Government’s callous and shameful mistreatment of them.

They deserve better.

UNISON joined the campaign to protect the Windrush generation, with Dave Prentis, General Secretary condemning the “Kafkaesque immigration system that demands impossible evidence from those who rightly consider themselves to be British citizens.”

UNISON will be campaigning for justice for the Windrush generation, defending their right to be treated with dignity and respect, protecting their British status, full compensation and restoration of their rights both individually and collectively and will provide support to members facing deportation or immigration issues.

We are also pleased Michael Braithwaite had the courage and strength to speak out, challenging this injustice and turned to his branch and union, UNISON for support. Together we are stronger.

Any UNISON members who are affected by the Government’s immigration policy, including retired members, can contact the union for assistance at:

Policy@unison.co.uk Gloria Mills UNISON

40 | THE VOICE

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

PEOPLE

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE: Changing a nation From children’s TV presenter to member of the House of Lords and university chancellor, the Trinidad-born star has lived a life less ordinary...

By Monifa Bobb-Simon

A

T A TIME when race relations in Britain were a world away from the diversity widely appreciated today, Floella Benjamin and her family emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago to Britain. It was 1960.

With fond memories of her childhood, Floella said: “I loved being brought up in a culture where I was happy, joyful and full of enthusiasm for life.

“I was born to wonderful parents. My dad showed us there was a world out there and to go out and capture it and my mother was the force behind the whole family.

“She showed us how to get there and she gave us the confidence to do that.”

Arriving in the UK at the age of 10, the youngster was propelled into a world of daily abuse and racial prejudice.

Floella recalled the battles she endured where she was seen as just a colour instead of a person.

“In the first four years of my life in Britain, every day was a confrontation because I couldn’t stand the injustice of having to face racial aggression. I wouldn’t let anybody get away with it because I’m a fighter, and I do not lose a

fight,” she said. At 14, Floella had a breakthrough when she experienced her first spiritual moment. “I realised I couldn’t win the battle with my fists or violence, it had to come from within. That spiritual moment opened my eyes to use my smile and my brain. I learnt to smile because I can face adversity with a smile.”

Despite her success in Britain, almost six decades on Floella said: “I always say it’s tough being black but you have to use it to the best of your ability. Life is never easy.

“Every day is a tough battle because of the colour of my skin. The colour of my skin will stay with me until the day I die, I never forgot where I’ve come from.”

The Birth of Baroness Benjamin Through her efforts to make a difference in children’s lives, Floella has worked relentlessly to make the world a better place for children.

“I feel I’ve been put on this earth to channel through thoughts and goodness for other people. I feel as if I’ve got a mission and a sense of purpose in life. It makes life joyful,” she said.

In 2010, she took her seat in the House of Lords as Baroness Floella Benjamin of Beckenham for the Liberal Democrats.

Her journey into politics she says was “purely because I’ve always spoken out. I’ve campaigned for so many different things and Nick Clegg heard me speak.”

A few months later she was asked by the Liberal Democrats to represent them on the House of Lords benches because of her passion and strong beliefs affecting children.

Her title came from a memory of one of the many occasions that her family was subjected to ignorance and racism in 1960s Britain.

Floella said: “My mum said we were going to live in Beckenham and one day we went to visit a house when all of a sudden, we heard sirens.

an honour bestowed upon me,” she said.

“In the 60 years since I came to Britain, things have changed and I’m seen as someone who has changed Britain in a positive way, working with children doing the things that

“I may no longer be fighting with my fists, but I’m still fighting for justice and fairness” “The neighbours had called the police to say that black people were stealing the fixtures in the house. On that day, mum said we are going to live here, we are going to buy this house and she lived there for 40 years.”

She added: “My mother and father died a year apart from each other and I went to the cemetery and I said, ‘mummy, daddy I’m going to claim Beckenham for you and I am going to call myself Baroness Benjamin of Beckenham’.”

Memorable achievements: “I wished my mum and dad were here to see their daughter.”

Across her remarkable journey, Floella has achieved some of the highest accolades in the land. “I was the first AfroCaribbean woman to become a chancellor in this country in 2006 and I’ve just been asked

by The City of London to have

I believe in. I may no longer be fighting with my fists, but I’m still fighting for justice, for fairness and I will stand up to anybody. I’m not afraid to say that, I’ve always had no fear.”

She recalled one of her many encounters with Her Majesty, the Queen. “She came to Exeter during her Diamond Jubilee and me being the Chancellor I had to host her, take her around and introduce her to everybody,” she said.

She continued: “At lunch together, we exchanged stories and I told her how I was treated when I came from Trinidad and about the adversity I had faced. I told her that I don’t feel hate in my heart or resentment. After all these years, sitting with her was an incredible moment.”

Media – watched by the world With a remarkable career history in British media, Floella’s

life in front of the camera is best known for presenting Playschool, the legendary children’s television series. Her presence in TV highlighted the importance of having a black woman on screen and the significance of representation to children everywhere.

Having always been outspoken, on one occasion Floella had questioned her Playschool producer as to why there were only white illustrations in the production and asked for black, Asian and Chinese faces.

Floella said: “From that day, children’s programmes changed. That’s why children’s BBC is so much better because that producer listened.”

Impacting greatly on various forms of media, Floella has also spoken out about children’s literature.

“It’s the same for books, I told all the publishers in 1982/83 I’m representing millions of children in this country when they don’t see themselves in books and we need to change that,” she said.

At the forefront of championing representation, Floella has also broken barriers for women. “I feel that the nation trusts me because of how I’ve conducted my life.

“I say to any young woman wanting to get into media, act with morality, integrity, be the person others can trust and know you do it the hard way. If you are going to do something, you work at it.”

Chancellor of Exeter University Floella’s tireless efforts to make the world a better place for children saw her receive an honorary degree, a great accolade from Exeter University.

She said: “Because of the impact I’ve made to the lives of people in this country, they gave me the degree.

“To get an accolade for the academics I said, ‘Wow, I’ve hit the jackpot!’ I talked about the meaning of life for children and for that speech I got a standing ovation.”

Floella’s powerful words left a lasting impression as just six months later, she was asked to be a Chancellor of Exeter University.

She said: “For 10 years I did every summer graduation ceremony and I hugged everybody and I told them to go out and change the world, to go out and make a difference, go out and be a superhero.

“I told women to never compromise their beauty. As a woman you might be tempted to do things the easy way, don’t. Do it the right way.”

Floella continued: “During my time at Exeter, I could be a role model for everybody.

“I didn’t see my role as Chancellor as just something to be proud of because I had a purpose.

“When I left they put up a statue of me and I am the only living black woman to have a statue at Exeter.”

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WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

THE VOICE | 41

PEOPLE ROLE MODEL: Far left, in her role as Chancellor of Exeter University, Floella hosted the Queen on a visit – a statue was also put up of Floella to mark her time at the university; centre, in her days as a presenter on children’s TV show Playschool; left, in her role as Baroness Benjamin, of Beckenham

Windrush: “Windrush day is a specific focal point for British history and the people who came to make Britain great.”

“I want Windrush to be a celebration. Windrush to me is so important because there are many children, from the Caribbean especially, who don’t feel as if they belong.

“That’s why I’d love a Windrush Day so that children who grow up not knowing about their history and culture start believing in themselves.”

Thinking back to her childhood, Floella said: “In school, we stood up every day in the

playground and sang God Save the Queen and Land of Hope and Glory. I knew everything about British culture, British heroes and British history.

“I knew nothing about my heritage because they didn’t teach you that in schools. They didn’t teach Caribbean children that their ancestors were strong survivors.

“The 70th anniversary to me is a celebration of all that is wonderful and great of what we, as Caribbean people, have given to this country, to society, to the world.”

She continued: “We have helped save Britain. Our ancestors worked hard in the sugar

and cotton fields as enslaved people to make this country great. That’s why I want a Windrush Day because although we have Black History Month, often it’s things about America.

for June 22,” she added.

After winning a Gold Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show, Floella said: “The Windrush Garden for us is a beginning of the celebrations.”

On Twitter, she wrote: “Still

“Windrush is a celebration of all that Caribbean people have given to this country” “It should be a day of recognition. To put it in Black History Month, for me it’s a copout. I want it on the calendar

in a state of euphoria after winning an #rhschelseaflowershow gold medal for my #WindRushGarden, who would have

thought.”

She thanked all those who had worked so hard to make her dream come true.

The iconic ship featured little 3D models of passengers, a guitar made of flowers representing Lord Kitchener and the sounds of calypsonian music.

Transplant Links: “It is so worthwhile because every time we save a life we rejoice because it’s so easy to do.”

Floella is a patron for the life changing charity, Transplant Links. She often travels to the Caribbean with the organisation to work with medical professionals who perform kidney

transplants. She said: “Many countries in the Caribbean have a high percentage of people who have kidney failure.

Over the last 10 years, we’ve performed several operations in Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica and we save lives.”

She continued: “It’s a great charity that I am proud to be part of. NHS doctors and nurses volunteer their time to go to the Caribbean to perform these operations.

“We leave a legacy behind, it’s always making sure that they understand the new techniques. Every day I feel blessed that I can save lives and that’s what these operations do.”

‘I want Windrush Garden to create a lasting legacy’ “I AM SO delighted that my RHS Chelsea Windrush Garden has been awarded a Gold Medal.

“Two years ago I came up with the idea to create an RHS Chelsea Garden to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury in 1948.

“It was Birmingham City Council who took up the challenge and have been brilliant in constructing a show-

piece display which captures all the symbolism and vibrancy of both the Caribbean and of the Britain the Windrush pioneers found here in Britain.

IMAGINATION “The garden has really captured the imagination of the visitors to the Chelsea Flower Show and has demonstrated all the immense contribution Caribbean people have made to the wonderful country.

I wanted to involve children in the display and around its base are drawings and paintings depicting how youngsters interpret the Windrush story.

“I hope it will create a lasting legacy for generations to come and give the Windrush generation and their families a sense of pride in their achievements.”

— Floella Benjamin OBE

EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENT: The Windrush Garden, which won gold at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, celebrated the anniversary of the Windrush landing back in 1948

42 | THE VOICE

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NOTTINGHAM

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WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

THE VOICE | 43

MEN

Looking back on Windrush men During the decades after the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948, many Caribbean men began to make an impact in various areas of life. Some of these men would take on the British establishment and fight for any cause to better the lives of the black community. Here George Ruddock looks at three giants who have left a lasting legacy

B

ERNARD Alexander Montgomery Grant was born on February 17, 1944 in Georgetown, British Guiana, now Guyana, the son of two teachers, who named him after two Second World War generals.

His father, Eric, was a headmaster and, later, principal of a teachers’ training college.

His mother, Lily, was a highly respected teacher, both in Guyana and in Haringey.

