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Review of Windrush Play ‘Streets Paved With Gold’, a one-man play written and performed by Victor Richards.

On a warm evening on 21st June, 2023 we gathered at the UCLAN Media Centre in Preston for a performance of Victor Richards’ play ‘Streets Paved With Gold’ organized by Preston Black History Group to commemorate the Windrush 75th anniversary.

It was a full house in the small theatre in the Media Centre, including many members of Preston’s African Caribbean community as well as members of Preston Historical Society and other interested Preston people.

Victor decked the stage with items that resonated with the African Caribbean audience and treat us to a riveting monologue that explored the experiences of his fictional character, August Cleveland Johnson, from his life in the Caribbean, his decision to answer the call to help Britain rebuild after WW2 through the disappointing reception he received here in the UK to building a life here for himself and his family.

There were many moments of laughter and appreciation from the African Caribbean members of the audience with details that echoed their own experiences. Audience members also expressed the fact that certain moments brought tears to their eyes. There was music, ‘moves’ (as ‘August’ showed off his dance skills), beautiful dresses worn by ‘August’s’ wife in her younger days, and anecdotes through the years. The performance kept the whole audience spellbound.

Afterwards there was a lively Q&A session where all sections of the audience explored the subjects raised in the play – from confirming their own experiences to describing the similar experiences of other migrant groups in the past and also in the present.

It was an enjoyable and thought-provoking evening for all, and a fitting way to mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the HMS Windrush in 1948.

PBHG would like to thank our partners, UCLAN, the Harris and Preston City Council for making this performance possible.


Upcoming events commemorating the important anniversaries in June 2023

Windrush 75th

Wednesday 21st June – ‘Streets Paved With Gold’ Free Windrush play by Victor Richards

at 19:00 UCLan Media Factory Kirkham Street Preston PR1 1JN

Book your free ticket on eventbrite


Battle of Bamber Bridge 80th

Thursday 22nd June – ‘Railway Children Return’ Free Film Screening

Doors open at 18.40hrs film starts at 19.00hrs

Methodist Church, Station Road. Bamber Bridge. PR5 6ED

Book your free ticket on eventbrite


Friday 23rd June – IBAR UCLAN Battle of Bamber Bridge 80th Anniversary Commemorative Event

16:00 – 20:30 University of Central Lancashire Fylde Road Preston PR1 2HE

Book your free ticket on eventbrite


Saturday 24th June – Main Celebration Festival at Ye Olde Hob Inn, 9 Church Road, Bamber Bridge, PR5 6EP

Details available on South Ribble Borough Council website


Saturday 24th June – ‘Choc’late Soldiers from the USA’ Free Film Screening

Doors open at 18.40hrs film starts at 19.00hrs

Methodist Church, Station Road. Bamber Bridge. PR5 6ED

Book your free ticket on Eventbrite


Sunday 25th June 2023 – Commemorative Service at Bamber Bridge Methodist Church

10.15 for 10.30 serviceall welcome!

Methodist Church, Station Road. Bamber Bridge. PR5 6ED


Sun 25th June – Re-walk the site of the battle up the main street in Bamber Bridge.

With commentary by Prof Alan Rice from UCLAN

1.30 from Ye Olde Hob Inn, 9 Church Rd, Bamber Bridge, PR5 6EP


poster for Streets Paved With Gold

Windrush 75: ‘Streets Paved With Gold’ – Free Windrush play written and performed by Victor Richards

Come and join us to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Windrush

Written and performed by Victor Richards. Streets Paved With Gold follows the journey of August Cleveland Johnson as he disembarks at Tilbury Docks on a grey November morning in 1948.

Follow his journey from the 1950s onwards as he explores the collective experiences of Black British citizens as well as the themes of hope, identity and change.

