Sea Grapes On Bluefields Beach by Errol C. Drummond

Sea Grapes On Bluefields Beach : Searching for The Streets of Gold

In the years following the second world war Britain reached out to its extensive colony for help to rebuild a country ravished by the war. It is debatable whether the first cohort that came from the Caribbean on the ship HMT The Empire Windrush in 1948 were invited guest or ambitious chancers. What is undebatable however is that those that followed in the 1950s and 60s were enticed by the promise of untold opportunities.

For many of the children that were left behind in the care of family and friends the expectation was that one day we too would be making that journey. For me that day was July 19th 1967.

The streets were not exactly paved with gold but there were infinitely more opportunities in an industrialised Britain than there were in rural Jamaica.