Windrush 75 Service

A ‘Windrush 75’ Service of Thanksgiving and Celebration will take place on Sunday 25 June to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the arrival at Tilbury Docks of the first post-war Caribbean workers on HMT Empire Windrush on 22 June 1948. The service will run from 4.45pm to 7.00pm at The New Testament Church of God, 240 Lozells Road, Birmingham B19 1NP.

The Service of Thanksgiving is being organised by a number of Birmingham’s Black-led churches. Guests will include the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, The Bishop of Aston, a representative of the Lord Lieutenant, the Archbishop of Birmingham, and bishops and pastors from the city’s Black-led Churches. Among the community organisations involved are the Windrush National Organisation, the Windrush Movement (UK), the Association of Jamaica Nationals, the Birmingham Empowerment Forum, West Midlands Faith in Action and The Council of Black-majority Churches.

The service will honour the past, address the present and look to the future. The Birmingham Windrush Choir will sing at the service. There will be contributions from Churches Together in England’s General Secretary Bishop Mike Royal and Principal Officer for Pentecostal, Charismatic and Multi-cultural Relations Shermara Fletcher. There will be a special commemoration of Bert Carless, who became Birmingham City Council’s first non-white Councillor in 1979.

In preparation for the service, requests have been released for the following information:

• Wedding photos of Windrush generation to be placed in a collage to be e-mailed to ermytime2@gmail.com
• The names of candidates for the oldest surviving member of the Windrush Generation in Birmingham to be e-mailed to birminghamef@gmail.com
• Confirmation whether a Jamaican passenger on the HMT Empire Windrush in June 1948 who settled in the Newtown area is still alive to be e-mailed to birminghamef@gmail.com

Comments and questions concerning arrangements for the service should be addressed to the chair of the organising team Bishop Desmond Jaddoo on 07946 374577 or at birminghamef@gmail.com. Information about the Windrush National Organisation can be accessed HERE. The e-documents ‘Why the Windrush matters today’ can be downloaded free-of-charge HERE and ‘Celebrating Windrush 75’ HERE.