Walsall church celebrates the Windrush generation

Central Hall Methodist Church is hosting the exhibition, less than a week before the 75th anniversary of HMT Windrush Empire docking at Tilbury in London, when it brought 482 men and women from the Caribbean to help rebuild the UK after the Second World War.

Bishop Desmond Jaddoo, who has just been awarded an MBE for services to the Windrush generation, gave a talk on Friday afternoon and Victor Richards performed a play he had also written, called Streets Paved with Gold, which had a 1950s and 60s style lounge as a backdrop.

There was also an illustrated talk from Monica Brown, the author of My Journey back to Zambia, and saxophonist Irvine Lewis provided some alternative Caribbean music.

Saturday will see Horace Barnes, a passenger on the HMT Windrush, give a talk on his experiences on board and since he arrived in the UK, and Sharon Jackson presenting Broken beyond Measure, in which she talks about the events around the ship landing in the UK.

There will also be typical Caribbean food served, along with more music and guests.

One of the organisers, Christine Gregory, said although the national celebrations were based around the actual date of HMT Windrush docking on June 22, they wanted to precede it with a programme of talks, music and drama about the whole immigrant experience.

She said: "Not all Windrush generation migrants arrived on the Empire Windrush itself but the ship did become a symbol of the wider mass migration movement and that is what the programme we have is based around

"It features people who came over during the 1940s and early 1950s and their children and wider family and their experiences of becoming a part of the country and the community, particularly in the West Midlands."

*The Windrush event continues from 11am today at the Central Hall Methodist Church, Ablewell Street, Walsall.