Every year ECA honours the Windrush generation for their courage in coming from the Caribbean and Africa to England in the 1950s and 1960s. They answered the call to help rebuild Britain after the second world war. This year, on 19^th June, ECA organised a Windrush Day Thanksgiving Lunch at Green Towers Community Centre. The afternoon included an exercise class (including chair exercises for elders), a delicious two-course meal and a fabulous afternoon of entertainment; a beautiful performance from the singer Sparkles, a specially commissioned poem celebrating the Windrush generation from poet Herbie Dunnan and some serious steel pan playing from Damoi Morgan. All the entertainment was supported by enthusiastic audience participation.

According to Oveta McInnis, ECA Chair, “The Thanksgiving Lunch went very well. We had great exercise, delicious food and wonderful entertainment. The performances were well received.

We had a full house, the elders and guests thoroughly enjoyed themselves and was able to soak up the joy in the hall with so much dancing, laughter and fun.”

ECA’s Windrush celebrations continued with the screening of ECA’s produced Windrush Voices film documentary at the Dugdale Arts Centre on Wednesday 24 June. It was a near full house at the screening, as the 84-minute film shared first hand stories of Caribbean and African men, women and children, who came to Britain from 1948, tracing their journeys, struggles, and resilience as part of the Windrush Generation.

After the screening, the audience joined a lively panel discussion with three documentary contributors, Lavasky Joseph, Pauline Isles and Paul Riddell. According to Roy Edwards, ECA trustee who facilitated the panel discussion, “This was a superb evening where many people learned the real-life contributions of the Windrush generations. Furthermore, many of their challenges remain the same for the community today. For instance, Lavasky regularly being stopped by the police while driving his car in the 1970s is still an issue in the black community today.

“ECA’s Windrush Voices documentary remains a poignant film which shows how these individuals overcame widespread ignorance, to survive and challenge the everyday prejudices they experienced and make a massive contribution to British society.”