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National Windrush monument

Site: National Windrush monument (1 memorial)

SE1, Waterloo Station

This location "was chosen due to its significance in the Windrush story as thousands of people who arrived from the Caribbean passed through the station on their way to start their new lives across the country." (From gov.uk). While later arrivals at Southampton may well have used Waterloo, we don't think it would have been a natural station for the original Windrush migrants to use. Certainly, 2025, there does not appear to be a direct train from Tilbury, Trainline offering a journey with two changes. Arriving at Fenchurch Street would involve only one change.

This monument was unveiled at a time when the government was being criticised for its treatment of the Windrush generation. From The Guardian: "Ministers and the Home Office came under fire after it was revealed members of the Windrush generation and their children had been wrongly detained and deported – and others denied access to healthcare, work, housing benefits and pensions. ... A memorial to the Windrush generation at Waterloo station in London is being “imposed” by the government to the “disgust” of the Caribbean community, the Windrush Foundation has said. ... the community wanted it to be in Brixton, in Windrush Square, and that Waterloo station had “nothing to do” with Windrush."

This section lists the memorials located at this site:
National Windrush monument

Memorialsi

National Windrush monument

Unveiled on Windrush day in 2022. The full poem is available at Laura Serrant.

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