Grant was one of five children and spent three years at his father’s primary school in Ituni. Later, aged nine, he attended Sacred Heart Roman Catholic School, in Georgetown, winning a scholarship to St. Stanislaus College, where he studied before joining his parents in England.

In 1978, he became a fulltime area officer for the National Union of Public Employees, NUPE (now UNISON), LORD David Pitt of Hampstead, medical practitioner, politician and campaigner, was the longest serving black Parliamentarian, having been granted a life peerage in 1975.

He spent his life speaking out for the under-represented black community in Britain.

David Thomas Pitt was born October 3, 1913 in St David’s, Grenada. He attended Grenada Boys’ Secondary school and was raised a devout Roman Catholic.

In 1932 he won Grenada’s only overseas scholarship to attend the prestigious medical school at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

After graduating with honours, he returned to the West Indies in 1938 and practiced medicine in St Vincent and Trinidad.

In 1943, Pitt helped found the West Indian National Party in Trinidad and served as its president until 1947 when he decided to return to live in Britain and settled in Euston, where he established a medical practice that he ran for more than 30 years.

He is, perhaps, best known for his passionate interest and involvement against racial discrimination and for equality of esteem of individuals irrespective of race, class, creed or colour.

He faced the cutting edge

was one of the first three Black MPs in the Commons, with Diane Abbott and Paul Boateng, alongside Asian MP Keith Vaz. He made his mark almost immediately by wearing traditional West African ceremonial dress at the State Opening of Parliament, wanting to signal the change he intended to represent, as well his pride in his ancestry.

BERNIE GRANT

representing local authority and health workers. Finding racism endemic within the trade union movement itself, Bernie then founded the Black Trades Unionists Solidarity Movement, and worked for it between 1981 and 1984.

Grant joined the Tottenham Labour party in 1973, and held numerous positions before being elected a councillor in 1978. He attracted support in the community for his campaigns against racism in education, in policing, as well as within the council. Within a year he was deputy leader of the council. By 1985 he had become the leader of Haringey

LORD PITT of racism in the two parliamentary elections he fought, in Hampstead in 1959 and in Clapham South in 1970.

In both cases it is generally held that race was a major factor in the rejection of his candidacy. He was not deterred, but he was angry, and all the more determined to serve the people with whom he had such affinity.

He was at the forefront of campaigning for the Race Relations Acts of the Labour government and against the same government’s 1968 East African Asian Acts that removed the given right of East African Asians to exercise their rights as citizens and enter Britain. “ “You can’t hold these two views at the same time,” he said. “If we believe in outlawing racial discrimination at home we can’t do it by saying `Keep them out’.”

Those who saw Pitt as a Black Power revolutionary sought to justify that view when he formed CARD (Campaign Against Racial Discrimination).

FIREBRAND

Council, the first-ever black person to hold such a position in Europe.

Grant attracted intense and often racially tainted criticism in the press and media, but considerable support from local people. In the same year he won the nomination for the Tottenham Parliamentary Those who regarded him as an Uncle Tom sought to justify that view when, during a rally against racism in Trafalgar Square, he called for more blacks to join the police force.

He knew what he was saying and what he was asking. He knew it would anger many of the younger blacks whose experience of the police was racist and alarming.

But Pitt argued strongly that one of the ways to change institutions was to get inside them and he felt this particularly about the police.

He played an important role in the anti-apartheid struggle.

He kept his connection with the Anti-Apartheid Movement from its inception right through the difficult periods until South Africa had its first democratic all-race elections.

In 1975, Prime Minister Harold Wilson appointed Pitt to the House of Lords as Lord Pitt of Hampstead.

According to Pitt himself, however, his most valued honour was his election as president of the British Medical Association from 1985 to 1986, a position few general practitioners achieve.

After his death in December 1994, many lamented that Pitt “should have been the first black Labour Member of Parliament.”

seat by ousting the sitting MP, Norman Atkinson.

The disturbances on Broadwater Farm Estate in 1985, brought him to national prominence, as he defended the youth against police harassment.

Elected to Parliament after the 1987 general election, he DARCUS Rhett Radford Leighton Howe, the broadcaster, writer and activist once described himself as having come from Trinidad on a “civilising mission”, to teach Britons to live in a harmonious and diverse society.

His aims were radical, and he brought them into the mainstream by articulating fundamental principles in a strikingly outspoken way.

Born on February 26, 1943 in Moruga, the son of Lucille and Cipriani, Howe spent his early childhood in Port of Spain attending some of the most elite schools in the Caribbean.

He first came to Britain aged 18 to train as a barrister, but he gave up law studies in favour of Black Power politics and radical journalism, and returned to Trinidad.

After meeting Malcolm X in 1965 and Stokely Carmichael two years later, Howe was involved in campaigns in New York, Canada and Trinidad. But it was upon his return to Britain in 1970 that he made his mark. He organised, with Althea JonesLecointe and the British Black Panthers, a campaign in defence of the Mangrove restaurant, a popular cultural meeting place in Notting Hill run by his friend Frank

As a working MP he quickly maintained his reputation as a firebrand, backing demands for black sections in the Labour party, urging rebellion against the poll tax, and defying convention by disrupting the Chancellor’s Budget speech in 1988.

He criticised his party when it overlooked all black applicants for the Vauxhall byelection in 1989 and fielded a white candidate. Grant almost

DARCUS HOWE Critchlow. When police attempted to close it, Howe came to his friend’s aid, organising a march.

Entirely peaceful until the police intervened, it led to a spontaneous melee, the melee to arrests, and the arrests to the biggest Black Power trial in British history.

For 55 days, Howe and Jones-Lecointe led the defence of the Mangrove nine and demanded an all-black jury. The judge rejected this, but the nine had stamped their authority on the case and not only won their acquittal, but forced the first judicial acknowledgment that there was “evidence of racial hatred on both sides”.

In 1973, Howe established the Race Today Collective, a semi-political party which published a magazine called

trebled his majority in the 1992 general election, and stood for the deputy leadership of the Labour party. Returned to Parliament again in 1997, he was appointed to the Select Committee on International Development, and he was the only MP amongst those appointed to the Home Secretary’s Race Relations Forum in 1998.

Grant made it a priority to reach black communities throughout Britain, often conducting exhausting speaking tours. He campaigned against discriminatory policing methods and unfair immigration control, about deaths in custody, institutionalised racism in health, housing and education, for refugees’ rights, and for greater resources for inner city areas.

By the time of his death from ill-health in April 2000, the outspoken activist was seen as a statesman of great integrity.

Race Today that was used to pubilcise the group’s campaigns. One of its biggest followed the New Cross fire in 1981 in which 13 black young people died after a suspected racist attack in south-east London.

More than 20,000 people, the vast majority of them black, marched through London in protest at police and media indifference.

Despite oppressive policing, scuffles were rare.

But the backlash was swift.

Swamp 81, a huge escalation of stop and search, attempted to reassert police control over London’s black community.

Tensions reached breaking point, leading to the three days of rioting in Brixton.

From then on, Darcus argued, no longer would black people simply complain about white power – they would confront it head on.

Howe went into TV from 1985 and also wrote a column in The Voice. He later teamed up with the NHS and Channel 4 to bring attention to the issues around prostate cancer after being diagnosed with it in 2007.

Howe died on April 1 2017.

Windrush

A

s we commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the arrival of HMS Windrush and the brave pioneers who left their homes and families in the Caribbean to forge a new life in the “Mother Land”, it is important that we acknowledge not only their struggle, but the huge impact they, and successive generation of Caribbean people and their descendants have had on this - Our Country.

salesman, Mr Hogarth, expanded into Leicester. The business relocated to its current site in 1980 and Mr Lamont’s sons, Tony and Patrick joined after leaving school. I joined in 1983 after 13 years with the Midlands Electricity Board and together we devised a plan

added Kwiksave, Budgens, Aramark (HMPs),Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons to our list of customers.

The Lamont family exited the business in 2009, having played an important role in its development.

1948 - 2018

S a l u t i n g th Windrush 70

Most of our original staff was part of the Windrush generation, many of whom remained with the company until their retirement and I am immensely proud that a significant percentage of our current workforce has been with us in excess of twenty years.

In the early days the struggle centred primarily on the 3As - Acceptance, Accommodation and Awful food. Those of us who had to endure school diners in the 1960s will appreciate exactly what I mean. Seasoning consisted of “Salt & Vinegar” which you could take or leave, the choice was yours.

We at Sunrise Bakery are proud of the part we played in augmenting our presence in this country and of the contribution the Windrush, and post Windrush generations have made to the great diversity that is now the modern Britain.

CELEBRATING SUCCESS: (l-r) Darrell Grant, Tobi Omojolaibi and Errol Drummond, Managing Director

In 1966 my father, Herman Drummond and his friend William Lamont rented a small “lock-up” at the back of a row of shops on Bearwood Rd in Birmingham and started making Hardo Bread, Buns and Bullacake, which they supplied to shops in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley. In 1967 their deliveryman/

to move the business to the next level.

With the impetus and energy of youth we quickly expanded our geographical area to include London, Manchester, Bristol and other major cities with a sufficiently large Black demographic. By the end of the decade we were ranged in selected Asda stores and subsequently

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all our staff, customers, friends and other stakeholders who have supported us over the years. As a people we have so much to be proud of, but as recent events have shown, we cannot afford to become complacent.

Happy 70th to us all and spread the love.

Sunrise Bakery, Woodlands St, Smethwick B66 3TF Phone: 0121 565 1647 www.sunrisebakery.co.uk

www.sunrisebakery.co.uk

Windrush

Being the enterprising people that we are it wasn’t long before shops sprung up in our local areas selling a range of imported foods, such as yams, breadfruit, mangoes etc.

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WOMEN

Looking back on Windrush women Many Caribbean women left an indelible mark on British culture, taking on the British establishment and fighting for causes that would influence change and better the lives of the black community. Clayton Goodwin takes a look at the legacy of three prominent figures who will always be remembered by future generations

C

LAUDIA JONES is the most honoured Caribbean woman to have lived in the United Kingdom (Mary Seacole excepted). She came here from the United States into a community which was enduring economic disadvantage and discrimination in housing, employment and social opportunity.

From her American experience, and her own determination, Claudia had the leadership drive to give that community a voice and a sense of identity.

She lived generally in poverty, poor health and facing hostility, dying a lonely death through heart attack and tuberculosis aged only 49 years on December 24, 1964.

Claudia Vera Cumberbatch – the name Jones was adopted later – was born in Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad on February 21, 1915 and moved with CONNIE MARK had a powerful presence which she put into full effect in whatever activity she was committed – and they were many.

Whether it was campaigning for recognition of West Indian ex-service personnel or for Mary Seacole, phoning into local London radio as “Connie from Shepherd’s Bush”, reading her poetry, telling her stories, presenting beauty contests, or encouraging the West Indian cricketers with vocal support from the stands at the Oval, Connie let everybody know what she was doing and why she was doing it.

