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Finding Home

A Windrush Story

Author: Alford Dalrymple Gardner and Howard Gardner  

Finding Home
Hardcover

Alford Dalrymple Gardner is one of the few living passengers to have travelled on the Empire Windrush. Now published for the first time, this is his stirring life story.

Alford Dalrymple Gardner was one of the few living passengers to have travelled on the Empire Windrush. He is one of 10 whose portrait was commissioned by King Charles, and appears in the BBC's Windrush: Portraits of a Generation special. Now published for the first time, this is his stirring life story.

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Summary

Alford Dalrymple Gardner is one of the few living passengers to have travelled on the Empire Windrush. Now published for the first time, this is his stirring life story.

Alford Dalrymple Gardner was one of the few living passengers to have travelled on the Empire Windrush. He is one of 10 whose portrait was commissioned by King Charles, and appears in the BBC's Windrush: Portraits of a Generation special. Now published for the first time, this is his stirring life story.

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Description

On 24 May 1948, the Empire Windrush sailed from Kingston, Jamaica, to harbour at Tilbury Docks. It carried 1,027 passengers and some stowaways, and more than two thirds of them were West Indies nationals. On 22 June 1948 they disembarked onto the docks, Alford Dalrymple Gardner was among them. Alford's story traverses both the uplifting highs and intolerant lows that West Indian migrants of his generation encountered upon travelling to Britain to forge out a life. From joining the British military during World War II to returning to Jamaica once it was won-only to come back to the UK when the government decided it needed him again-Alford witnessed milestone events of the 20th century that shaped the country he still lives in today. In the context of a supposedly 'post-Imperial' Britain where the lives of West Indian migrants hang precariously on the whims of the Home Office, Alford's heartening testimony is a celebration of those who endured hardships so that generations to come could call this place home.

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Critic Reviews

Alford Dalrymple Gardner, an amateur guitarist and wicket keeper, was among the Windrush passengers. Along with his youthful fellow travellers (the average age on the ship was 24), he traded the certainty of devastating Caribbean hurricanes and unemployment for the chance of a better life in bombed-out Britain. His zestful style, undiminished by his 97 years and the challenges faced in his bigoted adoptive country, is commemorated in Finding Home, a memoir co-authored with his son, Howard. The book chronicles Caribbean pioneers' pitfalls and triumphs in a country that often seemed to despise them. "I'll never understand," writes Gardner early on, "how the colour of my skin can make these people so mad."

Critics scoffed that the sun-kissed West Indians "wouldn't last one bad winter" in Britain. Finding Home illuminates the antipathy towards the pioneers (prime minister Clement Attlee received a letter from angry MPs warning it was a mistake to admit the migrants), showing that a hostile environment was in place long before the then home secretary Theresa May's 2012 policy ensnared some of the Windrush generation in a bureaucratic conundrum to prove, decades on from their arrival, that they had a right to live here.

-- Colin Grant The Observer, ‘What comes across clearly is the emotional cost of migration’: Windrush commemorated in books
This is a hugely important book giving a vivid account of what it was like to arrive in Britain in 1948 on Empire Windrush. Alford Gardner has written a fascinating personal account of how he built a happy life in an often hostile country. A really engaging read and a vital piece of contemporary history. -- Amelia Gentleman, Journalist and author of The Windrush Betrayal: Exposing the Hostile Environment
Finding Home is a notable account of one of our pioneering Windrush elders who made a personal choice as a young person to charter a life into new environments of opportunities. This account is a real discovery for all to acknowledge people's early lives in the Caribbean, the storm of challenges faced and the lasting contributions of their unique blend of determination and vibrancy in all facets of UK society. We are honourably standing on the shoulders of these legends of legacy because their journey continues to provide a momentous height of inspiring vision and hope for all future generations. -- Nigel Guy, Director at Windrush Generations UK
Such testimonies are a crucial part of understanding modern British history. This story should have been part of our national reading in the 1970s. The fact that it's coming out now, in the 2020's shows how vast the gap is in the honest portrayal of this country's past and the crucial role of Jacaranda Books in commissioning such work. -- Tony Warner, author of Black History Walks
Since 1948 only a handful of autobiographies have been published by passengers who came to Britain on the Empire Windrush and so Alford Dalrymple Gardner's Finding Home - A Windrush Story is a fantastic resource. I thoroughly enjoyed his stories of serving in the RAF in wartime, his post-war journey to Britain on the Windrush and his long and eventful life in this country. Finding Home is a superb chronicle of Mr Gardner's journey through life and the ups and downs he has faced. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about the Windrush from someone who was there, and has provided us with first-hand experience. -- Stephen Bourne, author of War to Windrush and Evelyn Dove: Britain's Black Cabaret Queen
Besides Sam King's 1998 autobiography, Climbing Up the Rough Side of the Climbing, Alford's book is the only one that reflects the true spirit of Windrush and what Sam wrote about, except that Alford's life is unique and just as adventurous and inspiring. If there was no World War Two, there might not have been an Empire Windrush, and no Alford in Leeds, England. Alford Dalrymple Gardner's autobiography is one of the classics. -- Arthur Torrington CBE, Co-founder and Director, Windrush Foundation
Alford Gardner's memoir is a joy to read, capturing the adventure and challenges of this Windrush Pioneer who represents an important link between the first and 4th generation of Windrush descendants. The book should be in the hands of all children as part of the drive for Windrush history and legacy should embedded in the national curriculum -- Professor Patrick Vernon OBE

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About the Author

Alford Dalrymple Gardner (Author)

Born in 1926 in Kingston, Jamaica, Alford Gardner first came to England in 1944 to support the war effort, serving in the RAF. After a brief stay back in Jamaica, he decided to return to England to help to rebuild the country. He boarded the HMT Empire Windrush intending to build a life in the country he once called home. Despite a less than accommodating welcome back, he persisted and succeeded in forging a better life for his family.

In his later years, Alford spent all his leisure time at the bingo hall. When not playing bingo, he would watch sports or spend time with his family. A much fuller sense of Alford's life is conveyed in his autobiography: Finding Home.

Alford passed away in 2024 at the age of 98.

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Product Details

Publisher
Jacaranda Books Art Music Ltd
Published
22nd June 2023
Pages
216
ISBN
9781914344220

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