Exhibition celebrates Basingstoke's Windrush generation

An exhibition marking the 75th anniversary of the arrival of MV Empire Windrush has opened in Hampshire.

The event at Basingstoke's Willis Museum explores the lives of the Windrush generation who lived, worked and raised families in the town.

Grace Powell, chair of the Basingstoke Caribbean Society & Friends, is featured in the exhibition.

She said: "In Basingstoke people aren't aware of what we went through and it's important the stories are shared."

Ms Powell explained: "When we first came here, we were made to feel we had to fit in and, at the time of the Windrush scandal, I remember I spent ages looking for my documents and I felt scared and I got sick."

But she added: "I now feel stronger and this is my home."

People arriving in the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries have been labelled the Windrush generation.

It refers to the ship MV Empire Windrush, which docked in Tilbury on 22 June 1948, bringing workers from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other islands, to help fill post-war UK labour shortages.

The scandal, which broke in April 2018, saw the UK government apologise for deportation threats made to Commonwealth citizens' children.

Despite living and working in the UK for decades, many were told they were there illegally because of a lack of official paperwork.

Tara McKinney Marinus, from the Hampshire Cultural Trust, hoped people would take something positive away from the exhibition.

"We hope people visiting will pause for reflection and learn about the past history as well as working together as a really strong community and finding ways to understand people and ourselves better," she said.

Effie Blankson, chair of the Cultural Diversity Consortium, has been working with the community in Basingstoke to bring their stories to life.

She said: "The Caribbean community in Basingstoke is really strong and it's important we remember and raise awareness of the generation who responded to the call to help rebuild the country after World War II."

The Our Windrush Story exhibition is open until end of July.

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