Honouring roots and shaping the future: our voice for the Windrush generation
The Windrush Society, founded by Max Thomas, is built on a team of volunteers local to Ipswich, but with our young voices, more action can be made to share the stories of the Windrush generation and celebrate their achievements.
As a young person of Caribbean descent, I feel strongly that us younger generations need to speak for our relatives that went through not only the challenges of moving to Ipswich from the Caribbean, but the variety of achievements and lives they lived to the fullest.
My story:
My great grandma Edna Allen and my grandma Donna Mae Allen moved to Ipswich from the beautiful country of Antigua; they settled in the small town and made lives for themselves with the help of their Christianity and the community around them. Despite the challenges of racial abuse, discrimination and financial hardships, they thrived and lived to the fullest, as my grandma made a family of her own.
She made sure to educate us all on our culture and the God that helped her every step of the way, she became well known to those in Ipswich through her loving heart and her wise words. It was hard to walk around town beside her without people stopping for a chat that usually lasted a while. Her passing affected us all heavily, the church community felt her loss and our family felt as if she had been taken away from us so suddenly but we relief ourselves of this sadness by remembering she is now in a better place, heaven, where she can thrive without illness.
My great grandma and my grandma are just two examples of how amazing the Windrush generation truly are, no matter the hardships, they found their home in Ipswich and thrived in their little community made on hope, love and understanding of one another.
I feel we should celebrate the Windrush generation everyday, it shouldn’t be dedicated to just one day but their legacies should be a topic of daily conversation and remembrance. My question is, what can us young people do to keep their stories alive today?
The call to youth:
Max Thomas, the founder of the Windrush society for 28 years, has expressed his need for the black youth of Ipswich, expressing the importance for them to pass down the stories of the Windrush generation and speak for their ancestors' achievements and challenges.
There are many opportunities to share the messages and stories of the Windrush generation through art.
The Windrush Quilt project that was held in the Hold in 2025 was a community initiative led by the Suffolk Windrush Select Committee and the Ipswich Windrush society, that featured handmade quilts that honour the journeys and legacy of the Windrush generation.
Through volunteering, we can support the reflection room, encouraging and guiding visitors through the memorabilia and share the stories of those on the memorial wall.
The annual Windrush festival would benefit from the voices of young volunteers who can be advocates for the elderly Windrush generation.
