In pictures: The Windrush arrival at Tilbury is remembered

Seventy-five years ago, 1,027 passengers from the Caribbean disembarked from the HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury docks to begin new lives in the UK. Today, hundreds gathered in the south Essex port town to remember the first arrivals of the Windrush generation.

Artist Evewright is the creator of the Walkway of Memories at the port, which was installed in 2020.

"I call it the family album from the Windrush generation," he says. "I asked my community to send me images of their parents, grandparents, tickets, passports, just everything and anything they could."

More than 130 families responded.

"This walkway - when you walk through stories, where you're surrounded by images, I think it's an opportunity for people to learn about each other a bit more," Evewright, whose studio is in nearby Purfleet-on-Thames, says.

"It is not just the Windrush story, it is a British story, but another type of British story."

Walkway of Memories is an art and sound installation set in one of the original walkways used by the original Windrush passengers.

The ship's 1,027 passengers, and others who arrived to the UK from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1971, became known as the Windrush generation.

Many had served in the British armed forces in World War Two.

Weininger Irwin, of Ageless Teenagers, laid on a Caribbean tea party for those in Tilbury for the anniversary.

"It's all about bringing people together," he said.

"They came, they delivered and I'm here to celebrate. We can all learn from them."

Grace Benjamin has lived in Tilbury since 1978 after she moved to the UK to study midwifery.

"When I heard about Windrush coming to Tilbury, I was very interested in it," she says.

She has made repeated visits to the Walkway of Memories.

"I have been down there to see who I can see and I do recognise a number of people."

Jackie Doyle-Price, the Conservative MP for Thurrock said: "We shouldn't airbrush out of history the fact that the welcome that people who came here got wasn't always as good as it should have been.

"We do need to confront racism.

"We can't pretend it's not there, because it still is."

In 2018 it emerged the government had not properly recorded the details of people who had been granted permission to stay in the UK and many were wrongly deported.

"Events like this are a way of us all saying that we're not going to put up with this," Ms Doyle-Price said.

People from across the then British Empire were encouraged to move to the UK to help with post-war labour shortages and rebuild its battered economy.

Many of those who came became manual workers, drivers, cleaners and nurses in the newly-established NHS.

A circular blue plaque commemorating the 75th anniversary of the first Windrush arrivals was unveiled with a countdown to those gathered shouting "Windrush".

King Charles III has hailed the Windrush generation's "immeasurable" impact and says those who came to the UK had made a "profound and permanent contribution to British life".

Photography: Reuters and Lauren Carter

Correction 12 August 2023: An earlier version of this story said that 492 people were on board the Empire Windrush. After further research the figure has been amended to reflect that 1,027 were on board.

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