Events in Haringey this week set to mark Windrush Day

Residents will come together before, during and after Windrush Day on Saturday for a packed schedule of cultural events and activities

The immense contribution of the Windrush Generation and their descendants will once again be celebrated in Haringey.

Residents will come together before, during and after Windrush Day on Saturday 22nd for a packed schedule of cultural events and activities for all the family as well as engaging discussions.

Bruce Castle Museum will be organising a Black history walk along West Green Road on Thursday 20th, from 10.30am-12.30pm, to Althea McNish’s home and blue plaque to help commemorate the much-celebrated, late textile designer’s centenary year.

This year also represents the tenth anniversary of the author Andrea Levy writing Small Island, while living in Haringey. Levy (died 14th February 2019) and McNish (died 16th April 2020), passed just 14 months apart, with the former writer’s ashes being buried in nearby Highgate Cemetery.

Windrush Secret will be shown at Jacksons Lane Arts Centre in Archway Road, Highgate, on Thursday 20th (7.30pm-9pm).

Mayor of Haringey Sue Jameson will be raising the Windrush Day flag in the borough on Friday 21st and that event will help set the scene for a lot of activities for Windrush Day itself the following day (Saturday 22nd).

Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham shall be having a ‘Block Party’ (12pm-7.30pm) while Collage Arts will be staging a Windrush exhibition (1pm-3pm).

There will also be a community garden party at Marcus Garvey Library on Sunday 23rd, from 12noon-4pm.

Haringey Council’s joint assistant directors for culture and creativity, Yamin Choudury and Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp CBE, said: “Windrush Day this year promises to be particularly poignant, as 2024 would have been the centenary of Althea McNish’s birth.

“Althea blazed a trail in the textiles industry and her influence and legacy lives on here in Haringey with a blue plaque adorning her former studio on West Green Road.

“Althea’s life story is synonymous with a great many others who have come to this country and made a positive and valued contribution to life in the borough and to the UK as a whole.

“It is her immense contribution and lived experience that we’ll be looking to celebrate for Windrush Day and beyond.”

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