WINDRUSH REVIEW®
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Issue June 2020
HMT Empire Windrush The name that has become synonymous with the first wave of West Indians who came to England in 1948, all who followed in later years and their descendants. It should be noted that the HMT Empire Windrush was not the first ship to bring West Indian migrants to Britain in the 1940s, and it has quite a story behind it.
Mr and Mrs Nembhard came to England as a young couple in the early ‘50s and remained for the rest of their lives.
Having been commandeered from the Germans as a prize of war (WW2) and renamed, virtually little or no mention is ever made of the River Windrush after which it was named.
The River Windrush runs through the quaintest little village of the same name in Gloucestershire. It appears on many Xmas cards year after year. For a charge of £28.10s (shilllings) per passenger, which is the equivalent of approximately £600 today, the first significant wave of almost 500 men, women and children embarked on a new life, a new voyage on the HMT Empire Windrush, arriving at Tilbury Docks on 21st June 1948. The passengers disembarked on the 22nd June which we celebrate today as Windrush Day.
Windrush Monument Update by Baroness Floella Benjamin
Since being appointed in 2017 as Chair of the Windrush Commemoration Committee, which includes Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Tim Campbell OBE, Paulette Simpson and Ken Olisa - Lord Lieutenant of Greater London, we have faced a rollercoaster of unforeseen circumstances. Firstly Brexit, then COVID-19 which have both proved challenging. Things got off to a great start because we were very fortunate to be able to announce on Windrush Day 2019, that the Committee had chosen the main concourse of Waterloo Station as the location for the Windrush Monument. The purpose of the Monument is to commemorate the thousands of Caribbeans who arrived in Britain, not just on the Empire Windrush itself,
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but over the period between the 1940s and 1970s. Thousands of Caribbeans passed through this central London iconic heritage location, before dispersing across the UK. The Monument will also contain a digital time capsule, documenting British Black history. The station itself has a wonderful archive of photographs of this Windrush era which will be included. Waterloo station is about to undergo a £200m transformation and the Monument will be central to it which means millions of visitors will see it. It’s also planned that each year there will be spectacular Windrush Day celebration at the station.
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When the Covid-19 crisis has passed, the Committee will set about appointing a sculptor to create a significant Monument for the nation to be proud of, to celebrate the Windrush Generation.
Goodwill Windrush 2020 Messages page 2