Research: Windrush

The Windrush (research)

In 1948 the S.S. Empire Windrush docked at the Tilbury Dock in London.
It was formally a German cruise ship and it officially carried, 492 settlers (many were ex-service and had served England in the War).
There was a post-war drive to recruit labour from the common wealth to cover the employment shortages in state-run services like the NHS and London Transport. *1 Very few of the people who came to England on the Windrush actually intended to stay for more then a few years.

Jamaica was still recovering from the Atlantic Hurricane season in 1944 when they were invited to fill the gaps in Britain's job services after the devastation of WW2. *3

Map of the British Empire in the 20's *2

One of the people on the Windrush was Sam King (a future mayor of Southwark), he'd served in England with the RAF. His ticket cost upwards of £600 in today's money. King recalls the apprehension on board as the ship drew towards England on whether authorities would turn them away. He had 2 ex-RAF wireless operators on board with him and while they played dominos they'd eavesdrop on incoming signals. They had heard on the BBC station that "Arthur Creech Jones, Colonial Secretary in the Labour government of the time, had pointed out that: ‘These people have British passports and they must be allowed to land.’ He added that they would not last one winter in England anyway, so there was nothing to worry about."*3

The English papers had a big interest in the voyage they called "the sons of empire". However the Colonial Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Labour were trying to avoid responsibility for the people arriving. 

News paper clipping from 1948 *6

For the passengers of the Empire Windrush and the thousands of people who followed after it the "British Nationality Act 1948" was really important for them. This act meant the passengers from the Windrush and others living in Commonwealth countries, had British Citizenship and full rights of entry and settlement in England. *3

Contents of the British Nationality Act 1948 *5

I did this research as it provided overall context for my commission, it allowed me to come to interviews with a more educated and extensive background knowledge on the topic. 

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*1- "Arrival of S.S. Windrush" www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/arrival-ss-empire-windrush
*2- "Map of the British Empire in the 1920's" general-history.com/the-british-empire-in-1920/
*3- "Arrival of SS Empire Windrush" www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/arrival-ss-empire-windrush
*4- "Windrush Generation: 'They thought we should be planting bananas'" www.telegraph.co.uk/goodlife/11683233/Windrush-Generation-They-thought-we-should-be-planting-bananas.html
*5- "British Nationality Act 1948" www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1948/56/pdfs/ukpga_19480056_en.pdf
*6- Newspaper www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000378/19480622/085/0005?browse=False

Oral History Research

Oral History research

What is oral history?

Oral history is a method of gathering, preserving and interpreting the memories of people/communities through their own voices by recording them. *1

How to do an oral history interview *2:

Before the interview: 

• Chat with the interviewees before the interview, brief them on the subjects you want to cover and give them contact information.
• Work out a good time/day for the interview to happen on
• Get a general knowledge on the topics the interviewee will be talking about. (be careful not to miss questions because you already know the answer)
• Explain the project to the interviewee.

The interview:

• Make sure you turn up early or on time.
• Make sure you have all your kit including any extras needed such as batteries and something to import onto incase of a lack of space on the SD card.
• Chat before the interview to put the interviewee at ease, try to avoid getting told anecdotes that are better for the recording.

Starting the interview:

• Check the environment for any sounds that could interfere with the recording.
• Make sure the recording device is out of the way of the interviewee.
• Always test audio levels.
• Record details of who you are talking to and when.

Asking Questions:

• Have a list of questions with your interviewer.
• Try not to stick to a list of questions rigidly.
• Avoid closed questions.
• Use plain words and avoid suggesting the answers.
• Maintain eye contact, this encourages the interviewee to keep talking.
• Don't be afraid to ask but do not butt in or interrupt an answer.
• Respect different opinions.

After the interview

• Chat after the interview, take this time to confirm any future appointments if needed.
• Label folders on computers that have audio on. Make copies.

Overall I found this research really useful for my commission. 

It allowed me to have a step by step to do list on how I can go about conducting my interviews professionally. It also gave me a bit more confidence while doing the interviews as I was confident in what I was doing while recording.

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*1- "Oral history defined" www.oralhistory.org/about/do-oral-history/

*2- How to do an oral history interview www.le.ac.uk/emoha/training/no2.pdf

20th century Britain

Research: 20th Century Britain

1950's

Just 5 years after the 2nd World War the UK was still showing the effects of the fighting. In cities like London there were still bomb-sites, un-repaired houses and gardens that had been made into allotments.

At the time the countryside had been dotted with military bases now abandoned.

The army had a much bigger role in British life then they do nowadays.

The typical British family had a grandfather who had served in the 1st World War, a father who had fought in the 2nd World War and a son who were being called up for 2 years of national service. 

"There were four times as many servicemen in the early 1950's then there are today" *2

After a full decade of war and it's issues politically and financially, Britain had been left with high taxation. The standing income rate for tax was 9 shillings (more then twice today's rate). Basic things like butter, meat, tea and coal were still rationed and although bread was now freely available, the de-rationing of sweets in '49 needed to be abandoned because the demand was too much. Rationing encouraged people to grow/produce their own food in gardens and allotments. 