Others may have thought along the lines of Mrs Mark but few – well, none, actually – were as prepared to commit themselves. My last recollection of Connie is of her making her point forcefully in at meeting at the West Indian Ex-Servicemen and Women’s Association premises in Clapham just a few days before her death on June 3, 2007 at Charing Cross Hospital following a stroke.

Constance Winifred McDonald BEM, MBE was born in Rollington Town, Kingston, Jamaica on December 21, 1923. She attended Wolmer’s Girls’ School and in 1943 joined

VISIONARY: Claudia’s promotion of festivals proved an inspiration behind the Notting Hill Carnival

CLAUDIA JONES her family to New York nine years later. Raised in poor circumstances with limited prospects, Claudia started work in a laundry. She joined the Young Communist League USA in 1936 attracted by their support for the Scottsborough Boys (a celebrated case in which black youths were accused falsely of raping two white girls).

Achieving prominence as a

CONNIE MARK the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), working for the Royal Army Medical Corps as a secretary in the British Medical Hospital, Kingston.

Connie made her first mark as a campaigner fighting – this time unsuccessfully – for the full pay she considered to be her due on her promotion to corporal. In 1949, she signed for further service in the Women’s Royal Army Corps, and three years later married Jamaican fast bowler Stanley Goodridge with whom she had two children. When her husband was given a pro contract at Durham she moved to England to join him.

After separating from Stanley, Connie remarried to Michael Mark.

She continued her career as a medical secretary and became involved in community work.

On joining the West Indian Ex-Servicemen’s Association she agitated for the word

communist, black and feminist campaigner Claudia fell foul of the then “un-American activities” hysteria. Following a spell in jail she was deported to the UK, after Trinidad had refused to accept her, in December 1955.

“Women” to be added to the title, and pressed for recognition of West Indians and Africans who had fought for Britain in the world wars, participating regularly in the annual Remembrance Day parade at Whitehall.

Connie was belatedly awarded the British Empire Medal for her own war service for which she had been recommended while she was still in Jamaica.

More than anything, however, Connie’s name is associated with the Friends of Mary Seacole (later the Mary Seacole Memorial Association), which she founded in 1980, the achievements of which included the memorial service on the centenary of Seacole’s death the following year and the maintenance of her gravesite at Kensal Green Cemetery.

The fact that Mary Seacole’s name, which hitherto had been almost forgotten, now requires no additional words of identification owes much to Connie’s persistent advocacy.

The Nubian Jak Community Trust has installed in her honour a blue plaque at the Mary Seacole House in Hammersmith, her own former home. Six years before her death Connie Mark was awarded the Order of the British Empire.

The tension here, leading up to the riots which broke out at Notting Hill in 1959, hastened the need for action. The previous year Claudia had founded the West Indian Gazette (WIG), the first black newspaper to be published on a regular basis, PEARL CONNOR has been more significant than any other individual in developing the image of Caribbean people in this country as it has been portrayed in mainstream film, television, the stage and fashion.

Her entertainment agency, which for a long time was based at Hammer House, home of the horror film industry, was on Wardour Street right opposite the genuinely legendary Marquee Club.

She was helped in her office by June Baden-Semper, whose sister, Nina, co-star of the ground-breaking television comedy Love Thy Neighbour, was just one of the many successful entertainers and models Pearl represented. You name a successful performer of that generation – and Pearl has promoted them.

Yet because so much of what she did was behind the scenes Pearl’s name is unknown to many people today. That was not due to her being a shrinking violet because Pearl was as determined as anyone in achieving her dream for herself and her people.

She was born Pearl Cynthia Nunez on May 13, 1924 at Diego Martin in Trinidad. Af-

to promote racial justice and foster a feeling of consciousness in the community. WIG, produced from an office above a barber’s shop on Brixton Road, suffered from lack of finance but “punched above its weight” by campaigning on

PEARL CONNOR ter she had moved to London she met and married folksinger actor Edric Connor in 1948. Pearl put on hold her own aspirations to qualify in law while she managed her husband’s career. Together in 1956 they founded The Edric Connor Agency which shortly after his death in 1968 was re-named the Afro-AsianCaribbean-Agency.

Pearl trained at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama and gained broadcasting experience with the BBC General Overseas Service. In 1961 she was instrumental in setting up the Negro Theatre Workshop, one of the first of its kind in the country.

Five years later the workshop represented Britain at the first World Festival of

both local and international issues. Wishing to heal the divisions resulting from the riots, and to provide a platform for West Indian culture and entertainment, Claudia staged a festival in the Trinidadian Carnival style at St Pancras Town Hall in January 1959 which was televised by BBC. Through the WIG, Claudia promoted/inspired similar festivals at other locations throughout central and west London. They provided an important tributary to the foundation of the Notting Hill Carnival just two years after she had died.

Claudia Jones is honoured by, among other things, a blue plaque at the corner of Tavistock Road and Portobello Road acknowledging her as the ”Mother of Carnival in Britain”, her portrait on a national postage stamp in 2008, and burial close to her hero Karl Marx in Highgate Cemetery.

Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal.

Pearl was not reticent in taking on the powers-that-be in television, the theatre and modelling: if she thought that a job could be done by a black person, she said so and knew just the person to recommend to do it.

Three years after Edric’s death she married Joe Mogotsi, leader of the South African singing group The Manhattan Brothers with whom she organised world tours for black South African entertainers. Nor was Pearl without honour in her own country because in 1972 she was awarded Trinidad and Tobago’s highest order, the Humming Bird Silver Medal, for “outstanding services to the immigrant community in the United Kingdom”.

When we last met – on a television set for actor Rudolph Walker’s This Is Your Life in 2000 – Pearl Connor-Mogotsi was indeed la grande dame of Caribbean cultural activity with awards too numerous to mention.

More were to be added before she died on February 11, 2005 in Johannesburg, where she was visiting for the premiere of the film Sophiatown.

46 | THE VOICE

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

NOTTINGHAM

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

June 2018 marks 70 years since the arrival of SS Empire Windrush in England. After the devastation of the Second World War, the UK government identified a gap in the labour market and the need to reconstruct its economy. Large numbers of workers from the Caribbean emigrated and fulfilled Britain's call during the period 19481968, which is often referred to as the ‘Windrush’ period – their purpose for coming to the UK was to work. Advertisements in the Jamaican paper – The Daily Gleaner – offered cheap passages to England for as little as £28 (about £1,000 in today’s money). Despite worries about the cold, wet climate and whether they would be met with open arms or violence, on the 24th May 1948, people from the Caribbean boarded the SS Empire Windrush which had set sail from Australia, stopping in Jamaica to pick up servicemen who were on leave from their units. She anchored in the River Thames on the 21st June 1948 at Tilbury Docks and on the 22nd they disembarked to begin their new lives in Britain.

The new arrivals were met with unease; many only intended to stay in Britain for 5 years. Despite the hardships of settling into a new country, the experience of racism both at work and in their new communities, the people of the Caribbean have contributed greatly to the welfare of this country. Before their arrival here, they were fighting and dying in battle for the United Kingdom, they have worked to boost her economy, cared for her people and produced some of her greatest athletes, and today they continue to do so. We are all proud of the contribution people of the Caribbean have made to British

society; let us also consider how we care for our veterans and the legacy we will pass on to the younger generation.

In September 2018 we celebrate 65 years since the New Testament Church of God was established in England and Wales. As men and women from the Caribbean came to England, they had strong Christian beliefs, but soon realised that they were not welcomed by many of the indigenous churches. Many of these men and women formed their own congregations and this inevitably led to the establishment of Black Majority churches. This was a fundamental step in nurturing migrant people from the West Indies and helping them to settle in this unfamiliar environment. Soon, dedicated members resolved to establish churches. First, they congregated in homes, then halls and eventually in buildings. The New Testament Church of God (NTCG) in England held its first public service at the YMCA Centre, Stafford Street, Wolverhampton, on Sunday 20th September 1953 under the direction of Bishop Oliver A. Lyseight and Bishop Herman D. Brown. On the evening of the same day, Bishop G.A. Johnson, Revd Enos Gordon and other believers began a fellowship in Handsworth, Birmingham. They were the first two NTCG congregations in the UK. NTCG currently has over 120 branches and 30,000 adherents across England and Wales.

To God be the glory – great things He has done. We thank Him for the journeys made by our veterans and the foundation that has been laid that we can be here today.

E: mmcc@ntcg.org.uk

Thanks to the Kingsway Project www.kingswayproject.org

Reclaim your Caribbean heritage and honour your ancestors

CARBERRY RESEARCH Family History Researcher & Family Finder Service

Call or contact us via our website AGRA Associate Member & Member of the Society of Genealogists

FREE CONSULTATION Family Tree Projects Tailored to Your Requirements

Mobile: 079 5611 9214 Website: www.carberryresearch.co.uk Email: enquires@carberryresearch.vpweb.co.uk

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WINDRUSH MINERS

NEHEMIAH

CELEBRATES THE WINDRUSH GENERATION Nehemiah UCHA’s aim is to provide and develop high quality housing and services for the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities of the West Midlands.

Nehemiah UCHA now has 1,100 homes across Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall.

Nehemiah was born out of Birmingham’s Pentecostal and Evangelical churches in the mid- 1980s and their response to both the growing needs of an aging African- Caribbean community – the Windrush generation. Now the association specialises in providing high quality accommodation and support packages for elders from the BAME community, the provision of good, affordable housing for families, couples, single people as well as older people is the platform from which the association has committed itself to the community at large.

The association is also committed to developing innovative programmes, which bring lifelong learning into the community or create sustainable employment and training opportunities that satisfy the needs and aspirations of Black and Minority Ethnic residents.

1-3 Beacon Court, Birmingham Road, Great Barr, Birmingham B43 6NN T: 0121 358 0966 F: 0121 358 0934 E: info@nehemiah-ucha.co.uk W: www.nehemiah-ucha.co.uk

48 | THE VOICE

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

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PEOPLE

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

SHARING WINDRUSH S BORN TO CARE: Vinnette Fuller came to the UK in 2002 after attending the National Academy Nursing School in Jamaica

To mark the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush and the large number of Caribbean people who migrated to these shores, we speak to members of the generation who helped build the nation

By Leah Sinclair

T

HE 70TH anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush is bittersweet for many. While the year should mark a time of celebration for the Windrush Generation’s contribution to the British economy and culture, it is marred by the ongoing scandal and treatment of those who made Britain what it is today.

Those citizens, who travelled a lengthy journey from the Caribbean to the UK, should be celebrated and their stories documented to gain a full understanding of the trials and tribulations, successes and failures that they went through.

During a visit to the Learie Constantine Centre in northwest London, we got to do just that, as we sat down with those of the Windrush Generation to hear their stories.

