Windrush & Commonwealth NHS Nurses & Midwives

NEWS...

Thank you everyone for your support! We have accomplished a major activity... 

...the Windrush & Commonwealth Nurses & Midwives Statue Unveiled at Whittington Hospital!

We are now in the next phase of the project which is to be completing the documentary!

Stay with us as more plaque unveilings are coming, and so much more...!

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NURSING A NATION Anthology Launched at Islington Assembly Rooms!

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The Godfather of Black British Publishing Honoured with Blue Plaque!!!

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Listen to the Nurses and Midwives 'After Dark Conversations' on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/auntiejeanp/videos/237044998318968

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Plaque unveiled at Chatham Historic dockyard to commemorate black history heroes Chatham and William   Cuffay - 15 July 2021

The plaque featuring Chatham Cuffay, who after fleeing slavery and emigrated to Medway in 1772 worked at Chatham Dockyard, and his son William Cuffay, born in 1788, who was a chartist and a tailor, with a shop in Rochester High St, is located at The Historic Dockyard Chatham.

William started a movement that fought for the rights of workers, widely seen as the pre cursor to the Trade Union movement. The plaque was due to be unveiled last year, which was 150 years after his death, however due to COVID 19 this was postponed.

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Placque installed to activist Olive Morris on her birthday - 26 June 2021

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Nubian Jak & Havas London Win Prestigious Gold Pencil Awards!

The project has scooped a D&AD gold pencil, as well as The One Show’s gold pencil, and was awarded with a Gold Lion for Design. 

The One Show is the world's most prestigious award show in advertising, design and digital marketing. For over 40 years, the Gold Pencil has been regarded as one of the top prizes in the creative industry.

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Keeping Our Heritage Alive

Founded in 2006, the Nubian Jak Community Trust (NJCT), is the only commemorative plaque and sculpture scheme focused on memorialising the historic contributions of Black and minority ethnic people in Britain and beyond. Over 60 commemorative blue and black plaques have been installed around the UK.  We are the largest diversity plaques and statues scheme in the world, approved by English Heritage and endorsed by the Runnymede Trust as a ‘Real Histories’ provider but crucially we remain unfunded, and there is so much more for us to do.

We need your assistance to commemorate the seventy-year history of Black nursing in the NHS through our Nurses and Midwives project, which includes the installation of a statue at the Whittington Hospital in their honour. 

Your donation will also support the publication and promotion of a seminal anthology dedicated to the history of the black medical presence in Britain pre-NHS, a campaign to bring their stories to national attention and create an archive of African and Caribbean nurses and midwives stories for posterity.

In 2020, the NJCT partnered with HAVAS to formulate a new black plaque project that will champion several unrecorded heroes, in the hope that we can gain support from our wider community to champion them permanently by turning them into blue plaques.  

On 10 September 2021, the NJCT will erect the Windrush and Commonwealth NHS Nurses and Midwives Statue at the Whittington Hospital, London, to honour nurses and medics integral to the foundation of Britain’s National Health Service in 1948. Also in September we will publish Nursing a Nation: An Anthology of African and Caribbean contributions to Britain’s Health Services. 

We are an incredible team comprised mainly of volunteers.  Nubian Jak Community Trust continues to  bring to life fascinating stories about our shared past, disseminating a history of important contributions to a wider audience.

As a charity, we are eternally grateful for donations, no matter how small, as this empowers and enables this important and historic work to continue…

Commemoration - 'The Brixton Cenotaph'

In June 2017, the Trust organized the installation of Britain’s first national memorial to commemorate military personnel from Africa and the Caribbean who served alongside Great Britain and its allies during both World Wars. The monument was publicly endorsed by Her Majesty the Queen, and unveiled by Sir Michael Fallon on 22nd June. The unveiling of the memorial received national media coverage, including to date, over 8 million views on YouTube.  

August 2018, the trust created the Notting Hill Carnival Plaque - the largest commemorative plaque in the world!

October 2019, we installed a plaque in memory of Septimius Severus, the African Roman Emperor, who reigned in the 3rd century - 193 - 211, and commanded a regiment of African soldiers at Hadrian’s Wall; to guard and protect the region from the invading Celts of northern Britain.

