Celebrating the 75th Windrush Anniversary: The Mighty Wanderer

On the 15th July, there was an event in South London, Morden at a recreational park to celebrate the 75th Windrush Anniversary. There were several Caribbean food stalls and black owned business promotions in honour of this celebration. Amongst the crowd of people was a jewellery maker named David Hinds. He had tables out with his hand made jewellery.

David Hinds is a Rastafarian of Guyanese origin, he is deeply engaged in his roots and has various strong beliefs about the Windrush celebrations. David gave his insight into the Afro-Caribbean cultural developments and the overall celebrations of the Windrush Anniversary.

David Hinds, also known as the “Mighty Wanderer”, was a former acrobat. He was forced to retire due to a car accident, since then he has been pursuing jewellery making and DJing.

In the interview, he said “I’ve been doing jewellery since the 1980s, been to South America; Brazil, French Guiana, Dutch Guiana; Caribbean, Trinidad Barbados, St Lucia; Europe been to Holland, Poland, Portugal and Africa been to Ghana and Ethiopia. I have been doing it in the UK since the 90s.”

“In Dutch Guiana 1980 I learned to make jewellery and from then I never stopped.”

He is very familiar with travelling, but still has strong connections to his homeland. David Hinds’ mum was part of the Windrush movement and travelled from Guyana to the UK in the early 1960s.

He said “My mum came from Guyana to Trinidad by plane and then from Trinidad to England by boat in 1961.”

“I don’t know what she done for work, because I didn’t come with her, I met her 38 years later.”

In the Windrush movement, many Caribbean nationals came over with the ambition to work and live a more prosperous life.

David Hinds explained “It’s not as easy as you think, many people try to come to the UK, or America or Canada with an expectation that they can work a certain amount of time and build a dream and go back. But lots of people end up staying here for many reasons. Sometimes it’s like a comfort zone, sometimes they don’t have a family back home.”

“People just stay, make a life and get children, get into the system and get a bit more comfort.”

As a result, some of the Windrush generation have produced further generations that have grown to live in the UK. Mr Hinds insists this does not always have the best outcome.

He explained “I don’t think anyone coming from the Caribbean should forget their native land and stop mixing with the culture and people.”

“The mistake that a lot of parents make, they don’t take the kids to the Caribbean and let them experience Caribbean life. A lot of British born youths who have Caribbean parents don’t have a clue.”

“In this country they don’t really open the culture for us, they give us a little space but not enough to get our culture out there. We are stifled with our culture.”

“It’s the fault of the parents, I don’t blame it on the kids.”

Regarding Windrush events, David believes there should be a greater depiction of the Windrush. He suggests that there may be a lack of knowledge about the Caribbean culture from the people hosting these events.

“I’ve been to a few Windrush events and I don’t see the emphasis on the Windrush.”

“On the stage there’s a lot of nonsense, nothing to do with Windrush.”

“Need to get people on the stage modelling like the people that came of the boat, with their little hat and briefcase. Need Calypsonians to come up and sing, not all of this whine up Vybz Kartel music.”

“On the stage there should be something depicting the Windrush, people come up on stage and talking stories.”

The anniversary of the Windrush is a time to be celebrated for all people with Caribbean Heritage, David Hinds is very supportive of this. However, he believes that standards of the celebrations do not reflect the traditional ways of the Windrush generation. In the future he hopes that there is more exposure for all nations who were involved in the Windrush, and a greater emphasis on traditional depictions.

AUTHOR

SAMUEL GENTLES