Phil Sealy MBE JP Barbados-born Phil Sealy MBE, right, relocated to England with the prospects of pursuing his career in nursing.

“I arrived in the UK in February 1956. I was a student nurse at St. James’ Hospital in Balham,” he said.

While studying nursing, Mr Sealy witnessed the racism and segregation that many Caribbean migrants were faced with.

“My biggest shock when I came to England was not just the weather, but the people and how little they know about Caribbeans and their attitudes. Also it was interesting in social circles to see how people were treated,” he added.

“If you went to church, you

were welcome but if you went too often they were encouraging you not to come regularly.

So that’s how black churches came about, we started to do our own and that grew.

“As far as the discrimination goes, I don’t think you can ever overcome it, you just learn to live with it and get on with what you came to do.

“That’s why I am still here after all these years.”

Lloyd Nesbeth Kingston-raised Lloyd Nesbeth, below, first came to the UK at the age of 23.

“My first impression of the UK? I was quite disappointed when I got here and the welcome that I got wasn’t too pleasant,” he recalled.

“Life was a little bit difficult at the start. While I could get a job because I was qualified from an apprenticeship I did in Jamaica, I couldn’t get no place to live.

“When I would look for rooms and knock the doors they’d say ‘no room!’ and then they would put up a sign saying ‘no blacks’ to make you feel uncomfortable.”

Racism was something that many Caribbean migrants experienced when coming to the UK, and initially made Mr Nesbeth yearn for happier times in his home country of Jamaica.

“I miss my friends mainly and the good weather and I was quite happy when I was in Jamaica – I can’t say I can pinpoint any unhappiness when I was there.”

While

facing some adversity during his initial years in the UK, Mr Nesbeth took comfort in the family he had here at the time alongside the appreciation for an apprenticeship which made getting a job far more accessible than most.

“I had a friend and one cousin and they were recently in the country.

“I kept saying I’d go back to Jamaica and each year I’d say it but you just get use to it,” admitted the retired accountant.

As we reflect on the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Windrush, Mr Nesbeth is keen to share the stories that he and many like him experienced all those years ago.

“To mark the Windrush Generation we need more facilities for the young kids, and more parents teaching.

ing them our history,” he said.

“What we learn and teach our children is important, and the anniversary of Windrush shows how important it is to tell our stories and share it with the next generation.”

houses. I saw all the chimneys and the smoke up there and the only chimneys I saw back home were in the factories and places like that,” he recalled.

Mr O’Gilvie came to the UK on his own, but went directly to stay with one of his father’s

“The anniversary if Windrush shows how important it is to share it with the next generation” Len O’Gilvie “My father use to visit America often and I remember before I went to England he said to me ‘do not expect England to change to you, you change to it’.

Those were the words of Len O’Gilvie, right, and boy do they ring true.

Born in Saint Thomas, Jamaica, Mr O’Gilvie arrived in the UK in 1957, in a bid to live a better life – but was soon faced with the culture shock that many Caribbean migrants faced.

“My first impression of England was that I wanted to go back home the following morning! The first thing I noticed was the

friends upon arrival.

“Living in the UK as an expat was a completely different way of life.

“Things I did six or seven months ago would’ve been normal in Jamaica but once I got to Eng-

land it no longer was.”

He added: “The thing I missed the most about back home was freedom.

“Freedom from the sea, the bushes... the most difficult thing when I came here for the first six months was missing my parents.

“Also, getting jobs was difficult but after a while I started to educate myself and began to move ahead.”

Sixty-one years later, Mr O’Gilive is now the proud father of two boys and says he’s lucky that they “listen to what I tell them.”

“One son is 40 years old and the other is 30. They more or less plan my life now!”

Vinnette Fuller For Jamaican-born Vinnette Fuller, her journey and life in the UK has been marked by difficulty.

Fuller came to the UK in 2002 with aims to further pursue her career in nursing, after attending the National Academy Nursing School in Jamaica.

“I’ve

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PEOPLE

STORIES been living here for 16 years now, and I decided to come to the UK because whenever I was watching the news and seeing foreign countries I’d always think ‘oh God, I should be in that country to give someone help’. So I came here on my own.”

Ms Fuller has always had a natural instinct for helping people, right down to her childhood.

“When I tell you I was born a caring person. I can remember as a little girl I would use materials to make patients and my room was the centre and I’d be a nurse,” she recalled.

“I would use my mum’s hairpins to give them all injections and use wool to give them their medications.

“And my mum always would say ‘why is she doing that?’ and that’s always been me.

And if we were playing at school, I’d always have to be the nurse, otherwise it’d be a problem!

“So whenever I get the opportunity to care – whether I’m paid or not, I’m okay as long as I’m doing something to help somebody.”

While Ms Fuller wanted to help those as soon as she touched down in the UK, she soon realised the challenges that she would face.

“I didn’t know when you come to the UK you can’t just work, you have to start again in everything even if you’re qualified – man that was a problem,” she said.

“But I felt like I had to do some-

thing and I got more into care.”

After losing a care patient in 2017, Ms Fuller felt lost and struggled with grief and discovering her purpose in the UK. “I cared for her for 11 years before she died, and after her passing I just felt like how am I going to do what I wanted to do after losing her, after giving so much for nothing?” she said.

“But now I’m trying to be there for more people, because then it just won’t be one person – I can help others who can help me.

“I think being here as an immigrant it makes a big difference because we’re not here because of anybody else – we are here to help with the situation. And that’s why I’m still here and still fighting today.”

“I didn’t know I would have to start again – even if you’re qualified”

Keith Morrison Keith Morrison, below, came to the UK from Jamaica.

“When I came here I felt like taking the plane again,” he said. “All I saw was smoke and chimneys and I felt like I was in a forest.”

Born in the parish of Saint Thomas, Mr Morrison came to the UK on his own, but had family in the UK. “Having family in England made things alright,”

ON HIS OWN: With no family ties when he arrived in the UK, John Richards settled at the Deep Shelter in Clapham

‘Big John’ John Richards John Richards came to the UK directly on the Empire Windrush.

“I was just about to turn 22 years old when I came to England on my own,” he said.

Born in 1926, in the Parish of Portmore, Jamaica, Richards remembers every detail of his journey to the UK like it was yesterday.

“We left Jamaica on the ship and stopped off at Cuba. We then left Cuba to go to Mexico, then back to Cuba and onto Bermuda,” he said.

he said. “Living as expats was okay for me.”

Mr Morrison has been lucky enough to travel to and from Jamaica

“Then we left Bermuda and we came to England where we arrived at Tilbury Docks, but I had nowhere to go – I didn’t plan a thing.”

With no family ties, Mr Richards settled at the Deep Shelter in Clapham.

“It was tricky thing. You must remember we came here in 1948, just after the war, so we didn’t have many things.”

Despite the initial challenges, the 92-year old has made a great life for himself, and is happily married to his wife of 40 years.

“I met my wife at a party. She was a

continuously throughout the years, keeping close ties to his family, friends and roots back home.

“I started to travel from Eng-

bit standoffish at the time, but we became friends and we’ve been married coming up to 40 years now.”

MEMORY As the country marks 70 years since the Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks, Mr Richards shared his favourite memory from back home.

“I come from a big family. We wasn’t rich but we got on. I have three brothers and one sister, and some of my best times was with my family.”

land to Jamaica from 1972 all the way to now. I go back every year.”

The father-of-eight makes it clear that he has led a good life

in the UK, from finding work to raising his children.

“All of my kids are parents at the moment and they’re doing fine. I can’t complain.”

Interesting facts about Windrush... l Over 500 West Indian migrants arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex on the Empire Windrush. l Most passengers on board Windrush had been attracted by a newspaper advert in Jamaican newspaper The Daily Gleaner, and other Carib-

bean newspapers, which offered the passage for £28.10 shillings (£28.50p). l The British Nationality Act 1948 gave Citizenship of the UK and Colonies to all people living in the United Kingdom and its colonies, and the right of entry and settlement

in the UK. l Many West Indian migrants were temporarily housed in the Deep Shelter in Clapham, southwest London.

Lord Kitchener and Lord Beginner and Trinidadian blues singer Mona Baptiste. l The first wave of migrants to the UK helped shore up a post-war labour shortage.

l Famous people who were passengers on the Empire Windrush included calypsonians

l Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, a disproportionate number of Caribbean migrant

children were classified as ‘educationally subnormal’ and placed in special schools and units. It was easy to tell from the official statistics by the early 1970s that young migrants were disadvantaged within the education system.

50 | THE VOICE

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CARNIVAL

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

Notting Hill Carnival: Caribbean culture in the capital Europe’s biggest street party is a vibrant annual display of some of the greatest elements of West Indian traditions and values – and it has its own Windrush connection

BY ALANNAH FRANCIS

F

OR A single, annual celebratory event that illustrates and encompasses the mark people from the Caribbean have made on the UK, look no further than Notting Hill Carnival.

There is no way of knowing if those who were instrumental in creating and conceiving the carnival – Sam King, Rhuane Laslett-O’Brien and Claudia Jones aka “the mother of Notting Hill Carnival” – which is Europe’s biggest street festival and now

in its 52nd year, had any idea of how big and popular it would become. But what began as a way of bringing Londoners together now attracts around two million people every year and, as ever, welcomes people from all walks of life.

Many of today’s carnivalgoers may be aware only of the sound systems, soca and sumptuous Caribbean cuisine but there is a rich and important history behind the festivities.

Established against the backdrop of racial tensions in London and at a time when a significant Caribbean community was taking root, the west Londonbased carnival was emblematic of the Windrush Generation’s connection with Britain and

back home. And there’s more to the festival than fun. Last year it is estimated to have generated £93 million.

Black vendors, in particular, have been positive about the platform the authentic event provides. For many stallholders, the carnival is the highlight of their financial year, and they are not the only ones to benefit from the spending power of the people it attracts. Notting Hill residents make the most of the influx of people onto the streets where the live by setting up their own stalls and embracing the community spirit.

For everyone from the independent caterers serving up dishes to hungry revellers, retailers of Caribbean herit-

age kitting out attendees with paraphernalia, the annual street party is a highlight for all who make sure they spend the bank holiday weekend in the capital to drink, dance, eat and enjoy the celebrations.

The historic two-day event, a standout in the capital’s summer events calendar, was the launch pad for the first issue of The Voice, which was sold at the festival in 1982 for the first time.

Last year, The Voice celebrated its 35th birthday at the carnival. We’re proud to have supported and served the community and Notting Hill Carnival for three decades and plan to do so for many more years to come.

PARTY TIME: Scenes from the Notting Hill Carnival down the years

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WINDRUSH MINERS

52 | THE VOICE

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FASHION

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

Since leaving Jamaica, Lorna Holder has seen six decades of fashion. In a transcript of her book, she outlines the styles of each of these defining eras – and how they played a part in black culture

I

N NOVEMBER 1959, aged seven, it was my turn to say farewell to my greatgrandparents in Jamaica to join my mother in England.

