Laughter. My name is Godfrey Henry oliver palmer, and i was Born Injamaica in1940. Big set. Carmen esmee e s m e steele. I am mrs munroe. Lacita alexander reid. 20th may 1931, in manchester, jamaica. Yeah. Piano refrain plays. Emotive strings play. Plaintive woodwind plays. Chirpy piano tune plays. History is thankfully and finally beginning to accord a rightful place to those men and women of the windrush generation. You look beautiful. How are you . It is, i believe, crucially important that we should truly see and hear these pioneers who stepped off the Empire Windrush at tilbury injune i9li8, only a few months before i was born. And those who followed over the decades to recognise and celebrate the immeasurable difference that they, their children and their grandchildren have made to this country. Many served with distinction in the British Armed forces during the second world war, just as their fathers and grandfathers had in the first world war. Once in britain, they worked hard, offering their skills to rebuild a country during peacetime and seeking opportunities to forge a Better Future for themselves and their families. When they arrived on our shores with little more than what they were able to carry with them, few could hardly have imagined then how they and those that followed them would make such a profound and permanent contribution to british life. We were often ex servicemen, to come back to britain. To build the country back. During the war, a lot of things that shouldnt be done wasnt done. Britain was flattened by the germans. And a lot of west indian come. There was a shortage of workers here. England have the money, but jamaica have the men. I heard about it three months before i bought my ticket. £28 something. And i remember something pence. And i was looking forward to it. This year as we honour the legacy and achievements of the windrush generation, i dearly hope that we can continue to embrace differences, listen to each other� s stories, and learn from one another� s experiences. It is these stories that help light the path of progress and remind us of a fundamental truth that though we might all be different, every individual, no matter their background, has Something Special to contribute to our society in a way that strengthens us all. Well, its not every day that youre approached by the king. Honestly, when they first emailed me, i thought it was a scam. I was like, ok. So the king selected me . Yeah, right. And your sister and daughter, your daughter, your sister is an olympian . Three times. Yes. 400 meters. Oh, amazing. A lot of my work is about escapism. Im going to get right in here. Dont mind me. And in this sense, im engaging with a man and his family and his story in a very real way. That would be perfect. Jesses a remarkable woman. Shes from an incredible generation and shes seen so much history. And its nice to be able to document just a tiny bit of that history. Im here to take a few photos of her and do a few sketches and try and take Something Back to my studio that i can use. In her portrait. What do you think . I thought you wouldnt fit. As an artist, i its opportunities like this thatl offer me a chance to tell people stories that im sure consider themselves unseen. Its nice. Its important to understand history. A project like this where i guess were dealing with a lot of histories that oftentimes feel swept under the rug, its good to get, you know, from the source, and then maybe it can make a start in a direction of rectifying some of those gaps in some of those stories, some of those bits that are missing. Well, this is clifton powell. Hes going to be i doing your portrait. Its a pleasure to meet you. Pleasure meeting you. This is new to me as well. You know that. I have to call my niece on my landline to ask her whats going on on here. I was so nervous when i first met carmen because ive literally grown up seeing her on television. What does it mean . The question of the windrush generation, which is my parents generation, that question of migrating from one place and all the kinds of expectations and then the actual of what happens once that move has taken place and that persons perspective on the life theyve lived here. So, those things were immediately fascinating and interesting. Have you had your portraits painted before . No, no. Its going to be your first time . The photos on the wall has inspired me. What family means to you. Yes. You know, and its a beautiful thing ithat i will try as much as possiblel to touch base on the process of making the portrait. Im actually Working On My Uk visa documents. Im going on them and i feel| like its very symbolic for us. When i go back to ghana, im going to, like, put all the images together. Im looking forward to bringing your portrait to life. My name isjohn mitchell richard. I was Born Injamaica, the parish of portland, the district of prospect. Alfred gardner, born in kingston, jamaica, 27thjanuary 1926. Delisa augustus bernard. I was born 1928. I was born in at the time, british guyana. Oh, gosh, its very difficult. I have to sort of come away again in order to tell you what it was like, because it wasjust like home. How do you describe home . You know, my family was very orthodox methodist, you know . My family was very orthodox methodist, and so i inherited that christian background with discipline and hard work. It was a big family. My siblings, of course, and the parents. My father died early, in the early 50s, so i stay home with my mother to lookj after the younger ones. I dont like to remember some of it. But one thing i decided, i wasnt going to steal to help the younger ones. I work and i work. My father sent me to learn. Just making. Dress making. When i small, i used to do, make my own clothes for myself. I did everything i was, everything a wife should do, everything. At one time, i thought i could do anything a boy could do. Idid. I didnt know that there was a life to come. Edna may henry. Born in jamaica. When i had the phone call about they wanted to do a portrait for my mum, i was over the moon. I kept it quiet for a while before id even told my mother. I think its fantastic. She deserves this because of what she contributed for wales. I have not been to wales