Windrush 75: your stories, our history
Today marks the 75th anniversary of the HMT Empire Windrush arriving in Britain in June 1948. Though ‘Windrush’ started life as the name of a ship, its legacy has endured far beyond its operation and is now synonymous with a historical event, a generation of people, and since 2018, an annual day of recognition in the UK on 22 June.
Windrush Day is a time to honour the huge contributions that people from the Caribbean made to the rebuilding of post-war Britain and beyond. The NHS owes a great deal to the work of people from the diaspora, as people from the Commonwealth were specifically sought out by the British government to fill the demand for workers at the time.
Roslyn Walcott-Cumberbatch, General Manager at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, kindly shares her family story which spans three generations of women who have worked for the NHS. It begins in 1961 with her mother Pearl boarding a ship from Barbados to England where she spent over 50 years with the NHS, and continues to the present day with Roslyn’s daughter recently completing her placement year at South London and Maudsley.
“In 1961 my mother, Pearl Mallet, boarded a ship called the Ascania from Barbados heading to England. She arrived in Southampton and had to find her way to Coventry where my father was already settled.
A neighbour that she became friends with told her about a hospital called High View that was looking for nursing staff. She went for an interview and was given a nursing assistant job. My mum worked at that hospital for over 30 years until it closed. During that time she worked on various different wards and made some lifelong friendships with staff. As I child I became part of the nursing family and would attend patient Christmas parties and visited the wards. My mum said that she did not face any racism from the staff, however she did from patients. She was often told, “don’t touch me with your black hands,” and called racist names. However, my mum brushed this off as she needed the money.
There was an opportunity for her to train as an enrolled nurse, however this was unpaid. My mum needed to save to bring my siblings to the UK so had to put this on hold. She never completed the training.
After High View hospital closed she went on to work in two other hospitals, her last being Coventry University Hospital. Although my mother retired at 60, she continued working on the bank until she was 76. That’s 50 years working for the NHS!
My journey with the NHS started as a trainee nurse at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. I completed 18 months of Project 2000, it was a general nursing higher education course and I was not enjoying it, so I left. For several years, I worked as a nursing assistant for an agency, this included working at Hither Green Hospital and many wards at the Maudsley and Guys. It was during a shift at Hither Green that I met an occupational therapist (OT) and found out more about the role. I decided that was what I wanted to do. I needed to gain some further qualifications to meet the entry requirement and whilst I was doing that, I gained experience as a research assistant, supporting my sister Dr Rosemarie Mallett with research into schizophrenia at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience.
After qualifying as an OT, my first job was with Lewisham and Guys in 1998, this was before the merger and new name of South London and Maudsley in 2000. I have had several roles within the organisation, mostly as a clinical OT until I became Head OT for the Acute Clinical Advisory Group in 2016. This was a significant achievement as apart from being the first substantive black female OT at South London and Maudsley, I had now become the first black Head of Occupational Therapy. After four years I decided to take on an operational role in the community which has now led me to being a general manager.
My daughter has recently completed a placement year at South London and Maudsley, so I guess the family tradition of working in the NHS continues…”