I flew from Palisadoes Airport, stopping off in New York.

As the plane approached Manhattan Island, I found the dark sky illuminated by splashes of bright fluorescent lights so captivating.

I shared that experience with many; sadly, there are hardly any images or press coverage of Caribbean people arriving via aeroplane at Gatwick in the 1950s and 1960s. I wonder why?

British colonisation helped to produce a culture of formality in dress and behaviour in the Caribbean.

It was the films of the late 1940s that inspired the ward-

robe of the first Windrush generation. The men who arrived at Tilbury Docks did not come in their ordinary working clothes but American-inspired suits, colourful silk shirts and ties, Trilby hats and two-tone shoes.

Many Caribbean women joined their husbands and partners in Britain in the early 1950s.

Some had to take desperate measures, leaving their children behind. The development of synthetic fabrics in the 1950s was a huge breakthrough to support a modern lifestyle. The fashion for women was feminine, fitted-waist dresses. The late 1950s saw softly tailored suits.

The primary sources of entertainment and family get-togethers were weddings,

FASHION-FORWARD: Jamaican migrants in Britain in 1948

christenings, anniversaries and birthday parties.

Cinema was one of the few places young men would go, witnessing the emergence of American youth culture

midi and miniskirts, printed in swirling psychedelic designs, were teamed with the haltertops, wide-brim hats and platform shoes.

Late-1970s fashion was soft,

“In the late 1960s, miniskirts became much shorter. Jamaican music played a part in this” through the films. Many men took to wearing casual street clothing: knitted pullovers, denim jeans and bomber jackets.

In the late 1960s, miniskirts and shift dresses became much shorter. Hot pants, catsuits and platform shoes were ‘the look’.

Black youths now wished to form their own identity. Jamaican music played a significant role in this.

Early ska music by Jamaican artists helped to free them from conformity. The ‘Rude Boy’ look – slimline, mohair suit, made by local tailors was all the rage.

The eclectic 1970s was a fusion of cutting-edge culture, and there was social, industrial and political unrest throughout the country.

As art students, we had our style. Tight-fitted flared velvet or corduroy trousers, hot pants, T-shirts and tunic tops were the rage. The maxi,

long and flowing. The look for men was comfortable casual wear; semi-flared jeans, fitted denim shirts, accessorised with Rastafari-inspired, coloured hats and scarves, worn with platform shoes.

The late 1970s saw the influence of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Light-coloured, three-piece suits were the fashion.

The shift to stop straightening our hair and keep it natural, the ‘Afro’, was part of our self-discovery, saying, “this is me; I am proud of my heritage”. Wearing African printed kaftans, studying African history and giving our children African names were also part of that movement.

The 1970s youth generation differed significantly from the 1948 Windrush arrivals and those after. We not only wanted to live and work in Britain, but we also wanted our voices to be heard, to enforce change

towards an equal society. Another influence for youths was American Hip-Hop music and style: faded jeans, oversized, bright shapeless tops, and what defined the 1980s, designer sneakers.

Fashion for women was just as dynamic - emphasis on a broad, padded shoulder.

Fabrics were glitzy synthetics in bold colours and abstract shapes. Hip-hop broke all the fashion rules and put black American youth culture firmly on the global map.

The late 1980s saw more Caribbean women going out to work; the language was New York assertiveness. Fashion created a culture that saw a power switch between genders. In the late 1980s, men’s fashion had a softer line.

Early to mid-1990s saw a more business-like approach to fashion for both men and women.

The garments were now made from lighterweight fabrics with drip-dry, non-iron and crease-resistant properties.

We were spending

more money on hair, beauty and fashion accessories and were quick to try new trends and products. Hair extension was a growing market. The association with famous logos came to prevalence in the late 1990s. Jeans were cut multiple sizes too big.

The emphasis on how to show-off the well-toned sculptured body was key in the early 2000s.

Tattoos have had a significant impact on popular culture.

We saw the elevation of the skinny jeans, not just for everyday wear but teaming with the designer tops, jackets and back breaking high heels for special occasions.

In 2018, Caribbean men and women have adopted an even more personal ‘lifestyle’ approach to dress. We are the stylist; we coordinate what’s available.

I now understand why the men in the archive photographs and films came off the Empire Windrush full of optimism and American swagger.

Swagger sells, that’s the pulling power – still relevant today.

Edited book transcript (ISBN 978-0-9549907 -8-7) – published by Tuareg Productions, £19

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FASHION

THROUGH THE AGES: Clockwise, from top left, Caribbean men on the streets of London in 1956; a Brixton posse pictured in 1966; wide shoulders and flat tops were popular in the later 1980s; a Nottingham art student in the early 1970s wears a soft afro and tunic top; a model shows off a straight hair weave in the 1990s; these illustrations depict the more casual styles we may associate with the Noughties and styles of today; a woman wears a soft tailored suit in 1950s Nottingham

STYLE IN MY DNA LORNA HOLDER Book launch Sunday 24 June 2018 14.00 – 16.30

V&A South Kensington Find out more and book vam.ac.uk

Combination of accessories, circa mid-1970s London, Errol Holder © Tuareg Productions

54 | THE VOICE

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MUSIC

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

A journey through music The evolution of the influence of music from the Windrush Generation helped to ease the pain of assimilation – and at times, it was all we had...

BY MYKAELL RILEY

W

HERE DO you start a narrative about music and migration? My thoughts are that it really depends on what you’re trying to say. In this instance, in the spirit of celebration, I’m suggesting songs for a playlist I’ve titled the Windrush 70/50.

The aim is to recognise the 70 years since the arrival of Windrush, through 50 years of reggae music as experienced in the UK. My starting point is the music most probably on board the SS Windrush in 1948, as it docked in Tilbury, Essex.

Significant to my playlist is the musician, that in a chance encounter with a journalist, summed up the feelings of many on board with a rendition of his newly composed song, London Is The Place For Me. He was calypso artist Lord Kitchener, and like many musicians to follow, he gave voice to the aspirations of the community, while introducing new perspectives to Britain’s cultural life.

Back then food, calypso, cricket and sound system culture were key conduits that connected Caribbeans in England’s green and often, not so pleasant land. Sometimes music was the only escape and connection with back home, some 4,271 nautical miles away.

In the late ‘50s/early ‘60s, turntable favourites in UK homes could include – but were not

limited to – artists like: Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole and Sam Cooke, to Russ Conway, Fats Domino, Aretha Franklin, Val Doonican, Tom Jones, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder.

Favourites reflected hits from the islands, the UK and the US. Suggestions for my playlist might include: My Way, Frank Sinatra; Moon River, Andy Williams; Boogie In My Bones, Laurel Aetkin; What A Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong; Oh Carolina, The Folkes Brothers; Chain Gang, Sam Cooke; Green, Green Grass Of Home, Tom Jones; A Night In Tunisia, Dizzy Gillespie; One Step Beyond, Madness and Prince Buster, Al Capone.

We should also consider early top 20 UK hits like Alone or I Am A Mole And I Live In A Hole by The Southlanders, a JamaicanBritish vocal group in the late 1950s, and Emile Ford’s selfproduced cover of What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?, which made number one in the UK singles chart and was there for three weeks.

These are just some of the songs, that provided the occasional beacons of success, in an otherwise hazardous, aspirational landscape.

By the mid-60s Britain’s love affair with Jamaican music was visible to all.

The hit ska song My Boy Lollipop by then 14-year-old singer Millie Small peaked at number two in the UK charts.

Te c h n i c a l l y, this was the first hit for Chris Blackwell’s Island Records.

But more importantly, this was e v i dence that in spite of the often negative,

“Sometimes music was the only connection with home”

GAMECHANGERS: The Southlanders, main, had a string of UK top 20 hits, including Alone; Jamaican Millie Small, far left, aged just 14, released one of the most popular ska records of all time with My Boy Lollipop; Jimmy Cliff, left, had success with You Can Get It If You Really Want

social and political backdrop, the music of Jamaican independence was now breaking down barriers and building bridges.

An import label was Trojan Records, and songs on the playlist from this period might include: Israelites, Desmond Dekker (left) and The Aces; Rudy, A Message To You, Dandy Livingstone; Monkey Man, Toots and The Maytals and One Step Beyond, Prince Buster.

The mid-1970s saw first generation black British-born individuals embrace their Britishness. Lost between conflicting ideas of home, identity and community – and let down by an educational system, that failed to inspire confidence or meet aspirations – music would again offer an escape.

In 1972, the now iconic film The Harder They Come, provided not just a big screen visual

representation of up town and down town Kingston, Jamaica, but a banging soundtrack with rocksteady hits that still sound great today.

So, musts on this playlist would be: You Can Get It If You Really Want, Jimmy Cliff; Rivers of Babylon, The Melodians and 0.0.7 (Shanty Town), Desmond Dekker.

REFERENCES The music resonated with biblical and ghetto references in equal measures providing inspiration and salvation.

By the mid ‘70s, roots reggae and dub became the dominant genres in Britain, signposting that the love affair was not just still on, but set to explode.

The UK was soon to become the international capital of Jamaican music – and now perfectly equipped to introduce its

own genre, Lovers Rock – Britain’s first indigenous black music genre.

Sir Lloyd Coxsone says the genre was underpinned by an established network of sound systems, that numbered almost 500 as we hit the 1980s.

The seeds of multiculturalism might have already been sown, but the impact of Jamaican culture and music was now a key catalyst in moving black British culture into the mainstream.

With the 1980s came the death of Bob Marley, the rise of dancehall, the birth of ragga and a new generation of Jamaican DJs and MCs. This was a time of transition.

The Windrush Generation was now more inclined to look back at a glorious musical past, while their British-born children, now adults, asserting themselves in the reimagining of Jamaican

music, from a British perspective. Ska was now The Specials, and reggae was now UB40.

There were also pop and rock responses to what was now almost four decades of Jamaican music in Britain.

The year 1983 would also see Alphonsus ‘Arrow’ Cassell release Hot Hot Hot, which would become one of the most recognised soca songs.

This year marks 50 years of Trojan records.

So, as we look back at UK reggae, labels like Jet Star, VP and Greensleeves records were the tip of a challenging but flourishing music industry – the 1980s also marks the tail of what was a golden period for reggae in Britain.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of songs that should be listed, so please, get in touch and feel free to add your own tracks.

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

THE VOICE | 55

WINDRUSH MINERS

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JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

PIONEERS

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

BLACK NEWS MATTERS When Barbara Blake Hannah first hit Britain’s television screens in 1968, the abuse she faced meant her broadcasting career was short-lived – but she opened doors for the next generation

BY JOEL CAMPBELL

I

T HASN’T been easy to contribute to the rich tapestry of diverse faces on television in the post-Windrush era – especially during a time when we only had four channels.