before. Its part of my process to dress my models and i decided that it might be fun just to spend some time with her, to get to know her and to warm up together over shopping. Because who doesnt like to shop . Well, thats fantastic. To know that, you know, im painting somebody. From jamaica the same place that im from. From jamaica the same place that im from. I its an experience. Its a new experience for me. You know, it shouldnt be, but it is, you know . Oh, thats lovely. My name is gilda eunice oliver, and i was born in and bear road district. So i was wondering if. If you like this with like a blouse underneath. Yeah. Or a scarf. Like a silk scarf or Something Like that. I dont know much right now. Im looking forward to speaking to her. I do know that she worked as a Health Care Professional and that shes a very proud woman and raised a family here and has, i think, probably as deep connection to herjamaican roots as she does to her british roots. I spent 23 years in the hospital. Nursing assistant. I was a nurse auxiliary. I washed the patients, i feed them, comfort them, let them feel good. Yeah, we have a laugh sometimes. Theres some that cant feed themselves and we have to feed them. We have to bathe them and have to dress them and sometimes some of them dirty themselves. And we have to take them to the bathroom. And we have to bathe them. I didnt likejust. I used, i like to put them in the bath and give them a good bath. I know that theyre clean. Dress them and put them in the chair to sit. Sometimes they try to be rough to me, but i dont, i didnt take no mind. You dont pay no mind. Some of the rest of them, as soon as they get that, they stick to you. Because we were so kind to them. They stick to you. It was a hard job. It was hard. To be truthful, i didnt know i would spend 23 years in the hospital. I want it to look exactly like her. Everything here is about mrs oliver. At the end of the day, everything connects. And it comes down to a point. Mrs oliver is the point. Because this is going to touch her soul, to see herself in a painting. I really just want to try to pull her story out of this. Hello. Hi. How are you . Thats important for me in the making of the portrait, is to just know how she feels about this, know how she feels about the life that she lived here. I just want you to try on tonight. Yes. Is this one . I used to do long hours. I used to work 7 00 in the morning till 8 00 in the evening. Ive got five girls and three boys. Yeah. In then night when i go in to work, i kiss them and say good night. I and in the morning, sometimes if theyre on holiday, they dont wake up so early. So before they wake up, like i started sometime, they dont realize that i go to work. Theyve always been very good to me and the country has been good to me as well because i love me to have a job that i can get and look after the children. Because its not every year you work, you can get a job to fit in with the family, like the children. I but some of the patient then was, you know, prejudice. This girl came up and she said, oh, i dont want your tea. And i always say, all right, then. You go. If you dont want it, you go. You lose weight. When im going out, she come back and she said, are you here tomorrow morning . And i said, yes, im here tomorrow morning. Okay. You know, but ijust laugh it off and walk away from, you know, it didnt. I didnt think nothing about them, you know, because, you know, theyre not as sensible as me. So therefore, ijust leave them alone. How does she feel about this commission . About her relationship to her own identity and to bring a deeper meaning into this . For me, just through her words and not my own. Im proud of myself to, you know, to be so faithful to the nhs and the ward that i work because i work hard on that ward. All right. I think were good. My father left us in 1947, probably. He went to america. I hisjob that he was doing probably. Wasnt making enough money to look after the family. You leave jamaica for there was no work and a crowded house. Yeah. Jamaica was a crowded house. When you leaving your own country, you always feel not too great to leave it because you are leaving your family and all your friends. And thats how things goes. Part of life. It was quite normal. It wasnt unusual. You know, this is a i result of our history. Historically, slavery provided work, in a sense that you were working. I however, when slavery ended, i then the, you know, the colonial period was one where men walked about looking for work. You dont know what youre going to make until you make it. I guess itsjust, between now and the finish line, itsjust attempts, you know, knowing that theres going to be a struggle. Glasses off. Knowing its a process of not giving up. And thats thats what thats thats what would take me there. Same as last time, i guess, ill do five minute sketches. My challenge is to make something that big john feels is familiar, resembles him. Appreciated by himself and whoever he deems important to see it as well. Hes a role model, so, you know, lets try and put him in a position of being that role model. I noticed that hes in a lot of, like, photographs from back in the day. So he was, i dont know, to me, hes almost like this, like handsome pin up kind of character. Theres a certain generation who, if it wasnt for the way they carried themselves, the way they survived, then, you know, we might not be here with such strength. There was a pride, able to stand our ground. So, yeah, thats what someone ofjohns age and energy represents to me. My work is about investigation and rediscovery. For a kid who i was at school, who loved reading stories, but never felt reflected by them, any opportunity to build on that, to share that, grow that. Thats my take. Im here to go to alfreds house and meet him for the first time, introduce myself and get to know him a little bit so that it can inform what sort of painting i produce for him. And get photos. Because i am a Realist Painter and i work from photos predominantly, so its all about the photo. The better the photo, the better the painting will be. Hello. Nice to meet you. Ive got really cold hands. Just so you know. I want to capture the true essence of alfred. Just like the kind of normal