African Caribbean centre opens in Oxford

An African Caribbean centre aiming to highlight the contribution the Windrush generation made to the Oxford community has launched.

The Island has opened up in the former Staples outlet store on Park End Street for a trial run that will include exhibitions, talks, music, workshops, and performances, tying in with Black History Month.

Project partner Euton Daley said: "I personally can't wait. It's been a very long time in the making."

The community space is free to access and will run events until 31 October.

It features a reconstruction of a typical 1960s West Indian front room in the UK, and an archive of artefacts and stories collected as part of an ongoing research project between Oxford Brookes and the African Caribbean community.

Exhibitions will feature portraits of the Windrush generation, including a selection of the women who worked in various NHS settings.

Poetry, dance, music, and arts and crafts will also feature, culminating in a carnival party.

Daley told the BBC: "There's a group of us who have been looking at the fact that Oxford doesn't have an African Caribbean centre, like most cities around the UK, and no cultural space... where you've got your cultural artefacts and you can meet and talk and plan.

"At the same time a lot of the elders in our community are slowly passing away, so we've been getting stories and mapping their journeys and contribution to Oxford with various activities."

He said after the trial run the organisers would "see how it looks and how people respond to it and out of that, hopefully we can develop it further".

The Island is a collaboration also involving Fusion Arts, African Caribbean Kultural Heritage Initiative, Oxfordshire Community Education Group, and Unlock the Chains Collective.