Caribbeans travelled to the UK by ship or plane, usually by ship. The journey by ship took two to three weeks. For many it was a journey into the unknown. Some travelled alone, others with friends and relatives. From 1955 the British and Barbados governments provided loans and there was some sponsorship, but most people paid their own passage, or had to replay loans at a later stage. Parents too often funded the fares.

Dr Stanley Moonsawmy remember that “in those days, in 1956, most of the transport from the Caribbean was by ship not plane and so it was a French passenger liner which collected me and my mother to bring us across the Atlantic to Plymouth, and then a train up to London.”

Erena Kydd left St Vincent in 1959 “because of adventure. Everybody was leaving at that time, so I wanted a bit of what was going on!” She came over by boat. “There were lots of people from different areas in the country. We came from a small boat from St Vincent to Trinidad, spent a week in Trinidad and then left Trinidad and boarded the Erskine to come to England.”

Dr Nola Ishmael “came by plane to London Airport, now Heathrow. I travelled with a number of people who went to different hospitals. I remember being at the airport in Bridgetown; it was called Seawell at the time.

When it was my turn to go through the departure gates, there was a person who was checking the names off. I said my name but they didn’t have me on the list and I thought gosh if I get sent back my dad would say ‘If you were meant to go, you would of gone, so you’re not going.’ So while he was busy checking other people I walked on the plane and sat down! … My ticket was financed by loans from the Barbados government, which we all had to pay back.”

Louise Garvey “came to England in 1957 when I was 15 and a half, by plane. Most of my

think it’s time that you sent Louise to her mother.’ So my grandmother sort of got everything that was needed; the necessary papers. Before I came across, my grandma had heard that England was so cold; when I was growing up they used to say I’m very delicate. So what she did she got the Jamaican newspaper, because she heard that it would keep you warm, and she cut that out and made it into a vest. So that went onto my slip that I had on and then she made a red vest and put it over that and that kept me really warm coming across from Jamaica to England!”

The British liner SS Empire Windrush at port, 28 March 1954