man that he is. I think a lot of paintings can add a level of sort of pomp, which im not about. Ijust want to capture something realistic and raw and honest to do realistic and raw and honest. Im going to do a hyper detailed portrait for you. So the more the camera captures, the better. I do know a little bit about alfred already because i did some research and it looks like he came from jamaica to england on the windrush and he joined the raf. My granddad was recruited for the raf in 1958 and i said, like, did you enjoy it . He was like, not really. What about you . He came at the wrong time. When i came here, i mean, the war was still on. The best thing was get to know where you were, get to know the people and. Keep your nose clean. Keep your nose clean . Dont get involved with anything. What do you feel is the key aspect of who you are and what you want represented in the painting . Hmm. Really, its up to you. Sometimes you can have really serious portraits, but youve got such a great laugh, i feel like i want to capture some of the, some of the candid nature of your personality. Really. Yeah. A lot of memories go back into good reggae music. A lot of good memories, yep. All the teaching of english, everything you did in jamaica was english. How else do you teach anybody . It has to be like that, i you know what i mean . British guiana. British guyana. One of my First Experience says about britain was when, injamaica, youre taught many, many songs. Thats part of education. You sang a lot in schools. One day i went home and my aunts said, you know, what did you do at school today, boy . And i said, we sang songs. And she said, which one . Could you sing us one . And i said, yeah. And i sang my love is like a red, red rose. And my aunts went silent. And then they said, why are they teaching you to sing these dirty songs for when youre just a boy . The english history book was about two and a half inches thick. The jamaican one was about a quarter inch, so ijust didnt like it. It was a big taboo to me, english history. I would not learn it. After high school, youll be working for the government. Or as time went by and it became obvious that another thing you could do was to leave. You could do was to leave guyana and come to the mother country. The mother country. The term was used often, you know, during your education. So, most people of the windrush generation, like myself, were not formally educated to, you know, because they didnt go to private schools or posh schools. But we knew or we were told a lot about britain. Why is this photograph so important to you . I because. It� s in perhaps a small way, help to break down the barriers. Hm. With figures like him, we see their accomplishments and they hide a lot of the scars. And i think for me, im interested in where the discomfort lies and what he might might be keeping beneath the surface and how we can bring that into a richer understanding of who he is. Good afternoon. With low pressure nearby for yet another weekend, theres more wet weather in the forecast, mostly in the form of showers such as here in cornwall, where we have a towering cumulonimbus cloud, but also sunny spells in between. Surfs up towards coastal areas in particular with a Brisk Southwesterly wind, dry and brighter toward Southeast England and east anglia. Sunshine and showers set to continue for much of the rest of the weekend, but also a quieter looking day for most of tomorrow. Here is that deep area of low pressure moving very slowly further eastwards as we head through today. Tighter isobars across northwest wales, gusts up to 40mph here. Elsewhere, up 30mph to 40mph with a Brisk Southwesterly and it is blustery for this time of the year. Sharp showers around moving through quickly on that brisk wind. Sharp and thundery across eastern scotland, northeastern england and through the midlands. Dryer across east anglia through the afternoon drier across east anglia through the afternoon with temperatures getting as high as 2a degrees. Through this evening, a lot of those showers will fade away, leaving dry weather with bright spells. Showers continue across scotland with lows of 12 west into tomorrow morning. Some of us will start sunday with the areas of cloud but that will break up again giving sunny spells. A quieter looking day, but with showers feeding into Northern Ireland and western scotland, particularly through the afternoon. Another system approaching the far South West Of England and western wales. A quieter looking day with more sunshine, temperatures around 22. Sunshine, temperatures around 20 23. Heading through sunday night, this rain is likely to move into wales in central Southern England into monday morning, then moving further northwards and eastwards. The showers fading away across scotland and Northern Ireland through monday and may stay dry here. It could stay dry for South East England and east anglia through the day on monday too, but then that system moves away, drawing in warmer feeling air from the south, so High Pressure dominates particularly toward southern areas as we head through next week. With that south eastward wind, temperatures could start to rise, particularly in the south. Live from london. This is bbc news. Six migrants have been killed trying to cross the english channel. The french authorities are searching for several people still missing. Hawaiis Attorney General ordered an investigation into the handling of wildfires on maui. At least eight people have been known to die. England reached the semifinals of the womens world cup. They will face australia after the hosts beat france in an incredible 20 penalties in the shoot out. The french Authorities Say six people have died and several people are still missing after a Boat Carrying migrants sank in the english channel. More than 50 were rescued. The home secretary Suella Braverman said her thoughts and prayers were with those affected by the loss of life. Richard galpin reports. The french Authorities Say a major Rescue Operation was launched this morning in response to a report that a migrant boat was sinking off the coast of sangatte. About 50 people were rescued, and some were taken to hospital
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