My Passion

What does Christmas mean to you? How does the new year make you feel?

 For me, I always remember my late parents this time of the year. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here. I love to show my appreciation and respect by remembering them.

 Remember mama, remember papa,

check out your family, discover your history….

(from my poem ‘Remember mama, remember papa’)

I never really understood why I had developed this great passion for our parents’ music, dance, fashion and food. Listening to their stories of back home growing up in the Caribbean was fascinating for me, along with their words of wisdom and their advice to us as children growing up.

 My mother passed away four years ago. Her life was filled with fun, jokes, laughter, good food and music.  I always remember the way they dance, not forgetting the cursing and arguments they had every other day, along with a good healthy church life. I believe that these memories had such a profound impact on my life. I knew deep down in my heart, one day soon, all of our parents lives and much more will fade away into a distant memory with very little documentation apart from what has been documented in the last 60 years, after all their challenges, struggles and pioneering hard work, when they first came to Great Britain ‘the mother country’. This is the main theme of my work ‘The Windrush Story’. 

The SS Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Dock (London) on 22 June 1948, carrying 492 passengers from Jamaica wishing to start a new life in the U.K. The passengers were the first large group of West Indian immigranting to the UK after the Second World War. My parents were amongs those who migrated to the country in the 50’s. I wrote a trilogy of one man plays around this theme,  ‘Streets Paved with Gold’ ‘Return to the Caribbean’ and ‘Children of the First Generation’ I will be writing my stories on what inspired me to write these plays in the future.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Windrush history and the background, watch the Youtube video clips ‘Windrush Story’ from my homepage. I believe that you will find it very interesting and educational especially good for schools.

The year 2012 is a time of uncertainty with the whole world’s economical climate creating instability for the majority of people. It is my feeling that we need to appreciate the memories of our parents a lot more in order to get back to traditional values of respect.

… Now times are changing, new faces appear, she’s seen them before but it was not here. She can hear the new lives as the old disappear, and hope is tinged with a sigh. Uncertainty looms as the path becomes clear, now the streets of gold are fading near…

(from my poem ‘Streets Paved with Gold’)