Wednesday 21st June 2023 at 19:00 UCLan Media Factory Kirkham Street Preston PR1 1JN

Book your free tickets https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/streets-paved-with-gold-free-windrush-play-tickets-650088009737


picture of the book 'England is My Home - Windrush lives in Lancashire'

England is my Home – Windrush lives in Lancashire

Book Event come and join us for a fascinating glimpse into the lives and journeys of 11 of Preston’s ‘Windrush Generation’

Book launch at Bamber Bridge Library

Bamber Bridge Library, Station Road, Bamber Bridge, Preston, PR5 6LA

Tuesday 14 March, 5:30pm – 7:00pm

Light refreshments provided

For more information please see our website, England Is My Home: Windrush lives In Lancashire – Event Details – Lancashire County Council

The event is free to attend. To book please contact: Alex Miller archives@lancashire.gov.uk or 01772 533039

Join the Preston Black History Group and Lancashire Libraries and Archives for the library launch of the new publication, ‘England Is My Home’: Windrush Lives In Lancashire, at Bamber Bridge Library on Tuesday 14 March 2023 (5:30pm – 7:00pm).

The project is a collaboration between the International Black Atlantic Research (IBAR), the Centre for Migration, Diaspora and Exile (MIDEX) at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), who brought together the stories of members of Preston’s Caribbean community, now captured in a new book.

The book features 11 stories about the lives of women and men from the Windrush generation who came to Lancashire in the 1950s and 1960s. In each chapter they discuss their upbringing, departure from the Caribbean and arrival in Britain, social and family life in Preston, reflections on the meaning of home and belonging, challenges of finding work and accommodation. They tell of suffering and overcoming adversity and prejudice, as well as community self-organisation over the decades and how sport, religion, and workplace environments forged lasting friendships.

The launch event welcomes narrators and others from the project who will read from their stories, with an introduction from Clinton Smith, Chair of Preston Black History Group.

Copies of the book will be available to purchase on the night and will also be available to borrow from March 2023 in libraries across Lancashire.


Lola Jaye ‘The Attic Child’

BHM event presented by ‘Writing on the Wall’ Liverpool

Date: Sunday 16th October

Location: The Bluecoat, 8 School Lane, Liverpool, L1 3BX

Time: 11am

Price: Free Writing on the Wall and The Bluecoat invite you to a public reading which explores the intersection of children’s voices and colonial legacies across Black British history. This event celebrates the launch of Lola Jaye’s epic novel, The Attic Child, which is inspired by Ndugu M’Hali (c.1865-77), known as Kalulu. As part of the author’s visit, we will invite children to a workshop with the author, followed by a public reading.

To Book visit

There are also links to other Black History Month events on the website.


Who do we think we were? Slavery, Abolition and the Manchester Lit & Phil

This IBAR event, in conjunction with the Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society, may be of interest to those of you who are in the proximity of Manchester (UK) next week on 1st June.  Booking required. Please find further information and link to book tickets at: 
https://www.manlitphil.ac.uk/events/who-do-we-think-we-were-slavery-abolition-and-manchester-lit-phil

Who do we think we were? Slavery, Abolition and the Manchester Lit & Phil | The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society About the research team. Professor Alan Rice is co-director of the Institute for Black Atlantic Research (IBAR) and director of the Research Centre in Migration, Diaspora and Exile (MIDEX) at UCLan. He works on interdisciplinary studies of the Black Atlantic, focusing on international and local histories of slavery and its memorialisation in literature, art, museums, galleries, and community … www.manlitphil.ac.uk

Best wishes from all at IBAR  **

Who do we think we were? Slavery, Abolition, and the Manchester Lit & Phil

Prof. Alan Rice; Dr Andrea Sillis; Drahoslava Máchová Wednesday, 1 June 2022 – 6:00pm Friends’ Meeting House

The Manchester Lit and Phil was founded in 1781, when the city’s rapidly mechanising textile industry placed it at the centre of global trade networks.  These networks were fuelled by slave-produced cotton from Caribbean and American plantations.  In view of this history, and prompted by the Black Lives Matter movement, the Society commissioned research from the Institute for Black Atlantic Research (IBAR) at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) into its own links to slavery in the period 1780-1865.