But one platform, which allowed for indigenous folk to get used to black people speaking the Queen’s English, was the news.

nalist, should have been treated very differently – but she describes an unpalatable environment.

“My producer tried to break it to me gently, but it still hurt, especially when I was replaced by an Australian girl,” Hannah wrote on the Guardian website.

She added: “My next job was in a similar capacity with ATV-Birmingham’s Today show, aired during a time when Enoch Powell had made black immigration a major issue.

“It was never on the cards that I was going to be a presenter”

EXPERIENCE Many will remember Sir Trevor McDonald OBE and Moira Stuart OBE, but in 1968, Jamaican Barbara Blake Hannah made headlines in British newspapers when she was appointed one of three on-camera reporters/ interviewers on Thames TV’s daily evening show, Today, with Eamonn Andrews.

To this day, Hannah describes herself on Twitter as the “first black British TV reporter”, but recalling the experience, the filmmaker and founder of Reggae Film Festival said her time didn’t last long due to “pressure from viewers who called in daily to say, ‘Get that n****r off our screens’.”

Some will look to the fact that two decades after Windrush was surely enough time for assimilation to have taken place and Hannah, a seasoned jour-

“I could not get a hotel room in that city and had to return each night to London and commute each morning by train back to Birmingham, until I finally got a room at the YWCA. “I remember having to listen without reacting when the production staff asked, ‘What ‘wog’ story are we doing today?’, or, ‘If black people are so equal, how come they never painted the Mona Lisa?’”

Thankfully, such attitudes didn’t prevail and neither did it put off the next generation of

HEADLINE: Barbara Blake Hannah

LEGEND: Sir Trevor McDonald,OBE became a well-loved television personality in Britain LEADING LADIES: From bottom left, Moira Stuart began her long and illustrious career at the BBC back in 1981; Gillian Joseph is making her mark on Sky News

aspiring news presenters. It was almost a decade later – in 1973 – that Sir Trevor McDonald, OBE is said to have become ITN’s first black British newsreader, while Moira Stuart graced our screens in 1981 and went on to present on every news bulletin devised on BBC Television, except for BBC News at Ten. Stuart, who started out as a production assistant in the Radio Talks and Documentaries department before moving to television, was a staple on the Beeb.

Her continuous success was a beacon of light for women who wanted to follow suit.

AMAZING Sir Trevor rose through the ranks to become sole presenter of ITN’s News at Ten in 1992 until it ended in 1999.

Speaking on the occasion he interviewed Nelson Mandela when the South African leader was freed from jail after 27 years, he said: “The interview itself was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done in that I couldn’t get Mandela to focus on any of the great difficulties that he would encounter getting South Africa on the road to democracy.

“When I confronted him with the problems he would face in doing a deal with the national party, he said, ‘If you are prepared to compromise, when you talk seriously, all things are possible’.

“That’s a great political lesson for today,” Sir Trevor added.

Considering Sir Trevor never “aspired to anchor” the news bulletin, it’s fair to say the man from Trinidad punched well above his weight.

His presence wasn’t deemed an invasive one by Caucasians and he was a regular, recognisable face to everyone else who could relate to his post-Windrush narrative.

Fast forward three decades and just as Sir Trevor stumbled upon his anchor role, Britain’s first ever black woman to present what is now ITV’s News at Ten, Charlene White, shares a similar tale of fortune.

“I grew up watching Trevor McDonald and Moira Stuart, who were, of course, a huge inspiration to me,” White, right, told Pride magazine.

“Even though my journalism

course was a print course, I knew that I wanted to be in either radio or TV broadcasting.

“It was never on the cards that I was going to be a news presenter – I just wanted to be a journalist,” she added.

Talking about the impact she makes being a news presenter in the millennium, White said: “I never realised how much of an effect we can have, as journalists, on people’s lives.

“Also, you’re more aware of how you look, because people are very critical of your appearance on TV. “So there is that pressure.

And especially because there are very few y o u n g black females on screen, t h e

scrutiny is even more harsh.”

White graduated from the London College of Printing (now the London College of Communication) and went on to work various contracts on news desks in broadcasting, before she became the youngest senior broadcast journalist at the BBC. The organisation has helped to establish many a talent from the black community and the challenges once faced by Barbara Blake Hannah seemed to be anchored in the past.

The likes of Clive Myrie, R a g e h Omaar and Brenda Emmanus are just a few names that have carved out fruitful and dynamic careers

at the BBC as news presenters and the trend has proliferated as more and more cable and digital platforms have emerged.

The growth of Sky News since its inception has seen a rise in the number of black men and women getting chances to pursue a career as a newscaster.

FOREMOST The likes of Lukwesa Burak, Gamal Fahnbulleh and Gillian Joseph are just a few of the foremost names that have added to the continued tradition of consistent black faces plying their trade by delivering the news on screen.

It is testament to characters like Barbara Blake Hannah who were able to endure the harsh terrain of yesteryear in order to forge a way forward for the next generation why we have a rich variety of talent gracing our television.

Before the Windrush got here, our presence was non-existent.

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

ADAPTING IN A NEW ENVIRONMENT

PIONEERS

THAT’S WHY WE’RE

OPEN EVERY

Peta-Kay went through a series of events from a young age which caused her to have trust issues, depression, and insecurities.

Could things change for the better? Here, she tells us her story.

M

y family and I left Jamaica and migrated to the UK in 2002. We came looking for a better life, as we were aware of the vast opportunities available in the UK. However, upon arriving, we soon realised that things weren’t quite the same as they were in Jamaica. Despite being young at the time, the transition had negative effects on me. I felt that I had everything I wanted in Jamaica and I had left it all behind, only to struggle in a foreign country.

Growing up, I would always compare myself to my older sister, and in many ways, I envied her because I felt that she was prettier and smarter than me. Therefore, whenever people compared me to her, it would validate my insecurities.

The insecurities that I had caused me to develop an

eating disorder, which I struggled with on and off until the age of 14. In my household, there were many arguments, which made me resent being at home. From the age of 13, I started binge drinking with friends, which then became an escape from my reality.

THE VOICE | 57

DAY

365YEAR DAYS A

and achieve things that people my age are not normally able to do. Today, I’m happy in my own skin, I have peace, I no longer suffer with depression, and I do not depend on alcohol or people as a means to escape from my problems. At present, I work for one of the biggest companies in the dental industry. I get paid a good salary and I will be getting married in a few months.

The relationship between my family and me has improved significantly, and I’m sure that there are greater things ahead!

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THEATRE

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DISTINGUISHED GUESTS: From left, director of The Voice Paulette Simpson; Dr Lola Ramocan; Karleen Ramocan-Folkes; Jamaican High Commissioner to the UK, His Excellency Seth George Ramocan; Councillor Marcia Cameron; the mayor’s consort; Councillor Sonia Winifred, Baroness Lawrence and Lord Nicholas Bourne at the opening night of Windrush: Movement Of The People at Peacock Theatre

A celebration of movement Windrush: Movement Of The People premiered at London’s Peacock Theatre in April, telling the story of an inspirational generation and making waves in the world of dance

By Leah Sinclair

A

S ONE of the first major events to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the arrival the Empire Windrush, Windrush: Movement Of The People, brought out key figures and dignitaries excited to witness the contemporary dance production which paid homage to the first wave of Caribbean migrants who came to England and famously began the post-war immigration boom that was to radically change British society.

The lively production, which hosted its first London show on April 26 at the Peacock Theatre, celebrates the rise of multicultural Britain, shining a light on an important era of British social history, using dance, music and a multicultural cast to tell an international story.

Sharon Watson, right, the choreographer behind the production said: “The making of Windrush: Movement Of The People has taken me to places and spaces I would never have

imagined, emotionally, physically and spiritually. It delves into a rich Caribbean history born out of a need and a desire to serve the ‘Motherland’.

AMBITIONS “It captures relationships, hopes and ambitions, in addition to a very personal story of my own family’s experience leaving Jamaica and arriving in the UK.” Attendees at the performance included Baroness Lawrence of Claren-

don, Lord Nicholas Bourne of Aberystwyth, Jamaican High Commissioner to the UK HE Seth George Ramocan, Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Cabinet member for culture, Sonia Winifred and many more.

Windrush: Movement of the People serves as Watson’s first narrative work – resulting in a different experience from her previous productions.

“This is very different work for me and I’ve loved it!

“I had no idea I could make this work, but we do have many stories that are yet to be told.”

She added: “In 1998, Phoenix Dance Theatre participated in an event in Edinburgh celebrating 50 years of the Windrush.

I decided this year, I would not let it pass without acknowledging this moment.

“I felt there was so much to celebrate, so much to

acknowledge from the contributions made from all the Caribbean islands.

“In addition to those who travelled on the Windrush in 1948, so many have helped pave the way for change and we here in the UK are still

stage.

“In addition, I had the support of one of the last remaining passengers who travelled on the ship, Alford Gardner.

His generosity to share his stories with me was priceless.”

As well as speaking with Mr

“She relied heavily on the help of her family members who either experienced or knew the struggles the Windrush Generation had to face” benefiting from the work, diligence, willpower and resilience their contributions have made.”

As Watson’s first ever dance production, she relied heavily on the help of her family members who either experienced or knew the struggles the Windrush Generation had to face.

She said: “My mother was instrumental in helping me map out this story. The personal aspects have moved me to tears, sometimes taking centre

Gardner, Watson sought the assistance of Leeds Black Elders Association, to help shape the narrative of the production.

“We worked closely with Leeds Black Elders to give us truths and a sense of place and purpose and we had a great showing of West Indians supporting all of our performances, not just Leeds where the show premiered. Also, working with Christella Litras and Rob Green was such an inspiration and their musical knowledge

and creations have been an integral part of the process.”

As Windrush: Movement of The People returns to the stage this November, Watson shared what she hopes viewers will continue to take away from watching the show.

COMMUNITIES “Our premiere had a major impact in the dance sector and the communities further afield, receiving four- and five-star reviews – I couldn’t ask for more,” she said.

“There’s a relevance to our story, and nothing like this has been done before in dance. I hope those who watch Windrush: Movement Of The People continue to feel it and for those new to the story to be educated through a beautiful and powerful production.”

See Windrush: Movement Of The People at York Theatre Royal November 1-2, 2018.

Tickets available at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/event/windrush.php#.WuhH9dTwbIU

S a l u t i n g th 0 7 h s u r d n i W JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

WINDRUSH 70: SOUVENIR EDITION

THE VOICE | 59

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HAIR

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush

Headed in the right direction Hair today, gone tomorrow... We’ve never been shy at rocking our hair in various styles and guises BY JOEL CAMPBELL IF YOU were lucky enough to secure a diploma from L’Institut de Coiffeur back in the 60s then you were well on your way in the world of all things hairdressing.

