Leaving their families back home - and the sunshine, people in Nottingham have acknowledged, praised and highlighted the Windrush Generation’s hard work and contribution to help making the UK what it is today. Thursday, June 22, marks 75 years since HMT Empire Windrush arrived in the UK with hundreds of passengers from the Caribbean.
Events are taking place to mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the first ship carrying Caribbean families to the UK to help fill the need for more workers after the Second World War.
The Windrush Generation are people who arrived in the UK from mostly Caribbean countries between 1949-1971. Many served in the British Armed Forces in World World ll. The HMT Empire Windrush first docked in England on June 22 1948 at Tilbury Docks in Essex, bringing people from the Caribbean who answered Britain’s call to help fill post-war labour shortages.
Despite coming to the UK for a better life and contributing to rebuilding the economy, in 2018, the Windrush Scandal came to light.In April 2018 it emerged that some immigrants who arrived legally in the UK between the late 1940s and early 1970s were facing deportation and being denied access to healthcare due to paperwork issues.
Officials were forced to defend a decision to destroy thousands of landing card slips recording the arrival of Windrush generation immigrants into the UK. The Home Office apologised, Amber Rudd lost her job as home secretary and Sajid Javid was drafted in, becoming the first person from an ethnic minority background to head the Home Office. A 2020 report said the scandal was “foreseeable and avoidable” and victims were let down by “systemic operational failings” at the Home Office.
Campaigner Patrick Vernon said the fallout should be referred to as the Home Office scandal rather than the Windrush scandal.
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The author of the Windrush Lessons Learned Review, Wendy Williams, described a “culture of disbelief and carelessness” at the department which she said was “born out of a conviction that the hostile environment policy would be effective, was effective, and should be pursued at all costs”. She said the Windrush group had been “trapped by the hostile environment policy net”.
Ms Williams made 30 recommendations including for Home Office ministers to admit that serious harm was inflicted on people who are British and to provide an “unqualified apology” to those affected and the wider black African-Caribbean community.
Other recommendations included commissioning a full review and evaluation of the hostile environment policy and that the Home Office should establish an overarching strategic race advisory board. But in January it emerged Home Secretary Suella Braverman had decided to drop three of the 30, something Windrush campaigners called a “slap in the face”.
In Nottingham, people shared words of celebration for the Windrush Generation. Marcia White, 59 from Mapperley said: “The Windrush Generation has made the United Kingdom what it is today but what the Home Office did was the opposite of being united.
“My mum has sadly passed away now but she worked in the NHS as a cleaner and then worked her way up to being a nurse.” Marcia’s parents were both from Clarendon in Jamaica.
Marcia, who is a sales assistant continued: “All the Windrush Generation wanted to do is work, play their reggae, cook and provide for people back home. Many of the black community build up ACNA too, when I was younger, that was the place to be.”
In Nottingham, Pastor Clive Foster who works at the Pilgrim Church has been one of the many figures in the community to highlight the effects of what the Home Office had done. In 2018 he set up the Windrush Response Project to help people understand their rights, collate proof of their rights to remain in the UK as well as get compensation.
There are many events being held on Wednesday, June 22, to mark Windrush Day in Nottingham including at the Beechdale Community Centre, the Haywood Community Centre and the St Ann’s with Emmanuel Church.
Sandra Okoye, 31 lives in The Meadows. Sandra who is a full time mum said: “My family wasn’t affected by the Windrush scandal but people shouldn’t have been treated the way they were. They came here to work.”
Sandra continued: “Sometimes, people get defensive when you tell them black people aren’t treated fairly in the UK but the Windrush scandal is just one in a long line of inequalities and injustices.”
Samuel Dixion lives in Highbury Vale. Originally from New Jersey, his grandparents are a part of the Windrush Generation. He said: “From my research, I understand that Windrush affected people from different islands - not just Jamaica, people were sold a dream and told England was paved with gold.
“Many people worked in hospitals and my grandad had worked in a factory. I’m proud of the Windrush Generation, they’ve achieved a lot.”
Nottingham City Council has shared details of events being held in the city.
- Thursday 22 June - Civic Service Livestream from 10.30am at Binks Yard, Island Quarter, NG2 3JL (near the BBC roundabout off London Road)
- Thursday 22 June - Lunch & Entertainment – Binks Yard, Island Quarter at 1pm
- Thursday 22 June – 1:30pm – 3:30pm - Industrial Voices of Windrush Nottinghamshire by historian Norma Gregory on Thursday 22nd June at Mapperley Plains Recreation & Social Club, Plains Road, Mapperley NG3 5 RH. Also online event
- Saturday 24 June – Windrush Cuisine & International Celebration Binks Yard Island Quarter - 2pm-9pm
- Sunday 25 June – Commemorative Gospel Service – Binks Yard, Island Quarter at 3.30pm
- Monday 26 June – Windrush Exhibition
- Friday 21 July & Saturday 22 July – Echoes of the front room exposed – Bonnington Theatre Echoes of the Front Room Exposed! – The Bonington (boningtontheatre.co.uk)
Councillor Audra Wynter said: "This is a chance to come together and celebrate this shared history and a great opportunity to thank the Windrush Generation for overcoming great sacrifice and hardship and celebrate their descendants who have gone on to lead the field across Nottingham’s public life, in business, the arts and sport.
"As the City Council’s first female black Deputy Leader, I am looking forward to celebrating my own heritage throughout June and joining friends and partners, including Reverend Clive Foster, who recently received an MBE for services to the Windrush Generation."
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