Windrush: The 100-year-old Jamaican veteran who made Lincolnshire his home

  • Video report by Astrid Quinn

The life of a 100-year-old Jamaican Second World War veteran who came to the UK to join the Royal Air Force has been featured in a project to mark Windrush Day.

Windrush Lincoln features the testimonials of men and women from Lincolnshire who either travelled from the Caribbean during the war or responded to calls to help rebuild post-war Britain.

One of the stories is that of 100-year-old Ralph Ottey, who arrived in the UK aged 19 to be an RAF volunteer.

Mr Ottey said: "I was a great fan of Winston Churchill, I knew all his speeches. I knew what he was getting up to.

"I wanted to play my part in beating Hitler."

Mr Ottey has released several books about his life Credit: ITV News

Mr Ottey moved back to Jamaica after the war but returned and settled in Boston when the British Government invited people from the Caribbean to help fill post-war work shortages.

The Windrush generation has come to symbolise the first movement of mass migration to the UK in the post-war era. The term takes its name from the Empire Windrush ship, which arrived at the Port of Tilbury on 21 June 1948, carrying hundreds of Caribbean migrants, many of them veterans.

Mr Ottey recalled the moment he arrived in the UK to make Lincolnshire his permanent home, when a stranger singled him out.

"He said 'hey mate, where you going?'. I said 'I'm going up to Lincolnshire I'm going to Boston'," Mr Ottey said.

"He said 'you don't want to go up there mate, it's cold, even the summer... so cold that people sleep with the pigs to keep warm'."

The HMT Empire Windrush brought people from the Caribbean who answered Britain’s call to help fill post-war labour shortages Credit: PA

Mr Ottey settled with his wife Mavis and daughter Lesley, becoming a successful accountant, local cricketer and an author.

But in those early years, he said he was met with some resistance and was shouted at in the street. He says he was unaffected by the discrimination.

"It went in one ear and through the next," he said.

The project features one of the last interviews with poet Benjamin Zephaniah Credit: Cultural Solutions UK

The Windrush Lincoln project also features the story of renowned poet Benjamin Zephaniah, who died on 7 December last year.

The interview is thought to be one of the poet’s final official interviews and goes into great depth about his parents’ journey from the Caribbean to Britain in support of the recently established NHS.

David Lambert, director of Cultural Solutions UK, which is behind the project, said: "They all have a story and we were curious about the connections Lincolnshire had with the Carribean.

"We're harvesting testimonials. It's about acknowledging and celebrating the economic and cultural contribution of the Caribbean community to Great Britain."

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