On Monday 22 June, we celebrated Windrush Day, honouring the lasting contributions and cultural legacy of the Windrush Generation who were invited from the Caribbean post World War II to help rebuild Britain.

Curated by our jazz artists, alumni and musical mentors Ayo Vincent and Ava Joseph, Windrush Day: Carrying the Flame included stories, readings and spell-binding musical performances from our young musicians spanning Ska, Reggae, Calypso and Jazz and our esteemed guests.

Thank you to our special guests who all have personal links to Windrush Day:

• Baroness Floella Benjamin, who came to England as a 10-year-old from Trinidad and who read from her acclaimed children’s book, ‘Coming to England‘. Baroness Floella was instrumental in establishing the official ‘Windrush Day’ annually on 22 June, which has run since 2018
• Marsha de Cordova, Labour MP for Battersea who champions the arts and community culture and who’s grandparents emigrated from Jamaica to the UK to rebuild a post-war Britain and work in the newly formed National Health Service
• Cleveland Watkiss, one of the most celebrated Jazz Vocalists of his generation, MBE co-founder of the Jazz Warriors for his Caribbean heritage and first-hand storytelling with both parents arriving from Jamaica in the 1950s

The concert was a truly uplifting, vibrant celebration of the arts that unites our community—honouring our roots, embracing today, and sparking tomorrow’s creativity!

Thank you for honouring and remembering the Windrush Generation.  It was such a beautiful event on Monday and so evocative of my childhood and life growing up in the bosom of a St Lucian Community in Elgin Avenue. Windrush reminds us of the cultural significance of these rather tiny islands who punched way above their geographical size, leaving a magnificent legacy of music, food and the written word Alison, Audience member