East Staffordshire Borough Council is set to offer its highest award possible to its local Windrush generation and its lineage, hosting an extraordinary Council meeting on Monday 2nd October 2023, kick-starting Black History Month celebrations.
This meeting will see the Council offer Freedom of Borough Status to local Windrush generation residents and the Afro-Caribbean community.
Some of the Borough’s most prominent black community and sporting figures will gather with councillors, civic dignitaries and local members of the Windrush community and its lineage, so that they can receive the Freedom of the Borough Status.
This will be the 20th time the award has been granted since 1912; and only the 6th time in the last 25 years.
The meeting, to be held on Monday 2nd October, will see invitees gather in the Main Hall of Burton Town Hall to hear and discuss stories of the Borough’s Windrush generation and its exceptional contribution to life in Burton upon Trent and beyond. The event will also be webcast with friends and family Zooming into the meeting from various Caribbean countries.
Members of the public will be able to watch this historic Council meeting live via the Council’s website from 6.30pm on Monday 2nd October. The live stream will be available on the Council's website.
Cllr Monica Holton, Borough Councillor and proud member of the Afro-Caribbean community, said: “I am blessed to be born to Jamaican parents who came to the UK to assist in rebuilding Britain following WW2. Mr & Mrs Steadman Jones have left behind a legacy after contributing 36 exemplary years’ service to Bass Brewery and the NHS (Burton District Hospital /Queens Hospital). My mother also held the position of Officer within the Triumphant Church of God, known to many in the community as Mother I Jones.
It is the widely documented that the Afro Caribbean community endured much during the early years and more recently with many being detained and deported. Despite all this, I see a community that remains united and ever stronger, a community whose culture is embedded and influential in every part of the UK.
As the first Black Female East Staffordshire Borough Councillor I am immensely proud to be part of this historic occasion. Heartfelt gratitude and sincere thanks to the Windrush Generation.”
Cllr Michael Fitzpatrick, Leader of the Council, said: “I am incredibly pleased to see the Council acknowledge the local Afro-Caribbean community’s contributions to the Borough over the past 75 years. Freedom of Borough status is the highest award the Council can offer and I can think of no better way to celebrate the Windrush generation and its lineage than by granting them this prestigious award.”
Bishop Keith Channer, said: “I first came to Burton upon Trent in 1978 when l was sent by my church, New Testament Church of God, to pastor the local branch in Sydney Street. This was my first pastoral experience and I found the people of East Staffordshire very warm and welcoming.
Today our family has grown and flown but we have no regrets about the decision we made to move to East Staffordshire. We live alongside neighbours that for the most part, we are quite happy with. We also feel that after over forty-two years we can say that East Staffordshire is a great place to live. In closing I would like to wish the Windrush Generation of East Staffordshire a very Happy 75th Anniversary."