Precious TreasureS
A Photography exhibition to honour the 75th anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush
Brixton Library: June 19th – OCTOBER 31st
Precious Treasures has been created by members of ‘Stockwell Good Neighbours’, a community group for the over-sixties set up in 1974 to support the local West Indian community and who meet, each Monday, in Brixton House. Members were invited to use a mobile phone to photograph an object, an artefact, that was, in one way or another, precious to them and to say a few words about why they had chosen it.
The result is a unique exhibition comprising 23 photographs and personal stories created by ‘the neighbours’, as well as a set of photographs taken by award-winning local photographer, Jim Grover, that bring to life the vibrant Stockwell Good Neighbours community.
The individual neighbour’s stories are moving, such as Hyacinth Brown’s first gift for her mother on Mothers’ Day in 1962; revealing, such as Audrey Smart’s arrival in 1955; celebratory, such as Bertram Dixon’s Maundy Money; and uplfting, such as the story behind Delores Robinson’s ring. Four of the 23 examples are shown below.
Lesley Allen, who leads the Stockwell Good Neighbours said: “I am so proud to be able to showcase the personal stories and experiences of this remarkable and inspiring group of elders, and in such a simple and moving way.”
Local photographer, Jim Grover, who orchestrated this exhibition said, “I so enjoy working with people to create powerful and engaging stories with just a mobile phone and a few words. A simple photo of a ‘Dutch Pot’, a traditional cooking pot typically passed down the generations, is elevated to a moving story when you read Viv Jonas’s words that accompany it. These strong women, who typically came here in the 1950s and 1960s and who are now mostly in their seventies and eighties, have so many poignant experiences and stories to share.”
Brixton Library, on Windrush Square in the heart of Brixton, is open daily. For opening hours and library information, click here.
For more information, and/or please e-mail Jim Grover at jim.grover@mac.com.
About Stockwell Good Neighbours
Next year, Stockwell Good Neighbours (SGN), a community group for the over-sixties established in 1974 for the West Indian community, will celebrate its 50th anniversary.
The club has around 70 members on its books and the Monday meeting attracts around 40-50 attendees. Some parts of the offering remain unchanged: £5 gets you a weekly chance to catch up with friends, bingo (very popular), a raffle, dominoes, and exercise in the form of Tai Chi. A new series of drumming workshops has proved very popular and usually leads to dancing and a conga that threads its way through the tables and chairs.
This happy, confident and youthful band of, mostly, Caribbean elders has earned itself something akin to celebrity status. 'The neighbours' featured in Trevor Phillips' The Queen's People, with a Sky TV team filming their Christmas party which included partying and dancing with Trevor, and also in BBC 4's Reggae Fever.
Stockwell Good Neighbours is a registered charity.
Audrey Smart
Born: Jamaica
Arrived in the UK in 1955 aged 7.
My mum and I came by ship to join my dad…mum was very sea-sick. We arrived in London at Paddington station and there was no-one to meet us…dad had the wrong date. A guard told us there was a Black lady who did B&B…we went there and I remember that we had corned beef, rice and garden peas…our first meal here.
In the photograph it’s my mum’s hat…she always wore a hat…and her jewellery which she wore on special occasions. The top left photo is my dad with me and my younger brother…he was born nine months after we arrived. The bottom left is my mother with us. They were taken in 1956…1957…in Barry in Wales where we lived.
Hyacinth Brown
Born: Jamaica
Arrived in the UK in 1962 aged 15.
I gave this to my mother on Mothers’ Day in 1962 just after I arrived; it was the first thing I bought in England. The cup (on the right in the photograph) said ‘mother’ and the saucer ‘I love you’. When she opened it she was crying and so I said to her, “What are you crying for, don’t you like it?” She said, “I love it, this is my first Mothers’ Day present…I’ve never had one before.” And every Sunday she polished it and she put it in her glass cabinet…she worshipped it. Everyone who came in she said, “Look at this…my daughter bought it for me on Mothers’ Day.”
My younger sister came along and when she was five she decided to have a tea party with her doll. She got a chair, climbed up and took the cup and saucer to have this tea party, and she broke the saucer. My mum was so upset she actually cried. When she passed away the cup was the only thing I took from the house, because it meant a lot to her, and meant even more to me. Although she’s gone some 45 years now, every time I look at it, it seems as if it was only yesterday I gave it to her. It’s mighty small but, trust me, it means so much to me.
Viv Jonas
Born: Balham (1966).
Viv helps organize the weekly Stockwell Good Neighbours meetings.
One of my most prized possessions is a Dutch Pot…it’s around 60 years old.
My mother came over from Jamaica in the mid-fifties. She came with four pots because she said to herself, ‘I’m going to have four daughters at least’. She ended up having eight of us and, indeed, four daughters. As the girls left home she gave us each a pot to start off our journey in life. One of my first lessons with mum was her teaching us how to cook with those pots and I must say it has served me well for the 35 or so years I have had possession of this pot. I still use it today and treasure it more now mum has gone.
I understand the value of it, I understand it’s part of my heritage and it keeps me connected; most of my friends in my age group do still have their Dutch Pot. Some use them, some don’t. But I still continue to use mine.
Delores Robinson
Born: Jamaica
Arrived in the UK in the sixties when she was in her twenties.
This ring was given to me by my husband, Herbert, on my 60th birthday as a surprise; we couldn’t afford an engagement ring when we were married in Jamaica. We were living in Brixton at the time. My husband was a carpenter. He isn’t alive anymore.