A 100-year-old man who came to England as part of the Windrush generation said his faith and family had helped him live long enough to celebrate the 75th anniversary today in Nottingham.
Almost 500 people arrived in Essex from the Caribbean after departing the HMT Empire Windrush on 22 June 1948.
Caribbean migrants arrived in the UK after being encouraged to help fill labour shortages following the Second World War.
In 2018, it emerged some members of the Windrush generation were facing deportation and being denied access to public services because the Government had not properly recorded their right to live in the UK.
The Windrush Compensation Scheme was established in April 2019 but in 2023 the Human Rights Watch said the scheme was “failing” victims.
The Home Office said it was “committed to righting the wrongs of Windrush”, and that the scheme had paid or offered more than £68m in compensation to the people affected.
Cllr Audra Wynter (Lab) is the first black deputy female leader of Nottingham City Council.
She said: “I feel proud, honoured and privileged to be in this role. I wish my father was alive to see this as he’d be so immensely proud of me.
“This is to show people who look like me that you can break that glass ceiling. If that’s the legacy I leave behind, that will be fantastic.”
Cllr Wynter’s parents were part of the Windrush generation and met when they arrived in the UK.
She said: “They came to England and heard things like ‘no blacks, no dogs, no Irish’.
“We have made progress but there is still more work to be done.”
Councillor Audrey Dinnall (Lab), who represents Leen Valley Ward paid tribute to her father Arnold Samuel Dinnall who was part of the Windrush generation.
She said: “My dad came over as a young child and he worked as a welder.
“Sadly he passed away when he was only 48 and I was 26.
“I wanted to bring his picture to the event today to pay my respects to him.
“The amount of servicemen and women that have contributed to Nottingham is outstanding.”
Reverend Clive Foster MBE, Senior Minister at the Pilgrim Church in the Meadows, started campaigning for the Windrush generation when the scandal broke in 2018.
He said: “We recognised that people were being wrongly detained, wrongly reported and denied access to services.
“I saw this as a terrible injustice. It could’ve been my own parents. It became very clear that this wasn’t just about a few people from the Caribbean, this is a human rights issue.
“We decided to set up some community surgeries to help people get their paperwork sorted out.
“The compensation scheme came out so people could claim for their losses.
“Money doesn’t solve everything but it is a means to acknowledge that people have suffered. We have supported people to get access to the Home Office scheme.”
Alex Norris Labour MP for Nottingham North, added it was a “very important event”.
He said: “We are a proud multicultural community and the people in this room have built it – sometimes literally with paving our roads.
“It’s important to recognise that for future generations to build on the sacrifices that have been made.
