Birmingham poet reflects ahead of Windrush day

Amanda Hemmings has worked to promote the legacy of the Windrush Generation, promoting an exhibition in 2019 about the experiences of her grandfather John Hemmings and other migrants from that period.

The 36-year-old, who lives in Birmingham, has also provided a workshop for St Michael’s C of E High School in Rowley Regis as part of their diversity programme.

Amanda said she learned her own links to the past from her grandfather John, who died in July 2019, and described how his death had affected her.

She said: "My granddad and I used to sit and talk in his garden quite a lot about Jamaica, where he was from, so when he passed away, when he died, I felt like I'd lost a friend.

"I had a really good granddad in the sense that he liked to talk, and particularly with me, I had that relationship where we would sort of sit and talk more."

Amanda had written a poem called "1954" as a tribute to John and his generation who came over from the Caribbean in the years following the second world war.

The poem talks about the journeys those travellers took from leaving the boat to settling in the UK and making a new life.

She said: "The first line just came to me as he stepped off the boat and breathed in the British mist, because I was thinking about the stories that he used to tell me.

"He came to England to try and better himself, because he was a skilled mechanic, but there were no jobs in Jamaica at the time.

"It just so happened that England were looking for skilled workers because of a skill shortage after the war, so he saw the opportunity and took it."

With Windrush Day set to take place on June 22, Amanda feels the impact of that generation on today's society is still very strong and should have a bigger celebration.

She said: "A lot of nurses from Caribbean islands came to England to help rebuild the NHS because there was a shortage of medical workers at the time, so you can see that link there.

"I feel like their contributions are huge but it hasn't necessarily been celebrated in the way that it should be.

"I'd like to see something in schools and something on television in the same way that we mark Remembrance Day because, essentially, they helped to rebuild the country."

To read "1954" and to see other works by Amanda, go to amandahemmingspoetry.wordpress.com