A free family festival at the National Maritime Museum, celebrating 75 years since the Empire Windrush's arrival in Britain

Join us at the National Maritime Museum for a free family festival celebrating the Windrush generation.

Experience a fantastic series of Caribbean-inspired workshops, talks and performances, and discover your own Windrush connections with our partners the Caribbean Social Forum.

Plus we'll be sharing new research into the journeys taken between the Caribbean and UK from 1942-1962, and the people who voyaged across the seas to arrive in the UK.

Check out what's on below, and keep an eye on our website for more information.

Event highlights

Get a taste of what's on offer at the National Maritime Museum.

Live performances

Watch new emerging musicians and spoken word artists with Caribbean connections perform in our first ever 'music jam', designed and developed by young people.

See historical figures come to life as part of a series of performances known as 'Walking Images' developed by the Caribbean Social Forum. Find the characters around the Museum, ask questions and hear their stories from Caribbean history.

Fun and games

Calypso dancing Watch or join in body-shaking Calypso dance workshops, and experience Caribbean dance culture first hand.

Family activities Take part in creative workshops throughout the day.

Dominoes Watch or join in with dominoes matches Caribbean-style, and take on the friendly but feisty players from the Caribbean Social Forum.

Family history

Family connections Explore your family connections to Windrush and the Caribbean through a family history workshop hosted by our Library and Archive team.

Ships, Ports and Passengers Discover new research about journeys taken between the Caribbean and UK from 1942-1962, and the people who arrived in the UK as part of the Windrush generation.

Reminiscence workshops Take part in workshops designed to open up your family’s memories of the Caribbean, inspired by objects and images in the National Maritime Museum's collections.

Talks and tours

Engage with a range of speakers as part of our free talks programme, with subjects including sound system culture, Caribbean family history and connections to Tilbury Docks with Evewright Studios. Royal Museums Greenwich curators will also be sharing objects and stories from the collections with Caribbean connections.

Art and community

Find out about local community heroes through a display of 75 new portraits developed by the Caribbean Social Forum. Portraits of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – Conversations through Pictures will be on display throughout the Windrush 75 celebrations.

About Windrush 75

On 22 June 1948, Caribbean migrants arrived in the UK on the Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks in Essex, their first stop before travelling towards London.

Many people from British Commonwealth countries travelled to the UK between 1948 and 1971, encouraged by the 1948 British Nationality Act that granted citizenship and right of abode to all members of the British Empire. 

On arrival in the UK, people were often met with racism, lack of acknowledgement of their professional skills and very different living conditions. 

Windrush Day therefore is a day to celebrate British Caribbean communities, and acknowledge the sacrifices and contributions the Windrush generation and their descendants have made to British society.

2023 marks 75 years since the arrival of the Windrush. It is a major national moment, a chance to come together and celebrate this shared history.

The National Maritime Museum is hosting two very special Windrush celebrations during this anniversary year. We're partnering with the Caribbean Social Forum, local schools and young people to shape the events, celebrating Caribbean culture and the legacy of the Windrush generation in the UK today.

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