Twenty-Eight Pounds Ten Shillings: A Windrush Story Paperback

After World War Two England was on her knees, so the call went out to the British Empire for volunteers to help rebuild the ‘Mother Country’.

Young men and women from different Caribbean islands were quick to respond, paying the considerable sum of Twenty-Eight Pounds Ten Shillings to board HMT Empire Windrush – the ‘ship of dreams’ that would take them to their new lives.

The motives and back-stories of these West Indian people is a key part of the Windrush story, one that has never been fully told. This powerful

narrative reveals what happened on board that ship, which was packed with young, excited people who had never before left their parents, their parishes – let alone their islands. In the course of the memorable two-week voyage there were parties, friendships made and broken, fights, gambling, racism, sex - and discussions of God and love.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TONY FAIRWEATHER was born in Clapham South, south London, the son of Jamaican parents. He opened one of the first Black bookshops in the UK, with an art gallery and artefacts. He then went on to work for the Voice newspaper heading up its book club.

In 1989 he founded ‘The Write Thing’, an events company established to promote Black authors, which led to his working with a veritable who’s who of the Black literary world while producing events in the UK, USA and Africa. Tony is the founder and curator of the Windrush Collection and the Windrush Exhibition of artefacts associated with the Windrush generation. He lives in South London.