Thirty-five projects in England have been awarded a share of £500,000 allocated by the government to mark Windrush Day 2022, which falls on Wednesday 22 June. These are additional to the official unveiling of the National Windrush Monument at Waterloo station on the 22nd (see separate news item).
They include a celebration involving a boat trip down the Thames to Tilbury, where HMT Empire Windrush docked in 1948. Performances take place at Tilbury Cruise Terminal, where hand-painted flags telling Windrush stories will be displayed on the boat.
Tilbury-bound boat passengers will pass Greenwich, where the National Maritime Museum is hosting a one-day festival, ‘Descendents’ [sic], “embracing multiple aspects of British Caribbean life, from music and dance to food and storytelling through objects we hold dear”.
In a five-week project at Caius House, Battersea (SW11 3RL), Caribbean elders will teach young people how to cook traditional dishes, which will be served at a festive event on Windrush Day. There’ll be a lasting reminder in the form of a printed and electronic cookery book to be released in Black History Month.
To take three more projects at random, up to 1,000 passengers will be able to travel on a commemorative train to the Essex seaside resort of Southend. The programme of activities will include family games and a Windrush Ball. In Leeds, there’ll be chances to see the award-winning production Windrush: Movement of the People, performed by the Northern School of Contemporary Dance; shows will be free. And the Huddersfield African Caribbean Cultural Trust has organised a series of workshops spread over eight weeks for people of all ages to uncover the history of steelpan and learn how to play the instrument. Participants will then perform at a family-friendly event in July.
More Windrush-focused activities funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities can be found in Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, Huddersfield, Leeds, Luton, Manchester, Mansfield, Nottingham, Peterborough, Sheffield, Swindon and elsewhere.
For the full list, see Windrush Day Grant Scheme Projects To Be Funded.