Event celebrates contribution of the Windrush generation to South Yorkshire
ITV Calendar report by Victoria Whittam
An event has been held to celebrate the contribution made to Doncaster by the Windrush Generation, and their descendents - 73 years after the first migrants from the West Indies disembarked from the Empire Windrush, to begin new lives as British Citizens.
The Doncaster African Caribbean Support Group wants to ensure that Windrush Day receives the recognition it deserves.
Today's event held at the Cast Theatre in Doncaster, was all about making sure that the lives of those who came to rebuild the UK as part of the Windrush Generation are marked in the town's history.
Tim Brown from Doncaster Africa Caribbean Support Group said: "We want to ensure that the Windrush Generation history is a shared history so my parents were from a mining background and I lived in a community that wasn't just black it was white British as well, and we came together as a community, you know side-by-side, and I think we need to preserve that and to build on that and then I think there's something about how we teach black history in our schools and colleges."
Both sets of singer Shorrel Jade's grandparents came to the UK from the West Indies - she hopes events like today's inspire young people.
"My grandparents died when I was really so I never really got to ask questions about what happened and why they decided t to come here, so I think that once you tie into that people can connect it because if they thought about it as something that's passed they don't really have much of an interest. But once you click into the fact that I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them, I think that's when they kind of think about it and then they go and do their own research into it."
Today's gathering was paired down because of government Covid restrictions, but the Doncaster African Caribbean Support Group say it is a solid foundation that they will continue to build on in the future.