The Parallel History Project
The ship the Empire Windrush came to England in August 1948, which marked the beginning of changes to Britain culture, forever. The children of the Windrush – ‘The Second Generation’ are now in 50’s, 60's and some have reached pensionable age. We have now spent a lifetime here in Britain, in Nottingham, being classified has British, often not feeling quite 'English' and creating and living a ‘Parallel History’ to many of our counterparts. Arguably, has a group of people we have had some of the most profound impacts on British culture in modern times and the idea of this site is to tell some of the stories of this often forgotten section of Britain's cultural makeup.
Padstow School 1981 - some of the crew!
The project was the brainchild of Dennis Davis, which in turn was supported by Confetti and financed by Hyson Green Youth Club
PARALLEL HISTORY PROJECT BROADCAST EPISODES
We were able to create five 24 minute documentaries that began to share some of the experiences of the second generations Windrush children, who were born and grew up in Nottingham.
These were initially aired on Notts TV in November 2022 and again June 2023 around the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Empire Windrush. Below are all of the episodes. Please leave your comments and any thoughts. It is my intention to grow the website and add more content as time goes on.
GALLERY
I want to create a gallery of memories that celebrate being Black in the 60's, 70's & 80's
These images show faces, hairstyles, fashion, etc that are an insight into life during this period. Some depict elements of culture that has been forgotten, merged and/or unseen and therefore represent an opportunity to share and educate us all about the richness of our experience of being Black and British.
