Leicester Jamaica Community Service Group, now renamed The Caribbean Collective played a vital role in providing a sense of community, belonging, and support for the elderly and wider Caribbean Windrush generation in Leicester, helping them maintain connections to their cultural roots while integrating into British society. Today the organisation continues to provide essential health and well-being services, fosters a sense of belonging for the Windrush generation, their descendants and the wider local community. Over the years, such projects and services have evolved, adapting to changing demographics and needs. The projects below, supported by The National Lottery Community fund and the The National Lottery Heritage Lottery fund, are examples of how this fundamental mission continues.
Project Overview
The Carry Back Project is a The National Lottery Heritage Lottery funded initiative dedicated to documenting and celebrating the rich heritage of individuals aged 60 and above from African-Caribbean backgrounds residing in the UK. Its core mission is to preserve their invaluable life stories, unique cultural experiences, and identify the personal artifacts they carried with them when migrating to the UK, as well as anything they would hypothetically take if they were to return to their birthlands.
The project’s design and objectives demonstrated a strong commitment to several vital areas:
- Heritage Preservation: By documenting personal stories and cultural experiences, The Carry Back Project ensured that the unique narratives and traditions of this significant demographic are not lost but rather preserved for future generations.
- Intergenerational Dialogue: The emphasis on capturing stories from individuals aged 60+ inherently promotes intergenerational exchange. This creates opportunities for younger generations to connect with, learn from, and understand the lived experiences of their elders, fostering a deeper sense of identity and history.
- Community Engagement: The project naturally encouraged community involvement by centring on the personal histories and cultural expressions of its participants. This strengthened community bonds and provided a platform for shared experiences and collective memory.
- Cultural Significance of Artifacts: The focus on personal items (both those brought to the UK and those that would be taken back) could have added a tangible dimension to the heritage preservation, however very few participants could identify any objects that held real sentimental and cultural value.
Methodology and Participants
The project was delivered by an existing staff member and volunteers via three cohorts comprising of 8, 2 hour training sessions and 2 recording session over 10 weeks. The project employed a multi-faceted approach to engage and involve participants across generations.
- Recruitment of Older Interviewees: A total of 14 participants were recruited through our community links, including Black churches, Caribbean Island associations, and other social clubs. Interviewees included men and women from first-generation Windrush arrivals and second-generation British Caribbeans.
- Engagement of Young Interviewers: To facilitate the intergenerational dialogue, we utilised our established links with a local school (Winstanley School) and a further education provider (Juniper Training) to invite 19 young people to become interviewers of our elders.
- Oral History Training: Each cohort of recruited young people completed a half-day oral history training, delivered by a staff member from the East Midlands Oral History Archive, based at Leicester University.
- Project Cohorts and Facilitation: The project operated through three distinct cohorts, involving a total of 37 participants (14 interviewees, 19 young interviewers, and 4 community facilitators).
Challenges and Learnings
While the project achieved many of its goals, several challenges provided valuable learning opportunities for future initiatives:
- Community Outreach Effectiveness: Our outreach events were not as successful as initially hoped for in reaching a diverse and intergenerational audience.
- Technical Editing: The technical challenges associated with editing the recorded oral histories proved to be more time-consuming than anticipated.
- Student Logistics: The logistical procedure of transporting school students to various recording venues also presented more difficulties than initially foreseen.
- Volunteer Sustainability: Sustaining the engagement of volunteers over the entire lifespan of the project posed a challenge.
- Dissemination: The ongoing dissemination of the project work was the most disappointing aspect. Most project pictures were lost during a website merger, and the new website is still being developed.
- Staffing: On reflection, we took on too much with insufficient staff resources to complete the technical and promotional aspects of this project.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we believe that the Carry Back Project was a beneficial initiative. Our approach to heritage preservation, combined with a strong focus on intergenerational dialogue and community engagement, made it a significant contribution to local cultural understanding and social cohesion. The project directly supports the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion by honoring the unique legacy of African-Caribbean elders in the UK.
Intergenerational Steel Pan Project
Sparkenhoe Primary School Project (2024)
The National Lottery Community funded Intergenerational Steel Pan project began in 2024 with a local primary school in Leicester. The purpose of the project was to enable individuals from different age groups to create, perform, and engage with music together.
- Participants: 12 children from grades five and 8 adults, including two primary school teachers.
- Teacher: Pat Munroe, the director of Contrast Steel Band, served as the teacher.
- Collaboration: The children and elders learned the steel pan together. The children assisted the elders by writing down notes, and sessions also included basic music skills and an understanding of steel pan culture.
- Performance: A performance took place on July 5, 2024, at the Sparkenhoe Primary school theatre and was well-received.
St John Baptist Primary School Project (2025)
Through community link The Caribbean Collective made contact with St John Baptist Primary School, and coordinated and project which followed the process of the first project.
- Participants: 12 Children from grade 4 and 6 elders participated.
- Schedule: Sessions were held each Friday.
- Performance: A final performance was held on July 4, 2025, during the school’s music assembly. The project was well-received and well-attended.
Inter-generational School Project
Project Details
Through community networks, contact was made with a local Primary school. A group of children who were addressing racism in local primary schools were keen to partner with an elder group. The children hoped to share stories and lived experiences to assist them in creating tools and resources to address racism in their schools.
- Elder Group: We worked with a community group of women from the Windrush era who arrived in the 50s, 60s, and 70s.
- Session Format: The meeting was held virtually to reduce bureaucracy. The school children were able to ask the women a number of questions about their experiences with racism at school.
Next Phase
Following this session, it was decided that the project should continue with a new set of school children at the beginning of the next school year. These children will have the task of listening to the recording and deciding how to incorporate the experiences of the community group into their projects.
