ENGLAND presented an exciting new opportunity to Lenore Sykes who had just completed her midwife training in her home land of Trinidad.

But it was to have its shocking moments for her too.

It was while Lenore was in her first job at Marston Green Hospital, Birmingham, that she met her husband, a paediatrician and encountered first hand racism - from colleagues.

"It became clear when they found out I was getting married...they said I was taking away their people.

"Even two of the consultants said so.

"One said 'she is going back to the jungle."

The clear racism was, says Lenora, like "water off a duck's back" to her and fortunately did not hold her back in progressing her career.

Lenore and English husband Roger, went on to have three sons, two of which became doctors and the third, a pharmacist.

Lenore, 86, and from Highwoods, Colchester, came to England in 1965 and was part of what has broadly been described as the 'Windrush generation'.

The name comes from when on June 22, 1948, people from the Caribbean disembarked from the Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the first arrivals.

Many of those who arrived on the Windrush came in response to labour shortages in post-war Britain, working in the newly created NHS as nurses, porters, drivers and administrators.

As many as 100,000 nurses from the Caribbean and Africa came to train as nurses in Britain’s NHS between 1948 and 1973.

For Lenore, coming to England was a chance to build upon the four years of training she had done in Trinidad, which she started when she was 18.

It had included nursing, midwifery and health visiting.

She said: "After all my training, I think I was bored. My late grandmother used to say 'go abroad'. I promised I would stay home until she died."

So in 1965 she honoured her grandmother's dream for her.

Lenore's midwifery job at Marston Green meant she could continue to do what she loved while attending weekly training lectures.

"Bringing a baby into the world is wonderful, it is out of this world, you can't really describe it.

"The first thing that really struck me was at home we delivered with patients on their backs.

"Here they said it should be left lateral - with the woman laying on her left side. You can't imagine the confusion I had adapting.

"Many times the person in charge of me would slap my hand."

Lenore and her husband later moved to Nigeria where they stayed for 20 years and had their children.

But they returned to England in 1994 when her third son got a pharmacy training placement in Colchester.

He got a flat in the town and Lenore and Roger lived there. Lenore returned to midwifery and nursing elsewhere until she retired in 2006 and remained in Colchester.

Fortunately patients were far more welcoming than some of her colleagues in her early career had been.

"All English patients I looked after were so in awe of me - they used to invite me to their homes.

"Even that sister who slapped me on the back of the hand, she had a posh home with the silver tea."

Retired midwife Nell Green, 80, and from Brightlingsea, also came to England from Jamaica as she wanted to train here.

Her childhood memories of just one district midwife for the area - who travelled to patients by bicycle - stayed with her.

She recalled her aunt going into labour with a small baby and the midwife being unable to get to her on time.

"In the meantime my grandmother was looking after her and she came out and said the baby's foot was coming."

The potentially fatal situation for mum and baby - with the baby not being head or bottom first - led to her grandmother taking the delivery into her own hands.

Somehow she turned the baby and delivered her and the story had a happy ending.

This story was one of the reasons Nell decided to be a midwife

She arrived from Jamaica in 1966 and started out at Dudley Hospital as a trainee nurse.

Jamaica had two training schools but one was in busy Kingston, which "country girl" Nell didn't fancy, and the other didn't have available accommodation.

With some relatives already in England, her mind was made up.

Sadly she too, was racially abused at times, also by colleagues.

"For me I just thought they were ignorant," she said.

Her career took her to the world renowned Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and then to Scotland where she trained to be a midwife and met her husband.

His Army career moved them to a number of countries but Nell could work in military hospitals.

They moved to Jamaica eventually until their daughter wanted to go to university in London.

They settled in Brightlingsea and Nell, now widowed, retired aged 60, after spending the latter part of her career working for a nursing agency.

But her midwifery has remained as her career highlight.

"The best thing is watching a new person come to life. Other times it can be really distressing but it was good.

"Right now if I had to work I would want to work in midwifery."

Both women were among guests to attend a celebration of the contribution of black and minority ethnic people in providing health and social care over the last 70 years, since the NHS was formed.

The event was organised by the Royal College of Nursing in the Eastern region and was at the JobServe Community Stadium, Colchester.

Teresa Budrey, RCN Eastern Regional Director, said: “There is no doubt that the Windrush generation and all black and minority ethnic nurses have helped build, shape and maintain the health services we all rely on.

“But while times have moved on since the 1940s, we still know that BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) staff do not have equal access to career opportunities and fair treatment in the workplace."

She added the RCN’s Cultural Ambassador Programme works directly will employers to tackle discrimination in the workplace.

“We are clear that there is no room for racism or any form of hate or discrimination in nursing.

“The Windrush generation and their descendants are a credit to our society and the nursing profession.”