Windrush 2019
In 2019, Hackney was awarded £10,00 from the Government’s Windrush Day Grant fund to deliver Hackney’s first Windrush microgrant scheme. This went on to deliver our first Windrush Festival in addition to the annual Windrush tea party.
Read on to find out more about this momentous year for Hackney’s Windrush activity which aims to both support and celebrate the Windrush Generation.
Diners at the 2019 tea party at the Stoke Newington Town Hall
Windrush Tea Party
2019’s tea party was held at Stoke Newington Town Hall, where members of the Windrush Generation and their families enjoyed tea and cake with live musical performances from Jah Bunny All Stars and speeches from Hackney Councillors addressing the Scandal.
Real Life Selfie Project
Photographer Rafael Hortala-Vallve and filmmaker Nick Francis captured Windrush day via ‘the Real Life Selfie Project’ using an analogue photobooth from the 1970s as their camera of choice. These images went on to produce a beautiful book of portraits and stories from Hackney’s Windrush Generation. You can read the book online. The portraits were also beautifully displayed in the ‘Selfies and Stories’ exhibition at the prestigious Autograph Gallery in Shoreditch and can still be accessed online.
Attendees in front of the Real Life Selfie Project exhibition and booth at the Windrush Day tea party 2019
Watch: Video highlights from the 2019 Windrush tea party.
Windrush Festival 2019
Using funding from the Windrush Day Grant fund, Hackney Council launched what went on to be an annual grant scheme to support community groups to deliver events to honour the Windrush Generation. These events became part of Hackney’s first Windrush Festival dedicated to both celebrating and supporting the Windrush generation.
The extended festival programme also included the Windrush Baking Project, which saw Windrush members of all generations get together to share and bake traditional Caribbean recipes. Dishes chosen by the seniors ranged from Plantain Tarts to Spiced Pumpkin Cake and captured in a special Windrush cookbook and sold in local bookshops.
Windrush Baking Day - recipes can be read in the downloadable cookbook
Microgrant highlights
In 2019 Hackney was awarded £10,00 from the Government’s Windrush Day Grant fund to deliver community microgrants. This was the start of the annual scheme to fund community members to produce festival events every year. Funded groups included Tropical Isles, R Consultancy, House Of Amau, the Gillett Square Domino Club, Friends of Woodberry Downs, Uprising Community Club and the Hackney Caribbean Elderly Association.