Windrush 75th anniversary marked in Suffolk: "People sacrificed a lot to come to England"
Mervin Henry lives in Suffolk and told us what it was like for his father to make the voyage
Last updated 22nd Jun 2023
It's been 75 years today since hundreds of Caribbean migrants began arriving in Britain to help rebuild the country following the Second World War.
Many of the so-called Windrush generation had served in the British army and had to adapt to life in the UK.
Mervin Henry lives in Suffolk - his father made the voyage in 1956, and was followed by his mother a year later in 1957, after his father worked and saved up enough money for the cost of the flights to bring them over.
Mervin was around 4 years old when he saw is brothers for the first time:
"My brothers were in the Caribbean - four of us were born here (in the UK), and three were born in the Caribbean.
"You can imagine my mum coming over then my other brothers coming over - we saw them for the first time when they knocked on the door."
"They never faced discrimination until they come to Britain."
Mervin's parents arrived during Winter, having never seen snow or 'pale faces' before.
He told us when his father first arrived he shared a bedsit with 3 others in Ipswich.
Two of them worked during the day and the other two worked night shifts, so when one person was at work, the other could use the bed to sleep:
"Getting a place in Ipswich at the time was difficult... because people didn't want people of colour in the establishment."
Mervin also told us that a lot of Caribbean people tended to find work in the same places:
"Cranes was the biggest employers of people of colour in Suffolk. The second biggest was Ransoms. The third biggest was a meat product place called Harris's.
"My parents never face discrimination until they come to Britain.
"People didn't really want you to go anywhere, so the community that was here had to form their own community...
"The white people at the time didn't like it for some reason. When you if you went into town, you were guaranteed trouble.
"They would start fights and stuff like that because they didn't like who you were, where you came from...
"We were stigmatised because you were only allowed a certain amount of people in a certain establishment...
"So if the manager says I only want 6 black guys in here, you only got 6. No more, no less."
Caribbean culture in Suffolk
He told us Ipswich was once the place to be for the Caribbean community:
"The social gathering came from word of mouth at the factories.
"Then people from the Caribbean obviously joined together from different parts of the Caribbean and formed a Caribbean steel band...and that was the hub of the entertainment.
"All the Caribbean community would meet up because that was a central point for everybody."
Mervins Father Alexander Henry
Mervins Father Alexander Henry
Why it's important to remember Windrush
Mervin told us how Windrush is remembered through the impact it has left both in the way people behave and in the culture that it brought to England:
"I think it's got to be remembered because there's a lot of people who sacrificed a lot to come to England.
"They left their families, they bought a home here and they built businesses here.
"...It's the cultural ID of Britain. Britain's built up of different nationalities now but then it was a Caribbean community.
"You've got to keep that legacy going because if you don't, you then lose your cultural ID, who you are, where you're from.
"You need to have that culture, where people can hear the music your Mum and Dad listen to."
What's changed in the last 75 years?
Mervin tells us, nearly eight decades on from Windrush, that whilst things have changed for the better, more still needs to be done:
"I just feel that there is still a stigma out there within certain establishments like the employment and stuff like that. That is still some of it is still there...
"...People need to be more open-minded to diversity and not be rigid within their setup. Adapt because diversity is going to be around for years to come."