National Windrush Day 2019 event in the Pierhead Building, Cardiff Bay, sponsored by Jane Hutt AM, Deputy Minister and Chief Whip to celebrate the contributions made by the Windrush Generation and their descendants.

The event was hosted by Uzo Iwobi OBE, with speakers from Windrush Cymru Elders (their current sponsors representative from RWCMD), Black History Patrons, representatives of Betty Campbell MBE (daughter and granddaughter) plus an Empire Windrush soldier John Brock MBE, was programmed to speak but unfortunately was too unwell on the day to take part. The Traditional Ancestral Tribute was delivered by Cliff De Pass and presentations by Jane Hutt AM, Deputy Minister and Chief Whip, Vaughan Gething AM, Rt Hon Alun Michael JP, Judge Ray Singh CBE, Councillor Huw Thomas, Leader of Cardiff Council, Vinita Templeton, Director of Public and Immigration Law, Hilary Brown, Gaynor Legall, Chair of CHC, and Dr Adeola Dewis, Heritage Lead for the Windrush Heritage Project, Our Voices, Our Stories, Our History.

Windrush Day encourages communities to celebrate those who came to the UK from Caribbean Islands after a call for people to fulfil the post-war labour shortage.

The commemorative day is the anniversary of the arrival to the UK of Her Majesty’s Troopship Empire Windrush and her 492 Caribbean passengers in 1948.

The national day was announced in 2018 to honour the Windrush Generation following the scandal resulting from the UK Government’s “hostile environment” policy. This saw a number of people wrongly detained, denied benefits and losing access to the NHS.