CARIBBEAN heritage will shine through an art and sound installation featuring the courageous stories of elders who emigrated to Britain.

Identities and Stories: Caribbean Takeaway Takeover will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the landing of the SS Empire Windrush in Tilbury, in June 1948.

This sensory installation will debut and run inside Colchester's only Jamaican restaurant S&S Café as a nod to the cultural significance of 'the takeaway' to black communities in the UK.

The emotive narratives of ten elders, part of the Windrush generation,will reveal their journeys, the impact of their contribution to British society and the legacy they will leave behind.

Essex artist Everton Wright, of the Evewright Arts Foundation, said: "At 93, Tina Aparicio is the oldest interviewee.

"She came from Trinidad in 1958 to undertake her nursing training and later returned to Essex in the early 1960s.

"As a midwife in Thurrock for over 25 years she has amazing stories of nursing not only ordinary residents, but a member of the British Aristocracy too.

"Two female participants, Lenore Sykes, from Colchester, and Nell Green, from Brightlingsea, were nurses from Trinidad and Jamaica who both married English doctors.

"Their stories shine a light on interracial relationships and bring fascinating first-hand accounts of attitudes from both black and white people to such unions then and now."

Gazette:

Lenore Sykes pictured in 2012

Visitors will also get to hear from the first black primary school deputy and head teacher in Essex - Carlton Darrell, who worked in Grays.

The Bermuda natives's contributions to sports earned him an MBE in 2010.

A second "intervention" in the café will be a display of limited-edition portraits of the elders using photo etching.

Both displays will be free to explore during the cafe's business hours for people to sample Caribbean food and culture simultaneously.

Ionie Richards, a writer and historian who also coordinated the National Lottery-funded project, said: “It was a rewarding experience for us to work with young volunteers to meet and listen to the lives of ordinary, but extraordinary people.

"Most participants were in their 80s or 90s so this project will help towards building an archive of untold stories of a disappearing generation before they're lost.”

Spoken word events are planned during the exhibition's opening weekend between June 23 and 24.

Visitors will also be encouraged to commemorate their own parent's arrival by adding their names to a memorial wall or add their own anecdotes to a special memory box.

Click here for more information.