Styling afro hair will always be the preserve of black people, the options available for us make a mockery of the brief period in post Windrush history where we tried, desperately to fit in by throwing all forms of product into our tresses in order to look more caucasian.

QUALIFIED: L’Institut de Coiffeur (photo credit: The Harry Jacobs Collection / Lambeth Archives)

We “woke up” though, whether it’s locks, big fro, bantu knots, twists, cornrows or a straight up short back and sides, we’re finally comfortable with what God gave us.

Afro hair is and always will be the most diverse hair in the world.

HAIR-RAISING: Photo credit Russell Eaton Salons

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THE VOICE | 61

WINDRUSH MINERS

Windrush 70 Saturday 23 June, 12.00pm-7.00pm Windrush Square, Brixton, London

2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush. Come and celebrate the legacy and contributions of the Windrush generation with live music, DJs, poetry, talks, crafts and family fun.

The NHS and Windrush 70: Gary Younge on Race, Migration and the Health of the Nation Tuesday 26 June, 7.30pm

Conversation Between Generations: Windrush Legacies Friday 22 June, 6.30pm

blackculturalarchives.org Windrush Square, Brixton Image credit: Howard Grey, Courtesy of Black Cultural Archives

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COMEDY

Visit voice-online.co.uk/windrush COMEDY ROYALTY: Charlie Williams and Angie Le Mar

More than just jokes...

BY JOEL CAMPBELL

T

HERE ARE parts of the Windrush journey that, quite frankly, if you didn’t laugh at, you would cry. To leave a ship destined for what you thought were pastures new only to be confronted with signs that read, ‘No Irish, no blacks and ‘no dogs’ would have been enough to knock the humerus bone clean out of its socket.

Nothing funny about an unwelcoming welcome.

But find humour is what we did.

From those early days of hostile integration up until the present day, the journey of the black man and woman has always provided a basis for storytelling that had to be peppered with humour in order to take the edge off of the realities of the existence.

Today, we can hail the likes

There really isn’t anything funny about a one-way ticket to a land over 4,000 nautical miles away, but comedy has made our time here in the UK all the more bearable of Sir Lenny Henry, Miles Crawford, Kojo Anim, Angie Le Mar and Gina Yashere as some of the kings and queens of the art form that is stand up comedy.

A lot of the content they’ve espoused is steeped in the same narrative of yesteryear, a tale of the battle against iniquity.

In our search for the egalitarian utopia, that place where we are seen as the same as indigenous folk, the comedy stage has given rise to many to detail their journey through the mire.

Sharing our narratives enabled communities to forge and strengthen ties. In a pre-internet era, word of mouth was king.

How you imparted your lyrics, how you verbalised your truth would set you apart from the next comic - delivery was everything.

History will and should pay homage to the likes of Charles Adolphus Williams, universally recognised as one of the first black comedians to grace our TV screens.

His feat is all the more remarkable when you consider his Yorkshire accent was still a relatively new thing on our screens.

While Williams came to prominence in the 1970s, he wasn’t a Windrush child, it was a generation later that the emergence of

KNIGHT OF THE REALM: Sir Lenny Henry is one of the best new talent began to appear and with it, the belief that the stage was as much their place to be as the next man.

The challenge to be respect-

ed for your craft is an ongoing process.

Still today black people are fighting to get a primetime spot on television and be al-

lowed to build a cult following like their caucasion peers. The likes of Henry have attained a knighthood, at the turn of this century Le Mar became the first black female stand up to sell out a West End theatre, Crawford presented variety show The 291 Club live from the Hackney Empire on ITV, and smash hit The Real McCoy was made available to donwload on demand via rthe BBC after a successful campaign by The Voice.

Progress is being made and with the advancement of online platforms offering the opportunity for aspiring comics to promote their skillset, a future with more black people at the helm is coming, and that’s no joke.

There are so many names to add to the list of contributors to black British comedy, there is no way to salute them all.

The journey is far from over, but the need for humour is still as relevant today as it was when the famous Empire Windrush ship docked in Tilbury in 1948.

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COMEDY

Each one teach one

BY JOEL CAMPBELL

I

T’S IMPORTANT to salute those that come before you. Sharing a tale of why he will always honour those who blazed a trail before him, Richard Blackwood spoke to The Voice candidly about climbing the comedic ranks.

“The black circuit has its stages of developing new stars.

When Slim and I started, our pioneers were Curtis Walker, Ishmael Thomas, Geoff Shuman, Leo Chester, Jefferson and Whitfield, and Roy Diamond and Felix Dexter.

“They were the people that we aspired to be like. I remember the first time I had to follow Curtis and he is a doctor when it comes to stand up, he is surgical, that’s the best way for me to describe it. When he goes on stage, if you can follow that...

“We were outside of London and he had to shoot off so he

With over 20 years in the game, Richard Blackwood hails those who came before him and remembers one poignant piece of advice offered to him by an elder in the comedy game had to go on before me and I remember he tore this place down. And then he said to me, ‘gotta go, have a good one’.

He didn’t mean it in a bad way but he had another gig, he was double booked.

“My friend at the time looked at me and said ‘yo, he’s not even on stage anymore and the crowd are still laughing’.

“I was called to go on and the audience was still laughing.

Back then I didn’t know how to go on stage and continue to ride that emotion, now I could ride off the joke, but if you don’t know how to do that you could lose the crowd.

“I did it and got off afterwards for my friend to tell me I was a true veteran because the show

was over before I had got on, but I dug deep to get something.

“That’s what the circuit was like, it produced real comedians that had to know their craft. I learned a lot that night.”

Saluting another legendary contributor to the black British comedy scene, Blackwood recalls the time he was given the best advice he’s received.

He enthused: “Years and years ago I was at the St Matthews church in Brixton where they used to have comedy nights, I’d just done The Real McCoy and Blouse and Skirts, my name was buzzing and the circuit it was definitely buzzing.

“I remember Leo Chester was standing there with the Nation

Of Islam and he pulled me to one side and said, ‘Richard, I’m watching you and there is a lot of things happening for you, I’ve got one piece of advice, never believe your own hype, do you understand what I am saying to you?’. I said I did and he told me I would be fine.

“What he probably doesn’t know is that until this day I adhere to that because he knew I was going to take off, he could feel I was about to go and he was like, ‘you’re going to go to a place where a lot of us haven’t been, so it’s going to be very hard to gauge what’s reality and what’s not, but if within yourself you understand that people didn’t care before you got here, RESPECT: Richard Blackwood has kept his feet on the ground you will be fine’.”

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SPORT

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REMEMBERING WALTER TULL Even before the HMT Empire Windrush arrived a British trailblazer broke barriers on the field both in football and in the Army – yet his name goes largely unrecognised. But now there are calls for him to be posthumously honoured

By Tyrone Roach

O

NE OF Britain’s most unknown and unacknowledged heroes is Walter Tull, the first black officer in the British Army, one of the first black professional football players in Britain and a posthumous recipient of the Barbados Jubilee Award.

In recent years, there have been calls for him to be posthumously awarded a Military Cross for his bravery in the First World War. In Northampton, a series of commemorative events were held to mark the centenary of his death on March 25, 1918.

PROCESSION

The Mayor of Northampton, Cllr Gareth Eales led a Centenary Memorial Service in the Guildhall Courtyard on March 26, followed by the Civic procession to the service of thanksgiving which was held on the following Sunday – Palm Sunday – at All Saints’ Church.

At the memorial service, Edward Finlayson, Tull’s great nephew, speaking on behalf of the family to mark this important centenary, told of his visit to Northampton Town Football Club where his great uncle played football, before joining the military. The club installed a memorial to their

former player outside Sixfields Stadium in 1999.

The Last Post was played followed by a minute’s silence

by Tull’s statue. During the service, visitors joined the Mayor, the Princess of Wales’ Regiment and family members.

Tull was born in Folkestone in 1888. He was one of six children in a Methodist family, born to Barbadian father Daniel Tull and his English wife Alice.

His father, who had come to Britain in 1876, took up

“We should right the wrong and celebrate a true British hero” employment as a ship’s carpenter.

Tragedy struck early in Tull’s life when his mother died of breast cancer when he was seven years old.

Two years later, his father, Daniel, passed away of heart disease.

The death of both parents left their children facing severe financial difficulties, so Walter and his twin brother Edward

were eventually taken in by an orphanage in Bethnal Green, east London, part of an organisation known today as Action for Children.

Walter excelled at sport and went on to play for amateur team, Clapton Football Club, before being spotted by Tottenham Hotspur, and was soon playing at White Hart Lane in front of crowds in the tens of thousands.

As one of the first black players in the English game, he was subjected to terrible racial abuse, which started to affect his game on the pitch.

Kept in the reserves, his fortunes were revived when he was signed for Northampton Town in 1911 for a “substantial fee”.

PATH He went on to play 111 games for the club, later signing for Scottish club Rangers – but the outbreak of First World War took his life down a radically different path.

Tull’s brother, Britain’s first registered black dentist, was brought up by adoptive parents in Glasgow and was a friend of James Bowie, a Rangers player and later chairman.

It is believed this connection probably alerted the club to the presence of the noted player in Ayrshire.

Tull was among the first to sign up when war was declared in 1914. A member of the footballers’ battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, he fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant on May 30, 1917. He was made an officer, though, officially black soldiers were barred from becoming officers in the British Army at this time.

He served on the Italian Front from November 1917 to early March 1918. It was here that he was cited for his “gallantry and coolness” by MajorGeneral Sydney Lawford, after leading 26 men on a night raid against an enemy position.

A few months later, on March 25, 1918, Tull, aged 29, was killed in action at the Second Battle of the Somme, without the Military Cross being awarded.

In August 2017, the Ministry of Defence again refused to award Tull a medal claiming that decorating him posthu-

CLASS OF HIS OWN: Tull went on to become one of Britain’s first black footballers and the first black officer in the British Army and, left, is remembered at a memorial at Sixfields Stadium

mously would set a precedent.

Now, in the year of the centenary of his death, more than 127 MPs, including Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, have signed a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May to “right the wrong” and award Tull a Military Cross, although that would require a change to current rules.

The honour would recognise the context of institutional racism in which he and other men of colour served as soldiers. Tull spent his whole life breaking down walls, whether it was at White Hart Lane or on the Western Front.

MP for Tottenham David Lammy, who wrote the let-

ter, said: “We need and want him to be championed in our schools, and among our young people, for his bravery, for his pioneering position as a black footballer, at a time when racism and prejudice were pervasive in our society.

FEATURED “We should right the wrong and celebrate a true British hero. Although, Tull featured on a special £5 coin in 2014 to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of war, his death was never mentioned in any official reports of the time.”

