Many interviewees found that what they had learned about Britain in the Caribbean was not the case. Erena Kydd was “amazed because the things that you hear in the Caribbean. It was completely different until you came and saw what it was like. It was very cold and the surroundings were strange. The different speeches: although we speak English, it is broken and the way they would ask you different questions. Sometimes you found it a bit difficult to answer the questions.”

Murriel Bussue was surprised to see people wearing “twin sets. All the pictures that we saw of England were with people wearing coats and I remember the first day I went out shopping in C&A and I remember thinking they had dresses without sleeves! I saw clothes that I was accustomed to. I suppose it was like what they had thought about us because they believed we came from monkeys and if they asked us the time our tails would drop.”

Dr Franklyn Jacobs went straight from the airport to a lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons. His first impressions were, “I want to get out of here! During the luncheon period, feeling thirsty, I stepped into a pub asking for a glass of iced water. I was met with dumbfounded looks, as if I’d spoken in a foreign language. Apparently they’d never received such a request before, as no one understood what I’d meant!”

Margaret Knight arrived in 1949 and was very aware of how much Britain had suffered from the war, particularly bomb damage. She loved the countryside but was surprised to see large advertisements that “proclaimed: ‘This is the Strong country’. I wondered what was ‘strong’ about the countryside. It never dawned on me that by ‘Strong’ they were referring to Hampshire ale! It was a great pleasure to see the green fields and pastures, with cows and sheep grazing, and to pass through little villages along the way. This was the part of England that I liked.”

Caswell Jeffrey thought the UK “was quite strange! I missed my family but I knew I came here with the intentions of making things better. I made myself quite comfortable and at home.”

Caswell Jeffrey (left) at work with colleagues

“I want to get out of here! During the luncheon period, feeling thirsty, I stepped into a pub asking for a glass of iced water. I was met with dumbfounded looks, as if I’d spoken in a foreign language. Apparently they’d never received such a request before, as no one understood what I’d meant!”

Dr Franklyn Jacobs