By Neil Armstrong

Toronto-based curator, Wendy Vincent, is taking her exhibition about 99-year-old Lloyd Lindo, fondly known as “Uncle Lloyd” and who is of the Windrush generation, to Jamaica as part of the Windrush, the Midwife of Modern Britain exhibition on June 21, one day before what is known as Windrush Day in the UK.

After World War Two, the British government called on thousands of people from its Caribbean colonies to help rebuild the country. Starting with the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush, which docked in Tilbury in 1948, many emigrated to the UK until 1971. Hundreds were from Jamaica, but others arrived from islands such as Trinidad, St Lucia, Grenada and Barbados. In the UK, Windrush Day has been held on June 22, 2018, to celebrate the contribution Caribbean migrants and their families have made there.

Vincent announced the news at “Windrush in Conversation,” a discussion with retired bank executive Ray Williams, and life coach Che Marville, held at Blackhurst Cultural Centre in Toronto in May which attracted many British-born Canadians whose parents were among the early Caribbean immigrants to Britain and subsequently moved to Canada. The event also launched Windrush Canada.

“It’s about capturing the data before this becomes a memory project. I’m so fortunate that Uncle Lloyd has entrusted me to tell his story. He’s 99 years young and it’s a blessing to have a conversation with him as my elder.” Vincent said his data and ephemera are in equally pristine condition.

She said many like her have grown up with their Windrush elders, but not everyone is sharing for whatever reason. At this stage of the age of the Windrush generation, not everyone is around anymore and the data is gone with them.

Vincent alluded to the late Karl Fuller and Lillie Johnson who were members of the Jamaican Canadian Association and of the Windrush generation.

She said Johnson had a cohort of nurses from the UK, who having started in the Caribbean, moved to Canada to live and work here. Noting that Johnson was part of the National Health Service (NHS) in those years and later became an icon of healthcare in Canada, especially for her work around sickle cell, the curator said the historical record about Johnson being part of Windrush has been lost.

“Windrush in Conversation” brought together many who were just realizing that their friends and acquaintances present were descendants of the Windrush generation.

 “There’s this commonality; it’s like we’re part of a small town and there’s so much common thread and common experience.”

She said the June 21 exhibition in Water Lane, Kingston, is led by a curatorial team at the Jamaica Music Museum and the National Library of Jamaica, under the direction of Herbie Miller and Tricia Lawrence Powell respectively.

“This will be a pilot exhibition where each year coincides with Windrush Day. It will be a curatorial experience in Jamaica to acknowledge Windrush,” said Vincent, noting that the display will have an array of archival footage, including the first trip of the HMT Empire Windrush as it left Jamaica and landed in England.  

There will be photos from prominent figures such as Dizzy Reece, Royal Air Force, bus conductors, alongside the Uncle Lloyd content she has been curating since 2024.

Lloyd Lindo travelled to Canada from the United Kingdom in 1964 — after living in the United States and returning to Jamaica before relocating to England.

The Jamaican British Canadian lives with his daughter, Laurianne, in Amaranth, Dufferin County, Ontario.

Vincent said the project is not exclusive to the Jamaica diaspora; she will be connecting with people from other Caribbean islands.

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