There was a follow on of the war mind set of 'make-do-and-mend' due to severe shortages of a lot of consumer products.

The population in 1950 totalled 50 million, a '51 census showing that only 3% of the population had been born overseas.

"The first post-war immigrants from Jamaica had arrived in Britain, on board the Empire Windrush in 1948, but there were still fewer than 140,000 blacks and Asians in Britain in 1951."*2

Nearly half of the population lived in privately rented accommodation and less than a third of all houses were owner occupied. There were virtually no high rise buildings and the concrete was only used really in military buildings.

Britain was the most "urbanised" and industrial country in the world (meaning it was the most polluted at the same time. The London smog started in 1952 and lasted 5 days, it killed more then 4,000 people from heart and lung diseases.

In 1950 the UK accounted for a 1/4 of the world's trade in manufactures.

1960's

By the 60's the first teenage generation free from conscription (being automatically drafted into the army) and with the ability to have their own voice and freedom to do what they wanted, emerged in Britain. Their parents were from a generation where they had spent their teenage years fighting in the Second World War, and had wanted their children to be able to have freedom.

A big aspect that defined the 60's was music, it was in the 60's that the emergence of 'British Invasion' bands like The Beatles came to England. These bands had albums that heavily encouraged young people to stand up for their beliefs and their own individuality.

Another thing that the 60's was known for was recreational drug use, however it was more common in the later half of the decade.  Festivals like Woodstock were common place were people would regularly be seen high on things like LSD, the people involved in the music industry were more often then not involved in drugs and therefore, directly influenced young people listening to their music.

In terms of Fashion the mini skirt became massively popular, with it's availability in many different colours and geometric shapes gave women a feel of femininity as well as liberation. By the later 60's psychedelic prints and vibrant colours became more popular on clothes as the "hippie movement" gathered pace.

The idea of Feminism became more influential as more jobs became available for young women in the sixties, allowing them to move away from archetypes of female duties and become more independent. The contraceptive pill became legal in '67. The Woman's liberty movement started around '68, when the Dagenham strike of 850 women happened in protest over in-equal pay (this led to the equal pay act being passed in '70). In '68 Barbara Castle was the first and only woman to be appointed first Secretary of State. *1

Picture from the Telegraph

I did this research as it allowed me to know what state the UK was in when the people we were interviewing came over/when their parents came over in some cases. 

It will allow me to come up with questions related to the environment they were arriving in, in our initial interviews we've already had people say that there were a lot of chimneys and they were surrounded with smoke.

Examples like the London Smog could've affected their families and this could be an interesting talking point.

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*1 "The 1960s The Decade that Shook Britain" www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-1960s-The-Decade-that-Shook-Britain/

*2 "Britain in the 1950's" www.historytoday.com/roland-quinault/britain-1950

Professional practice: institutional research

Institutional research

MACA (Medway African and Caribbean Association)

MACA (Medway African and Caribbean Association) is a non-profit who's purpose is to "promote an awareness of African and Caribbean Culture, through arts, educational and social programmes, primarily for the benefit of it's members but also accessible by the wider community"(1) It's also there to support its members on issues which include racial harassment, prison visits etc. 

Email from Carol Stewart (Chair person at MACA) **My brief**:

"The Oral History Project seeks to capture the stories of African and Caribbean people from the 19th and 20th centuries and bring them to life as part of the Black History Live Project. The stories will take people on a journey as we hear from people and descendants of people in the 19th century about what life was like during that era. The contributions they have made, challenges they overcame, and how things have changed.

The stories will be featured as part of a 2 month long exhibition taking place at the Chatham Historic Dockyard in October 2018"

Chatham Dockyards

My work will be shown at the Chatham Dockyards in 2018.

(2) The Dockyards is a charity with the aims to;

• Maintain the preservation and the use of the historic Dockyards, its buildings, ships and collections
• To engage diverse audiences in learning about the importance and the role of the former Royal Dockyard, as well as it's people in supporting the Royal Navy from sail to steam and eventually nuclear power over a period of 400 years
• To provide unmatched, inspirational and enjoyable experiences for everyone who comes to the Dockyards.

"As a fully accredited Museum we collect, preserve, study and exhibit objects and materials connected with the history of:

• The role of the Dockyard and its people
• The development of Royal Navy warship construction and design
• The use of the River Medway and its support services and their role in the development of the Medway"

This institutional research allows to be be able to create something that suits the style of the Historic Dockyards and what they would normally exhibit, as well as making something that suits MACA and meets all of what they've asked from me.

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(1) MACA web page www.macacharity.org.uk/ 
(2) Our charity thedockyard.co.uk/our-charity/

Critical evaluation

I am the researcher for our project, as researcher I found contacts, locations, stories as well as information about the contacts and stories so we turned up to interviews well informed.

