City honours Windrush with new annual festival

A festival celebrating the anniversary of the Windrush is set to take place for the first time in Coventry.

The Windrush Festival will see five days of events to pay tribute to Caribbean migrants and their families who came to the UK to help rebuild post-war Britain.

Staged at venues across the city, the festival will begin on 18 June and end on 22 June, marking Windrush Day - the day in 1948 when the HMT Empire Windrush arrived in England at Tilbury Docks.

The city council said the main feature will be the creation of a Windrush Cultural Archive which will be permanently housed at Coventry University.

Coventry secured £22,500 of Government funding to stage the festival.

Councillor John McNicholas said it will become an annual fixture in the city's calendar.

He said: "We are delighted to be staging our first ever Windrush Festival and honouring the brave people who travelled across the world to start new lives and build a new future.

"That day, 78 years ago, changed the world and it changed Coventry. We will be forever grateful to the Windrush Generation."

The programme will include film screenings, public lectures, a flag-raising ceremony, live performances, an awards ceremony, and a service at Coventry Cathedral.

McNicholas said the festival will be a city-wide act of remembrance, recognition and cultural celebration.

He said: "The people who made that voyage helped rebuild our city after the devastation of the war, but they did so much more. They, their children and grandchildren, helped to create the wonderful multicultural city we love today.

"I hope people and communities across the city will join in to learn, reflect, honour and celebrate a moment in history that has brought so much to our city."

Entrance to all events are free. They include the below:

• 18 June, LBT Showrooms, Barrel Children: The Families Windrush Left Behind film screening.
• 19 June, Caribbean Centre, Reggae Theatrics: Dub Poetry, Words, Sound, Power and Resistance: public lecture by Dr Martin Glynn
• 20 June, Roots in Motion: an outdoor one-day festival with music, dance, movement and sound system culture.
• 21 June, Coventry Cathedral, Coventry Windrush Service
• 22 June, Council House: Windrush Flag Raising: the festival closes with a civic flag-raising ceremony.
• 22 June, Arawak Community Trust Windrush Awards honouring those whose work, leadership and service continue to enrich Coventry.`

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