Thank you, Windrush
PM joins 70th anniversary tribute to a pioneering generation
THE Windrush generation’s resilience in the face of adversity as they helped rebuild post-war Britain was remembered yesterday at a service at Westminster Abbey commemorating the 70th anniversary of their arrival.
A smiling Theresa May attended in the wake of heavy criticism over the scandal in which people who were invited here decades ago faced deportation.
The Prime Minister clapped, smiled and swayed as a gospel choir sang.
The Reverend Canon Joel Edwards hailed the positive impact those who landed at Tilbury Docks on June 22, 1948, and their offspring have had on politics, business, music and food.
He said the Windrush generation had ‘gifted Britain’, providing trade union leaders, politicians and senior civil servants, while others became leaders in many areas of British life.
But many of those who left sunnier climes in the Caribbean for a new life in Britain faced hardships including racism, Mr Edwards said, as he paid tribute to ‘Windrush resilience’.
He told the congregation, which included those who arrived on the HMT Empire Windrush and their descendants: ‘Settling down hasn’t been plain sailing. The children of Windrush have experienced over-representation in Britain’s prisons and mental health institutions, underachievement in education and the job market.
‘Settlement has meant racism, sometimes too much policing and not enough protection. And Stephen Lawrence.’
The murdered black teenager’s mother Doreen, now Baroness Lawrence, was in attendance alongside Liberal Democrat peer and patron of the Windrush Foundation Baroness Floella Benjamin, who briefly danced to music being played on steel drums in the nave ahead of the service.
The commemoration included the first performance of an anthem entitled Psalm To Windrush: For The Brave And Ingenious.
The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, wore a specially commissioned ceremonial robe, or cope, which tells the story of life in Britain for the Windrush generation.
The cope, a vestment used by clergy at special services, was created by internationally-renowned artist Terry Duffy and features a photo montage illustrating black history in Britain.
The images include the original 1948 ‘British citizen’ passport issued to Alford Gardner, a passenger on the ship.
There is also a picture of Sam King, another of the ship’s passengers, who volunteered to join the RAF during World War II while living in Jamaica and later became the first black mayor of Southwark. The Jamaican-born Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin, is shown.
The robe also refers to Stephen Lawrence, who was murdered in a racially- motivated attack in Eltham, south east London, in 1993, using an image of his memorial stone. Discrimination faced by Caribbean migrants in post-war Britain also features with a sign reading ‘No Irish, No blacks, No dogs’. It was a familiar notice displayed in the windows of some boarding houses.
Plans to create an annual Government-backed Windrush Day have been welcomed, but questions remain over compensation for those who have suffered financial setbacks trying to prove their right to residence.
‘It hasn’t been plain sailing’
AFTER yesterday’s moving service in Westminster Abbey, this paper extends a warm thank you to the Windrush generation on the 70th anniversary of the first arrivals from the Caribbean. Often facing hardship – and racism in the early days – they have made a significant contribution to Britain. Yesterday, they received the recognition they deserve.