Pre-production

Our pre-production took a lot of time to get going, once we had decided that we were going to go with the homeless idea for a short time we had three stories on the go at once. I had to research and contact 3 separate groups of people (one for each story) as we were struggling to get responses back from people. 
I think over all this was a lack of communication and planning in our group, we didn't sit down together as a group enough, this led to me having to make google docs so everyone knew who had been contacted when and what (if any) response we had. This meant that other people in the group were left with nothing to do
In our pre-production we assigned roles to people based off of their strengths, this meant that as we were already comfortable in the roles we were doing there was no learning process that needed to happen.
Another strength we had was we were organised, between us we had multiple google docs with contacts and research links, a group chat we spoke in daily and met up with a least one other member of the group (when not in uni)  to catch up on what we had done.

Production

Our production went ok, I became ill for a week and had to sit out of filming the conference in the Marriott Hotel bearstead. 
This meant I didn't have an input into the footage that was filmed and therefore we ended up with 1 hour and 45 mins worth of GV for a conference that we couldn't get an interview for. 
This then meant that we had to book a last minuet interview with the Police commissioner, however the answers we got from him were really good.
When we went to film Dogs On The Street we weren't able to film any homeless people as they didn't want to be on camera. This resulted in us having to do a bit more last minuet filming to get shots of homeless people and their dogs. But the shots we got were good and we were able to use them in our edit.
Our anchor filming went really well, I had contacted Charlotte and given her the script before hand so she knew her lines off by heart, this meant we had quick filming and got everything we needed from her. 

Post production

Post production went good, I managed to finish the trailer for the show within a day after designing a logo to include in it. 
I set up our Youtube channel before we did anything with graphics I designed before we did any editing so that it could just be uploaded straight away.
Zak did our main edit and for someone who isn't very experienced in editing he did really well, with a few minor problems but we were able to help him as a group. However a last minuet editing issue has meant that some of our graphics had disappeared, this meant that we couldn't fix it in time for the deadline even with Ferg. We now have to show a lower resolution version of the film and while it doesn't look as good (text is difficult to read etc) we still have a final product.

Over all

Overall I think that we worked really well together, we were well organised and due to assigning roles to skill level we were able to come out with a good end product. 

Things to work on personally

I do think I did good research and was good at finding people and locations to interview at because it's something I really enjoy doing. I did like doing the graphics (logo design etc) as I'd never done it before and enjoyed the trust my group put in my skills.
  
Next time I'd like to try and work on my time management, I gave myself a lot of work research wise and wanted to help everyone with what they were doing which put me under more pressure making me ill. Next time I'd try and stick to what I have to do and when I don't have too much to do then help other members of my group. 

Things to work on as a group

As a group I think if we worked together again we'd have to work on our communication skills as shoots were being half planned by one member when the rest of the group was told nothing about it.

Filming timetables

October 10th 2017
Filming at the Marriot Hotel in Bearsted Maidstone

October 19th 2017
Studio filming anchor in Maidstone studio

**Filming diary**

Our filming day started in the afternoon, we booked out lecture room 2 with Laura as well as; the green screen, clip mics, 4K camera and arri lights.
Our presenter arrived at the studios at 1 O'clock, she had been given the script before hand so she could get accustomed with the lines, this allowed us to film quickly and efficiently. We had taken the precaution though of having another script on set so that she could refer to it. Over all filming went well, we were able to get it done quickly and got the shots we wanted as well as others so we could have a choice when it came to editing.











October 22nd 2017
Filming at the DOTS (Dogs On The Street) station outside London Charing Cross police station

**Filming diary**

We filmed with DOTS on the 22nd outside Charing cross police station.
We helped them set up their stall and then proceeded to film hand held and got shots for cutaways. Due to the hectic nature of the event we had to wait a while to get interviews with the dog trainer and the










October 24th 2017
Filming Police Commissioner of Maidstone

**Filming diary**

For our filming with the police commissioner lasted until 4:30, we filmed quickly and efficiently as we were aware that we had very limited time in the police headquarters so we went there knowing the shots we wanted.

Story development

Initial idea
My initial idea was to do a news piece about child beauty pageants, it would look into the mental health effects on the children. The idea rested on interviewing winners of the pageants and their parents as they are more likely to give an interview as their likely to be older then children still competing.

Rethink #1
When we came together as a group we decided to go with Zak's idea of homelessness and went with "The effects periods have on homeless people". We did research and started to contact people to be included in the story, however after receiving no replies and not having another way to take the story we had to cut it and rethink.

Rethink #2
We then came up with Homeless veterans as a story as Maidstone is an army town, we again did research into it the subject and contacted various people who could help. However we either received no replies from people or they weren't able to help us as homeless veterans aren't an issue in Kent. So we had to rethink.

Final idea
Our final idea was "How pets benefit the mental health of homeless people", we found a lot of research about the subject and charities that were willing to take part in filming and highly interested in what we were doing.