A PROGRAMME of events celebrating the 75th anniversary of the HMT Empire Windrush arriving in Britain was launched on Monday morning.
Around 30 people were offered a private view of Reading Museum’s new Windrush Lives display and Enigma of Arrival exhibition, as part of the Reading Windrush 75 project unveiling.
Across the coming months, the town will be treated to events such as commemorative services, panel sessions, sports days, and primary school programmes.
The project’s principal objective is to document and share the lived memories and experiences of many Caribbean community members who have helped make Reading the place it is today.
Rodney Harewood, the project lead, explained: “We started this in the middle of last year, just as an idea. It’s been hard, but it’s been worth it because most of us have a strong belief in giving back to the community. We are products of the Reading community and want to give back.
“We want to increase people’s understanding of Windrush. I think most people will only be aware of it from the standpoint of the Windrush scandal, but to actually know the history and that people from the Caribbean contributed to both World Wars and in many other ways.
“We’ve got a conversation with elders on October 28, for me, that will be the most powerful event because we will have Dr Marcia Burrowes coming over from the University of West Indies, who has done her research on Windrush, and we will be seeking out our Windrush elders so they can be part of a panel discussion, which is open to the wider Reading community.”
Other activities will include: a thanksgiving service at Reading Concert Hall on July 15, sports and heritage fun day, primary schools programme and production from a community theatre group, documentation project featuring photographs, artefacts, video and more, and interviews with members of Reading’s Windrush generation.
This anniversary of Windrush serves as an ideal opportunity to honour the early pioneers who made their home in Berkshire.
Reading, in particular, boasts a large number of first and second-generation people from the Caribbean, with the town’s Barbadian community being one of the largest outside of Barbados.
Those in attendance included representatives from the Reading Windrush Day Consortium, the Mayor of Reading Cllr Tony Page, organiser and members of the public.
Cllr Page said: “I hope many thousands of people in Reading come and see the exhibition. It celebrates the enormous contribution that people from the Caribbean and all of our former colonies have made to Reading since the Second World War.
“But it also reminds us that there is still some unfinished business to do because there are still people from the Windrush generation, and their descendants, whose future eligibility to stay in this country is far from secure.
“The regrettable decision of the Home Secretary to wind down the Windrush Unit very early signals that we as a local community have much more work to do to ensure that the legacy of people who came from the Caribbean and elsewhere, and that of their successors, is properly secured.”
Reading Windrush Day Consortium consists of representatives from Alliance for Cohesion and Racial Equality (ACRE), Caribbean Association Group (CAG) Reading, AGE UK Berkshire, Reading Museums Service and Reading Borough Council (RBC).
Coming together to create this project, their efforts were boosted by securing a National Heritage Lottery grant of a little more than £40,000. This includes £10,000 allocated to the group from the Council’s Community grant scheme.
Jeff Jones, chairperson of Reading Caribbean Association Group, said: “We were all very pleased to receive the good news that the National Lottery Fund is endorsing our work to celebrate and commemorate this landmark anniversary in the history of our people.
“Working with partners at ACRE, Reading Council and AGE UK Berkshire we would love for many people to be involved with the heritage events and activities.”
A full programme of events will be available from Reading Borough Council shortly.