The Society’s membership at that time included many influential Mancunians.  This presentation will discuss prominent members who benefited directly from wealth generated from slavery and slave-produced goods, being owners or financiers of plantations, slaves and ships.  Others profited indirectly as mill owners, merchants, architects, inventors, engineers and investors, who supplied the technology, machinery, infrastructure and financial backing for manufacturing.

However, there was also fierce opposition to slavery from across all social classes in Manchester.  Local anti-slavery campaigners played a key part in the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and the final abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833.  The panel will present findings about Lit and Phil members’ active engagement in anti-slavery campaigning, highlighting their links with many black abolitionist speakers, including the escaped slave and orator, Frederick Douglass.

The Society’s founding members aimed to promote the advancement of knowledge and education in the natural sciences and humanities.  As such, another focus of the presentation will be on learned societies’ contributions to so-called “scientific racism,” or theoretical work that was frequently used to justify the practice of slavery.

Overall, we hope to foreground the political and intellectual complexities of this period of the Lit and Phil’s history, in which members with radically opposing views on slavery and abolition actually collaborated as friends in running the Society.

IBAR is an interdisciplinary research institute that emerged from UCLAN’s internationally renowned work in the field of African Atlantic studies.


Sunday 24th Apr – Black Panthers: Vanguard of the revolution – film showing

Preston Black History Group would like to invite you and a friend to a presentation of the documentary film The Black Panthers. A film produced by Stanley Nelson. 

Sunday 24th April 2022.  .The venue is Jalgos sports and social club. Rose Street Preston. PR1 3XY. Start time 16.00 hrs

This is the first full length documentary to explore the Black Panther party, it’s significance to the broader political and cultural awakening for black people, weaving a treasure trove of rare archival footage with the voices of the people who were there: the police, FBI informants, journalists, white supporters and detractors, the Black Panthers who remained loyal to the party, and those who left .

Black Panthers: Vanguard of the revolution is an essential part of black history.

This is a free presentation and is supported by

Unite (The Union) N/W 0056  Bamber Bridge and Leyland branch

Please feel free to share this invitation with your family and friends


Memorial to Zong: until Sep 2021

Lubaina Himid’s fantastic exhibition, Memorial to Zong, is currently at the Lancaster Maritime Museum. Turner Prize Winner, Professor Lubaina Himid’s exhibition is a powerful re-interpretation of the history and brutality of the slave trade and remembers the Zong Massacre.

Professor Alan Rice, together with the team at the museum and a variety of contributors, has developed a virtual exhibition which is now available online at https://visitlancaster.org.uk/whats-

on/memorial-to-zong/


Arts and Activism Webinars

Fantastic series of webinars from IBAR (Institute for Black Atlantic Research at UCLan) and PBHG. Arts – Activism in the Age of Black Lives Matter Webinar Series – https://ibaruclan.com/arts-and-activism-in-the-age-of-black-lives-matter-webinar-series/ Showcasing some of our own Preston based artist/activists Nadine J Knight and Phil Kaila, Jade Montserrat IBAR Artist in Residence as well as Tayo Aluko from Liverpool and the Othello Project at the Royal Shakespeare Co. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity.

Tuesday 8 June, 16:30-17:30 | Tayo Aluko

Tuesday 15 June, 16:30-17:30 | The Othello Project

Tuesday 22 June, 16:30-17:30 | Nadine Knight

Tuesday 29 June, 16:30-17:30 | Jade Montserrat

Tuesday 6 July, 16:30-17:30 | Phil Kaila


St Vincent Relief Drive

PBHG Chair has been active in spearheading the St Vincent Relief Drive in Preston with other community groups, collecting essential supplies at Jalgos Sports and Social Club. The supplies will be taken to Liverpool for transport to St Vincent ASAP to alleviate the hardships caused to the 16,000 people who have had to flee their ash-covered communities after the eruption of the La Soufriere volcano in early April.