IT was the voyage that changed Britain’s complexion. On June 22, 1948, the SS Windrush sailed into the Port of Tilsbury in London with over 350 West Indians who settled in a country still recovering from the destructive World War II.

The Windrush West Indians are dear to British people of Caribbean descent. Their journey and subsequent impact on the United Kingdom is recalled in Windrush: Movement Of The People, a musical featuring the Phoenix Dance Theatre from Yorkshire.

The production opened in early February and has played to packed houses. Its artistic director is Sharon Watson, whose parents are Jamaican.

Watson, a 30-year member of the Phoenix Dance Theatre, told the Jamaica Observer that she participated in an event in 2008 celebrating the Windrush’s 60th anniversary. She was determined to be part of a 70th anniversary production.

“I decided this year would not pass without acknowledging, creatively, the Caribbean (people) who have helped pave the way for change. We as a country are still benefiting from the work and diligence, the willpower and resilience their contributions have made,” she said. “As the choreographer, it was an amazing story to research and turn into a dance production. My mother was instrumental in helping me map out a story I was connected to.”

Movement has a 10-member cast, runs less than one hour, and comprises three acts:

The Departure captures the expectations of moving to the mother country for a better life; This Is England revisits the culture shock the new immigrants encountered such as racism, which made finding suitable homes and employment a challenge.

The third act shows how Caribbean people gradually stamped their presence on Britain through the Church, staging basement parties and introducing their music to Britain through the sound systems.

According to Watson: “This section of the work is a celebration of what the journey from 1948 has enabled us to achieve and add to the British way of life.”

Music for Movement is made up of songs Watson grew up listening to as well as originals composed by Christella Litras, a respected musician who is founder of the Caution Collective in Yorkshire.

Watson is also from Yorkshire. She was born in Leeds to Jamaican parents from Spanish Town and Mandeville.

“They both arrived in the early 1950s by plane. Separate journeys, as it was my father’s responsibility to find a home and a job to then send for my mother. They worked several jobs and sent for my brothers and sisters over a period of years,” she explained.

Some noted persons went to England on the Windrush. They include Cecil Baugh — the famed Jamaican ceramist, and Trinidadian calypsonian Lord Kitchener.

Almost immediately, people from the islands made their mark. West Indians flocked cricket grounds to watch the West Indies team beat England for the first time in a Test series in 1950. Britain at the time was also home to renaissance men like Trinidadian C L R James whose book, Beyond A Boundary, was inspired by cricket’s impact on Caribbean society.

University students who became leaders of the independence movement in their respective territories studied in England at the time of the Windrush’s berth: Forbes Burnham of Guyana, Errol Barrow of Barbados, and Jamaican Michael Manley.

Over the years, the Caribbean presence in Britain has met resistance from high-profile politicians like Enoch Powell, whose infamous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech in 1968 railed against migration from the former colonies.

While Windrush: Movement of The People has played to diverse audiences, Sharon Watson is particularly pleased to see West Indians in attendance.

“We worked closely with Leeds’ Black elders to give us truths and a sense of place and purpose. My mother’s story has been a strong catalyst and features strongly throughout. Alford Gardner has been one of my subjects for the making and he has a national following and interest, as he was one of the only remaining travellers on the SS Windrush in 1948,” she explained. “We had a great showing of West Indians supporting at the performances in Leeds. The BBC have engaged with a keen interest in getting the story out, which in turn connects to a wider diverse audience.”