Suffolk commemorates 77th Windrush anniversary
Communities are celebrating the contributions Caribbean migrants have made to the UK on the 77th anniversary of Windrush.HMT Empire Windrush docked in Tilbury, Essex, in June 1948, bringing hundreds of passengers to Britain.Events will take place across Ipswich to mark this with live music, stalls, a parade and more.Suffolk Windrush and Ipswich Windrush Society will host their own events - with both groups saying they were for all to enjoy.
Suffolk Windrush has organised an event in Cornhill on Sunday including a steel band, a reggae choir, food and market stalls, and more.The organisation's Charles Challenger hoped it would "add a different flare to the day" while also helping increase visitors to the town centre."The footfall of people will hopefully increase. This event tends to bring business into Ipswich so it's playing its part in helping to grow the local economy," he explained."We also have an exhibition for people to have a look at what the elders have been doing over the years."
Mr Challenger added that the event would showcase the Caribbean as well as the contributions immigrant communities had made to British society."It is so important - it will bring greater understanding with the wider public,; it also takes away the fear; it brings love and understanding right across the board," he said."From 1968 when I arrived here to today, as we continue to celebrate the Windrush, I see the changes and I see so many changes in how young people are embracing the culture that we live in today."
Ipswich Windrush Society (IWS) will celebrate the post-Windrush immigration on both Saturday and Sunday.On Saturday, the group will host a parade, live music, food and activities in Landseer Park in east Ipswich.On Sunday, activities move to Sailmakers shopping centre in the town centre where there will be a gospel and fashion festival, live music and guest speakers.
The shopping centre is a key location as has a Reflection Room - a time capsule exhibition of memorabilia showcasing the stories of the Windrush generation.Max Thomas from IWS said he hoped it would bring people together from all walks of life."We have a front room setting that is to provoke memories of good times, bad times, sad times and the hard times, that they had to turn around, show resilience and put this room together because they were being indoctrinated into being British and they had to show they had arrived," he explained."So all the best things were in the front room."It was a mystical room and as a child you weren't allowed to go in because it was for big people only."Mr Thomas added the 77th anniversary events would the "biggest and best ever" that the group would "build on in years to come".
Who are the Windrush generation?
In 1948, the British Nationality Act gave people from colonies the right to live and work in Britain.Following World War Two, the government needed workers to help with a labour shortages and rebuild the economy.HMT Empire Windrush became a symbol of a wider mass-migration movement as hundreds more people sailed from the Caribbean to the UK in its wake, with immigrants from 1948-1971 becoming known as the Windrush Generation.
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