Spirit of Windrush celebrated at Westminster Abbey
Friday, 22nd June 2018
Her Majesty The Queen was represented by Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, at a Service of Thanksgiving to mark the 70th anniversary of the landing of the Windrush, at Westminster Abbey at noon on Friday 22nd June 2018.
Spirit of Windrush: Contributions to Multicultural Britain was attended by the Right Honourable Theresa May MP, Prime Minister, and by the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan.
The service was conducted by the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster, who said in his Bidding:
The arrival on 22nd June 1948 of the Empire Windrush at the Port of Tilbury brought more than 500 men and women from the Caribbean to live in Britain and to contribute to the recovery of this country from the rigours and devastation of the Second World War.
Following the British Nationality Act of 1948, all citizens of British colonies had been accorded Citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies. This first arrival marks the beginning of significant migration from the Caribbean. Seventy years later, we come to give thanks for the lives, commitment, and courage of those original settlers, to celebrate the rich diversity of multicultural Britain in our own day, and to pray that all people in this land as elsewhere may live together in harmony and mutual respect.
The Address was given by the Reverend Canon Joel Edwards.