Tull’s life is now commemorated at the Arras Memorial, meticulously main-

tained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. A lasting memorial and remembrance garden in the shadow of Northampton’s stadium serves to remind the world of this remarkable black man.

Finlayson added: “As a family, we will always honour and be proud of our grand-uncle.

“We know what he did in the war and how his gallantry was viewed.

“I think there is no question the award would mean something, not just to the family but, more importantly, as a statement of righting a wrong.

He had a game plan and that’s what we did.”

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

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Sprint king Bailey ruled the world in the 50s, but rugby league career was a flop

By Milton Boyce

T

HE LEGENDARY Jesse Owens has long been lauded for his sporting prowess. So too should McDonald Bailey.

Bailey was a high-class sprinter in the middle years of the 20th century, who later achieved a different sort of fame on the basis of one game of rugby league.

Born in Trinidad, he was a champion schoolboy sprinter who went on to run for Great Britain.

He was to dominate the

Trinidadian-born ace won an Olympic bronze and equalled the fastest man on the planet 100m and 200m in his adopted country, seven times achieving the double of winning over both distances at the Amateur Athletic Association Championships.

At the 1948 London Olympics he finished last in the 100m final, but in Helsinki four years later won bronze in a blanket finish, recording the same time of 10.4 seconds as

the runners who finished first and second.

In 1951 he equalled the world record of 10.2 set by the aforementioned Owens in 1936. It was a record that lasted into the 1960s.

Bailey then went on to prove that he was a highly ambitious sportsman.

In July 1953, Bailey took the sensational step of sign-

ing to play rugby league for Leigh. He was 32 and he had played no rugby of any kind, but Leigh clearly hoped his pace alone would be enough to make him a success.

His signing-on fee was reported at the time as being £1,000, plus two further instalments of £1,000 based on appearances.

Bailey’s famous single ap-

In 1951 he equalled the world record of 10.2 seconds set

by Owens pearance was in a specially arranged game against Wigan.

The degree of interest demonstrated by a crowd of 14,996 at Hilton Park, a handsome turn-

out for a friendly.

Leigh won 11-3 and even contrived to lay on a try for Bailey, but it was obvious to anyone, himself included, that he was completely lost on the rugby pitch. Two months later he announced his retirement.

Thus ended one of the shortest careers in the history of the game.

Bailey was accepted back into athletics, to a degree, when he coached the Trinidad and Tobago team at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.

He died in December 2013.

Sanderson broke down barriers as she won an Olympic gold

By Crystal Davis WHEN THE pantheon of great British athletes is listed, then Tessa Sanderson has to be prominently placed amongst them.

Javelin ace Sanderson won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles.

Her historic achievement made her the first black British woman to win an Olympic gold medal.

OLYMPIAN Her phenomenal career saw her go on to become a six-time Olympian who competed at each of the summer games dating from the 1976 edition held in Montreal, Canada,

through to the 1996 Olympics staged in Atlanta, United States.

Jamaica-born, the thrower was partially raised by her grandmother in her country of birth before emigrating to Wolverhampton to be with her parents.

For the best part of two decades, Sanderson was the UK’s no.1 javelin thrower.

Sanderson’s record of great success leaves her forever deeply rooted in the British history books of pioneering athletes.

She continues to influence via her academy which seeks to give the next generations encouragement and self-belief.

SPORTING PIONEER: Sanderson in action during her successful javelin career for Great Britain

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Connor’s United calypso anthem still a big favourite

By Monifa Bobb-Simon

D

ID YOU know that Manchester United, arguably the biggest football club in the world, march out on to the famous Old Trafford pitch to the strains of a calypso tune?

The answer is most likely “no”, but calypsonian Edric Connor is

fondly remembered for his contributions to music, acting as a prominent figure behind the genre’s migration to the UK and later becoming nationally recognised for its introduction to British football.

He made his name in the mid1950s when he recorded the first Manchester United football club song, The Manchester United Calypso, as an ode to the Reds and

“Busby’s Babes”.

The club, nicknamed the Red Devils, was founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, but it changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to its current stadium, Old Trafford in 1910.

When Connor’s iconic anthem emerged four decades later, it quickly became a favourite among fans in the Old Trafford stands before growing in popularity ahead of the 1957 FA Cup final between United and Aston Villa, who won 2-1.

The song arrived just a short while after the Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury, Essex.

The anthem fused vibrant traditions of music from the West Indies and sport in the motherland.

The anthem became engrained in British culture, and is said to have ignited mid-50s pubs. It truly is as a landmark in football history.

Despite being of little value, copies of this unique album have been treasured by United fans all over the world and early collectors of calypsonian music.

Edric Connor ode to Manchester United…

Now football is a pleasant game Played in the sun, played in the rain And the team that gets me excited?

Manchester United Manchester, Manchester United A bunch of bouncing Busby Babes They deserve to be knighted If ever they’re playing in your town You must get to that football ground Take a lesson, come to see Football taught by Matt Busby!

They are the greatest team today If you don’t believe me go and see them play A type of football second to none Now they’re at the top of Division One Manchester, Manchester United A bunch of bouncing Busby Babes They deserve to be knighted If ever they’re playing in your town Get yourself to that football ground Take a lesson, come to see Wizardry by Matt Busby!

It’s the greatest team you’ve ever seen They are almost a soccer machine They are the best there is no doubt Raise a cheer and give a shout For Manchester, Manchester United…

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BAME LABOUR STANDS SHOULDER TO SHOULDER WITH THE WINDRUSH GENERATION ON THE 7OTH ANNIVERSARY The Windrush generation of British citizens and their children’s contribution to rebuilding Britain after the Second World War has been incalculable – transforming Britain into a modern, dynamic and vibrant society. In particular, their contribution to rebuilding our public services and the National Health Service, which also celebrates its 70th Anniversary, has been invaluable and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude. They have enhanced every aspect of British life and their economic, social and cultural contribution has enriched our society.

BAME Labour celebrate their achievements.

We are committed to build on their rich legacy defend their rights to humane, dignified and respectful treatment and for full restoration of their rights as British Citizens, full compensation and an independent inquiry into their disgraceful and callous treatment.

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

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Butcher was flying the flag for black cricket everywhere How a Barbadian made history by becoming the first black cricketer to represent England

By Rodney Hinds

O

NE OF the most regular cricket posers of modern times is: ‘Just why are there no black men in the England Test team?’

There has been a dearth of black Britons representing the England side since Alex Tudor, below, played his last Test in November 2002.

Tudor, below, has his roots in Barbados and so did Roland Butcher, who secured his place in history when he became the first black player to represent England, making his Test debut at Bridgetown in 1981.

The respected espncricinfo. com described Butcher, now 64, as “a batsman capable of playing the most thrilling, attacking innings.

“Butcher was sadly, and frustratingly, inconsistent, his compulsion to hit every ball hard and far usually his undoing,” it continued.

“For every onslaught there were a dozen disappointments.

“More than once, he saved his contract with Middlesex with a brilliant hundred.

“A batsman capable of playing the most thrilling, attacking innings” “Butcher moved to England at the age of 14, joined Middlesex in 1974 and was picked for two one day internationals against Australia in 1980 on the strength of county form.

“A run-a-ball fifty in the second game, allied to an unbeaten half-century in the Gillette Cup final that September, secured him a place on the tour of the Caribbean, but his

technique against fast bowlers was exposed and he was never considered again.”

It added: “In 1983, he suffered a sickening injury which threatened his eyesight when struck by George Ferris, but he returned and continued to entertain and frustrate until he retired in 1990.

“One blemish in his final years was a brief involvement with the planned rebel tour of South Africa in 1989 – he withdrew when media reaction threatened the success of his benefit.

“As a fielder, he was among the best, either swooping in the outfield or, in latter years, in the slips. After retiring he pursued business interests as well as coaching a variety of sides, including Tasmania and Bermuda.”

Middlesex had a reputation for blooding black cricketers, Butcher was followed by Wilf Slack and Norman Cowans, who both represented the county – and England – with distinction.

Espncricinfo.com added: “In November 2004, he was appointed director of sports at the University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus. He was a good enough footballer to play semi-pro for Stevenage and Biggleswade.”

MERCURIAL TALENT: Butcher often saved his county career with a superb hundred

How Turpin’s boxing career was forged in the face of adversity

By Milton Boyce

BATTLE: Turpin, right, takes a hit from Sugar Ray Robinson

BRITISH boxing has a long and illustrious history.

A thumb through the annals of one of the toughest professions, will lead you to one Randolph Turpin.

Turpin’s formative years were tough, which is often the case for those who go on to be champion boxers.

Turpin lost his father, Lionel, who was born in British Guyana in 1886, at a tender age.

Lionel never recovered from injuries suffered in a gas attack during the Battle of the Somme, leaving Turpin’s mother, Beatrice,

to raise four children. Born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, young Turpin, like his elder brother, Dick, trained at the Leamington Boys’ Club.

Teenager Turpin turned professional in London in 1946.

He was eventually to be trained

by Dick, who himself was a successful middleweight.

It was a winning start for Turpin who knocked out Gordon Griffiths in his first bout.

Turpin put together a string of 16 wins as he steadily built his reputation.

His stock was to rise in the early 1950s, when world middleweight champion Sugar Ray

Robinson travelled to London and, on July 10, 1951, risked his title against Turpin, who won the world title by beating Robinson on a 15-round decision.

Turpin became an instant national hero on the back of the fight.

His win over Robinson gave him such celebrity that many people, who were not boxing fans, knew who he was.

His days as a world champion did not last long, however, and when he made his first trip outside his homeland, he lost his crown to Robinson by a 10th-round TKO, with eight seconds left in the round, at the Polo Grounds in New York on 12 September, 1951.

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SPORTING GREATS

JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

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JUNE 21 - 27, 2018

#DiscoverThurrock

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WINDRUSH MINERS

Situated immediately to the east of London, Thurrock boasts over 18 miles of beautiful river front and is a borough proud of its rich heritage and growing cultural scene.

Chafford Gorges Nature Park Chafford Gorges is set in a spectacular position overlooking Warren Gorge. The park offers 200 acres of green space, wildlife and recreation for visitors.

CoalhouseFort

is located next to rk a P rt o F se u o lh Coa of East Tilbury. th u so s e m a h T r the Rive verside walks and ri t ie u q r fo l a e id It is is a great place to d n a t, u o ys a d family e area. start exploring th

TilburyFort Originally built by Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I rallied her armies near the fort for defence against the Spanish.

The museum traces the fort’s history and is a fantastic day out for the whole family.

ThamesideTheatre

Thameside Theatre is part of the Thameside Comple x in Grays - a multi-purpose arts ve nue that also includes Thurrock M useum, Grays Library and an exhib ition area. The theatre has an excitin g summer of events and shows p lanned.

Find out more at thurrock.gov.uk/discoverthurrock

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NOTTINGHAM

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