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June 2021 - May 2022 

2021 is the International Year of Nurses & Midwives. Thank you all to the Windrush & Commonwealth Nurses & Midwives who helped to build and sustain the NHS, regarded as the single greatest achievement in the UK in modern times.

We had planned to install the statue on the 5th July 2021 to recognise and celebrate their mettle, resolve, and humanity on a day of national appreciation but due to COVID-19 restrictions, we have set the date to Friday 10 September. 

The statue pays tribute to medical practitioners, nurses, midwives, and ward sisters, and is also a tribute to workers that enable NHS hospitals to operate - auxiliary staff, cooks, cleaners, laundry assistants, and personal patient carers. “Since it’s inception in 1948 the NHS has been completely dependent on people from all over the world to help run the health service, especially it’s hospitals. Nurses from the Caribbean, and Africa have been at the forefront of patient care for decades.” Royal College of Nursing.

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COME ON THE BLACK TO BLUE JOURNEY WITH US....

NUBIAN JAK PLAQUES TO UN-RECOGNISED AFRICAN & CARIBBEAN MOVERS & SHAKERS that inspired culture, politics, social services, and health, among very many others from the 15th to 21st centuries.

With the support of Havas London and JC Deceaux, we are bringing to light 30 unrecognised achievers, contributors, and influencers with temporary Black plaques which will become permanent Blue plaques. Look out for our posters on billboards across London, Brixton Underground, Waterloo Station, and Westfield Shopping Centres, among other places.

https://blackplaqueproject.com/

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HELP US INSTALL THE WINDRUSH & COMMONWEALTH NHS NURSES & MIDWIVES STATUE & PUBLISH THE 'NURSING A NATION' BOOK ON 

FRIDAY 10 September 2021

Through kind support and sponsorship so far, we are reaching our goal! 

HELP US GO ALL THE WAY and make this unique initiative an everlasting legacy of personal stories and British history!

The nurses monument is 7ft high by 7ft wide, made of blue, brown, and white granite; and will be unveiled on Friday 10 September 2021. The unveiling event is being planned in close collaboration with the Whittington Hospital  and Islington Borough Council.

Why Whittington Hospital?

In the same year as the foundation of the NHS, the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board collectively became known as Whittington Hospital. It has a history of employing African and Caribbean nursing staff since it's inception; and is currently the most diverse and inclusive employer in our health service. The borough of Islington is a prominent area of London, and was home to Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first woman in Britain to qualify as a physician and surgeon, and co-founder of one of the first hospitals staffed by women.

The 'Nursing a Nation' Anthology

The book will be launched at a venue in Islington in September and Nubian Jak Community Trust is collaborating with Islington Council, Islington Black History Working Group, and other partners to deliver workshops, and teaching resources for teachers in late 2021-2022.  We are hoping to provide copies of the book to all libraries across the borough and beyond.

Please support us if you can, and share widely to help us reach our goals. 

Thank you so much!

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Did You Know? In the Year 1948.....

• The MV Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Dock with over 500 passengers from countries in the Caribbean

• The NHS was formed

• The North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board became the Whittington Hospital

• The Summer Olympic Games was held in London

• Post-war bread rationing came to an end

• The first Caribbean immigrants were housed in an air raid shelter in Clapham South London

• The UK government nationalized the railway industry and created British Railways  

• The first new comprehensive schools opened in Potters Bar and Hillingdon

• Caribbean immigrants found work through the Labour Exchange in Brixton, and launched Brixton as one of the most racially diverse areas in the UK

• The Manchester Baby, the world's first electronic stored-program computer, ran its first program

• Jamaica won it's first Olympic Gold Medal in track & field - Arthur Wint in the 400m

• John Derry became the first British pilot to break the sound barrier in the de Havilland DH 108 Swallow aircraft

• The government nationalised the gas industry and gas boards were created

• First African-American man received an Oscar: James Baskett - Honorary Academy Award for his portrayal of "Uncle Remus" in Song of the South

• The Children Act 1948 came into effect

• The UN established the World Health Organization

• The UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Ghanian scientist Dr Raphael Armattoe was runner-up for the Nobel prize in physiology

• The LP was made of vinyl and played at 33 rpm

• Apartheid began in South Africa