Events held across West Country to celebrate Windrush Day
The arrival of immigrants from Jamaica 75 years ago today has become symbolic of the start of multicultural Britain
Events are being held across the West Country today to mark exactly 75 years since the first post war immigrants from Jamaica arrived in the UK.
The ship Empire Windrush docked in London on this day in 1948 bringing with it hundreds of people from the Caribbean, who had answered a call from Britain to come and help rebuild the country after the Second World War.
The ship's arrival has since become symbolic of an entire generation of Commonwealth citizens who came to live in the UK between 1948 and 1971.
This morning a Windrush flag was raised outside City Hall in Bristol to celebrate the contribution of the Windrush community to Bristol over the years.
Elsewhere Bath's Royal United Hospital has produced a video marking their contribution to the NHS and an exhibition marking the history of the Windrush generation in Bath is opening at Fairfield House.
It is also little more than one week until Bristol hosts the annual St Pauls Carnival, a huge celebration of Afro-Caribbean culture in the city.
We went along to the flag raising ceremony in Bristol this morning to speak to some of the descendants of the Windrush generation.
"It's really important because when I was growing up, I was born here....I didn't know anything about the journey and the experiences they had coming over here," said Michelle Curtis, the artist behind the Seven Saints of St Pauls murals.
"That was basically the catalyst, researching into that and the people when they came over here, what they actually did, that was the catalyst behind what influenced my work."
Dr Roger Griffith MBE is a writer on racial equality and was also at the ceremony.
He said: "From 1948, 75 years, (the Windrush generation) has changed the face of modern Britain.
"Both culturally, you think about the music, things that were invented here like lovers rock, think about drum and bass in this very city of Bristol...all of that comes from the start of that Windrush generation.
"Then through those generations, our sporting success, (Windrush has created) boxing world champions, Lewis Hamilton in motor racing, the (Rugby) World Cup, Jason Robinson his father comes out of Jamaica, Jofra Archer (the cricketer) travels from Barbados so there's World Cups there, and of course our national football teams...
"That sense of multiculturalism, that identity, that culture and food, the great carnivals it gives and it started 75 years ago."
Such has been the poor presence of black history within the schools curriculum in the UK, Roger says he had to teach himself the significance of Afro-Caribbean history in the country.
"I had to discover things like the Bristol Bus Boycott (myself)," he said.
"Another thing that changed the face of Britain."
The Bristol Bus Boycott occurred in 1963, when the Bristol Omnibus Company which ran services in the city at the time, refused to employ black or Asian bus crews.
Led by Paul Stephenson, who is still alive today and has since been given an OBE for his efforts, the protest encouraged people to boycott the buses and lasted for four months until the company backed down.
It drew national attention to the issue of racial discrimination in Britain and led to the Race Relations Act in 1965, which made racial discrimination illegal in a public place for the first time.
A further law in 1968 then extended that to employment and housing.
"When you think about marches coming down Park Street, the equalities law now, if you're gay, if you're pregnant , if you're older or younger you owe your debt of thanks to the Bristol Bus Boycott," Roger said.
Bristol's Mayor Marvin Rees, who is himself of Afro-Caribbean descent, said he is proud of the Windrush generation.
"If you know the full story you can't help but feel pride," he said.
"Landing in the UK in the 50s and 60s was a challenge, to put it mildly.
"People came over, they thought there was going to be a warm welcome, and then when they got there, there wasn't the welcome.
"You've got a whole new country, you've got a new weather system and you have got a hostile society waiting for you at the other end.
"The level of resilience it takes, to make a home, to overcome those challenges, to go into work every day with people abusing you, that level of resilience to overcome that, to make a family, to form the foundations that ultimately supported people like myself, Asher (Craig, Bristol's deputy Mayor), Roger Griffith, (DJ) Bunjy, Laid Blak, all those people that have made stuff happen in the city, and I'm not excluding anyone with that list, is incredible."