Museum to commemorate 60th Anniversary of Empire Windrush
Date and Time of Publication:- 2008-06-20 12:08:32Can you help with memories of your life in the UK or Caribbean?
60 years ago on the 22nd June 1948 the troop ship the Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury in Essex. The ship carried 492 passengers from Jamaica and Trinidad who wished to start a new life in the UK. An advert had appeared in Jamaica’s ‘Daily Gleaner’ newspaper offering cheap transport on the ship for anyone who wanted to go and work in the UK. The fare was a cut price £28 and 10 shillings for a place on the troop deck.
These passengers were the first large group of Caribbean immigrants to the UK after the Second World War.
The arrival of the passengers, and the image of them filing off the vessel's gang plank, has become an important landmark in the history of modern Britain, symbolising the beginning of modern multicultural relations which were to change British society significantly over the following years.
As 2008 is the 60th Anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush the Enfield Museum Service are doing a display at Forty Hall to mark this event, and need your help.
Jan Metcalfe, Community Museum Officer said “To mark this important occasion we want to make a display about the lives of those people who arrived on the Empire Windrush 60 years ago. What was life like for them leaving their homes and families for a strange land? What kind of welcome did they receive?
“We would love to hear from people from the Afro-Caribbean community who have a connection with those first passengers, and who could tell us their stories.
“We would also like to know if anyone has any artefacts or photos which relate which to their lives either in the UK or the Caribbean in the 1940s or 1950s which could be lent to us for our display.
“Please get in touch we would love to hear from you.”
To contact the Museum Service telephone Jan on 020 8379 1469 or e-mail enfield.museum.service@enfield.gov.uk
This document was last updated on 2008-06-20 12:08:32 published by the Communications team. Document Reference:LBE_132932
