Windrush 75th anniversary celebration event revealed for Southport

By Andrew Brown

People are invited to enjoy a very special event being held in Southport to celebrate the 75th Windrush anniversary. 

It will culminate with a fun day in the Town Hall Gardens in Southport town centre on Saturday 24th June 2023.

The festivities are being organised by the Southport African Caribbean Heritage Association. 

Vice Chair and Founder Gemma Collins said: “This year will mark 75 years since the arrival of the Empire Windrush ship from the West Indies to Britain in 1948, a year which coincided with the birth of the NHS. The two events were very much linked. 

“This is going to be quite a big event for Southport and we would love to see lots of people becoming involved. 

“Windrush Day is celebrated on 22nd June every year – the date the HMT Empire Windrush arrived in the UK. 

“The night before, at 5pm on Wednesday 21st June, the Windrush Flag will be raised at Southport Town Hall. We would like to mark that with an intimate ceremony. 

“Thursday 22nd June will be Windrush Day and then we will hold our Windrush event in the Town Hall Gardens in Southport on Saturday 24th June. 

“It is a free event and everyone is invited to come and join us. 

“Our community group was started by myself and my friend, Nadia.  We are celebrating the diversity of the people of Southport, welcoming people of all backgrounds.

Gemma Collins’ Grandad Charles and Grandmother Ruth with Auntie Sandra

“As descendants of the Windrush Generations we feel it is really important for our local community to acknowledge and to see the importance of the contributions that have been made by people from the Windrush generations and what they did to help rebuild this country – their mother country – and to build the National Health Service in the years after the Second World War. 

“My grandparents, Charles and Ruth Collins, were part of the Windrush generation when they came to the UK from Barbados in 1957 and 1958. My father, Michael Collins, arrived here when he was 13 years old in 1967. 

“My grandfather came first, on his own by plane. It must have been very daunting! My grandmother came the following year by ship. My eldest Auntie came first then with the remaining children followed.

My Grandfather was a Ticket conductor for London Transport. 

“My grandfather and grandmother then went into work at the Prince Of Wales Hotel in Southport, and then at Mullards Factory in Crossens. 

“Tragically, my Grandmother died from breast cancer at just 36 years of age. My Aunt, and Grandad, became the ones looking after the children. 

“My Dad experienced racism on many occasions after arriving here as a teenager. Especially at school from teachers and pupils.   

Gemma Collins’ Grandmother Ruth with Dad Michael, Auntie Cheryl and Auntie Pamela

“It was a huge shock for people arriving from the Caribbean, who were proud Commonwealth citizens, excited about coming to the Motherland. 

“They expected to be welcomed when they arrived, but that  was not the case. Finding rented accommodation and buying properties was very difficult and neighbours showed their distaste overtly. You may be aware of the signs saying “No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs”. 

 “These celebrations are about recognising that people were coming to help to rebuild the country in post-war Britain, they were coming to staff the new NHS and to make it the success that it was, but that in many cases they weren’t always given a great welcome.”

This was followed by the Windrush Scandal. It began in 2018 with people who were wrongly detained and threatened with deportation and in a number of cases wrongly deported from the UK by the Home Office. 

Many of those affected had been born British subjects and had arrived in the UK before 1973, particularly from Caribbean countries. 

Gemma said: “Many people know about the Windrush Scandal, but many don’t realise how much it has affected people so close to home. 

“Now is the right time to acknowledge what happened and to celebrate the people of the Windrush generation and to thank them for what they achieved.

“We want the event to be for people in the Windrush generation to be able to say – ‘someone has finally noticed us’. 

Gemma Collins’ grandfather Charles Collins

“Nothing has ever really been acknowledged about just what they achieved, and it is about time that changed. 

“There are a lot of families out there who we would really like to reach out to. 

“Windrush Day was established in 2018. Now we are in 2023, we are marking the 75th anniversary. 

“This is the last big celebration before we lose more of this amazing generation of people. 

“It would be sad if we missed this opportunity to recognise what they achieved.” 

Gemma Collins’ grandfather Charles Collins

The celebratory event in the Southport Town Hall Gardens on Saturday 24th June is due to be a vibrant one, with people and businesses invited to take part. 

Gemma said: “We have hoping to celebrate the vibrant culture of the Caribbean “We are very grateful for funding support through Living Well Sefton and the hopefully the National Lottery. 

“I have been working with Stephen Whittle from The Atkinson in Southport about creating a special exhibition for local Windrush families in October 2024. We are keen for them to bring photos and any other objects that might be of interest. 

“We would love to hear their stories. What did they do? Why did they come to Britain? What were they experiences when they arrived here? What did they miss? We want to make their memories into oral recordings. 

“The Windrush generation ran from the first ships arriving in 1948 through to the early 1970s. 

“Many of the people from those generations are sadly no longer with us, some of them are in their 80s or 90s. They are getting older and fewer in number. 

Gemma Collins is organising a Windrush celebration event in Southport

“This might be the last big celebration for many of these people so we want to make it really special. We want to also capture as many of their memories as we can before they are gone. 

“We are keen to organise a competition as part of this. We would like to involve the local schools in writing a Windrush piece and all the details of this will be sent out soon. Myself and Nadia will be getting directly in touch with schools, or they can reach out to us. Inviting local schools in Sefton to compose a story or to create a picture, based on Windrush. 

“It is in the very early stages at the moment but is something we are really keen to develop. We would love to see as many schools as possible taking part.”

 After World War II, many Caribbean people migrated to North America and Europe, especially to the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands. 

As a result of the losses during the war, the British government began to encourage mass immigration to fill shortages in the labour market.

Many West Indians were attracted by better prospects in what was often referred to as the mother country.

The first ships to carry large groups of West Indian people from Jamaica to the United Kingdom were the SS Ormond, which docked at Liverpool on 31 March 1947 with 241 passengers and the SS Almanzora, which arrived at Southampton on 21 December with 200 passengers. However, it was the voyage of HMT Empire Windrush in June the following year which was to become well-known.

Empire Windrush arrived with a group of 802 migrants at the port of Tilbury, near London, on 22nd June 1948. Empire Windrush was a troopship en route from Australia to England via Kingston, Jamaica. An advertisement had appeared in a Jamaican newspaper offering cheap transport on the ship for anybody who wanted to travel to the United Kingdom. 

Unlike the previous two ships, the arrival of the Windrush received a great deal of media attention and was reported by newspaper reporters and Newsreel cameras.

For more details about Windrush 75 in Southport please email: africancaribbeansouthport@gmail.com 

Do you have a story for Stand Up For Southport? Please message Andrew Brown via Facebook here or email me at: mediaandrewbrown@gmail.com