Windrush Day 2024
Saturday 22 June 2024, is the 76th Anniversary of the Empire Windrush’s arrival in Britain. After a successful campaign led by Patrick Vernon Windrush Day was introduced in June 2018.
In 1948 citizens of the British colonies were given the right to settle in the UK. After the war, Britain had a much depleted workforce and needed help to rebuild what had been lost. The British government called on its citizens in the Caribbean to come and help. Between 1948 and 1970 nearly half a million people immigrated to from the Caribbean to Britain. The people from the Caribbean who chose to come to work and live in the UK were subsequently known as the Windrush generation.
In 2018 the Windrush Scandal gained public attention as many people from this generation were detained and deported illegally, some were denied health care and benefits and some people lost their homes. The documentation proving their status was destroyed by the same government that invited them here in the first place. Windrush Day recognises and honours the contribution of the Windrush Generation and their descendants and to “keep their legacy alive for future generations, ensuring that we all celebrate the diversity of Britain’s history”.
Ancestry: Windrush Family History Resources
Certain migration records from the ‘Windrush’ era have been preserved, held in safe storage in The National Archives, Kew, in the British Transport collections. Principally the UK inbound passenger lists, which cover up to 1960, and include the Windrush passenger list, recording those arrivals at Tilbury in June 1948.
Ancestry has UK inbound passenger lists 1878-1960 (i.e. including the Windrush itself); UK outbound 1890-1960. These records can be accessed for free in the Heritage Centre at Redbridge Central Library.
For more information, please email
info.heritage@visionrcl.org.uk
Windrush Family Games
Saturday 22 June at Mayfield School
- Celebrating our Windrush Elders
- Bouncy Castles, face painting and cool rowings
- Register for FREE Windrush Patty & Drink Via Eventbrite
- Classic Cars, Ageless Teenagers Relay
- UK 1st Gladiator Champion Fitness Challenge
- Ragga v Soca & Soul Line Dancing
- Stalls & Caribbean Food available
- Football, Netball, Dominoes Available
Film & TV
Redbridge Museum- Memories of Windrush
Using interviews conducted by Redbridge Museum & Heritage Centre from 2002 to 2018, this short film explores the memories and experiences of the Windrush generation who settled in the London Borough of Redbridge.
- Memories of Windrush
- Windrush Generation: 3 Stories
- Sitting In Limbo
- The Unwanted The Secret Windrush Files