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Finding Home

by Alford Dalrymple Gardner by Howard Gardner

Finding Home
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On sale

3rd October 2024

Price: £9.99

Genre

20th Century / Air Forces & Warfare / Biography: Historical, Political & Military / C 1939 To C 1945 (including Ww2) / Cricket / Essex / Ethnic Minorities & Multicultural Studies / Ethnic Studies / Europe / European History / History Of Sport / History: Specific Events & Topics / Human Rights / Jamaica / Local Interest, Family History & Nostalgia / Maritime History / Memoirs / Migration, Immigration & Emigration / Military History / Military Veterans / Oral History / Second World War / Social & Cultural History / Social Discrimination & Inequality / Society & Culture: General / Yorkshire

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Selected: Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781914344237

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RAF Veteran and Prince’s Trust Awardee, Alford Dalrymple Gardner is one of the few living passengers to have travelled on the Empire Windrush. Now published in paperback, Finding Home is his stirring life story.

On 22nd June 1948, the Empire Windrush sailed from Kingston, Jamaica, to harbour at Tilbury Docks. It carried 1,027 passengers and two stowaways, and more than two thirds of them were West Indies nationals. Alford Dalrymple Gardner was among them.

Alford’s story traverses both the uplifting highs and intolerant lows that West Indian migrants of his generation encountered upon travelling to Britain to forge out a life. From joining the British military during World War II to being forcibly deported back to Jamaica once it was won-only to come back to the UK when the government decided it needed him again-Alford witnessed milestone events of the 20th century that shaped the country he still lives in today.

In the context of a supposedly ‘post-Imperial’ Britain where the lives of West Indian migrants hang precariously on the whims of the Home Office, Alford’s heartening testimony is a celebration of those who endured hardships so that generations to come could call this place home.

Today, Alford’s portrait is a part of the Royal Collection Trust as commissioned by King Charles III in 2023, and he is a regular face and voice on the likes of The BBC, Channel 4, Sky News and more as his story continues to embody for all, the spirit of joyous resilience.