Description:I was born in March 1933, and came to this country in October 1951 on the Santa Maria. I was only 18. It was a Spanish ship; rough, rotten. It was Spanish food and I wasn’t used to it, so asked if I could cook my own food; rice and peas, meat, fish, everything. We enjoyed it! It took me three weeks and three days to get here. There was 800 of us came from Jamaica. We stopped in Cuba and Tenerife and Vigo in Spain. I landed in London. One of my daughters is a barrister in London now, so when I go there she takes me around and I can remember arriving on the ship. I felt dreadful when I got here, worried, because I didn’t know anything about England. I was worried about how I was going to survive.
I caught the train to Wolverhampton where I had friends. There were people from Jamaica there. I went to Waterloo Road when I arrived, a woman called Miss Braggo gave me a bed. She was from Jamaica, from Jericho. Somebody had told me that she took in lodgers. I had my own room, I paid about two pounds a week, two shilling extra for the cooking. I went to the Labour Exchange and they gave me a job in Willenhall, Charles Perk’s factory where made bicycle parts, engineering parts. I had to change a gear, coming to this country, there was lots to get used to. My wage packet was four pound.
I cooked for myself, you could get Jamaican food if you knew the right people. We were all single men, no women. I was married, my wife came over here later. We had two kids in Jamaica and three over here. But my wife died when the children were little, oh my god, nobody gave me nothing, I brought them up on my own. I worked and I brought them up. One is a barrister now, one a teacher, one a singer.
I’ve lived in Haddon Tower for 12 years. The Council sent me here – but it’s no good, I’m telling you no good. I want to leave here. I won’t wait to be rehoused, I will buy somewhere. I have everything ready. Here on the ground floor, you can’t sleep at night. You can hear the prostitutes standing chatting outside. Some people kick down the door. The police have a camera here but we don’t see them much.
I’m a musician, I’ve always played. A friend in Jamaica showed me everything, I picked it up quick. I play the baritone sax, the clarinet and the flute. I call my sax Alice, it’s my baby. My favourite tunes are ‘I’m in the mood for love’ ‘Star Dust’ ‘Blue Moon’. I played in the Earl Davis Band with eight other people, and with Rolston Harding, at parties and weddings. In Jamaica I played at the Bamboo Grove Club in Montego Bay. I love music. I was supposed to be a barrister but my mother never gave me the ‘go’. I played in clubs over here. I used to come over to Small Heath, the white men couldn’t get used to it, they were jealous, and used to fight us. We used to wear bow ties and white dinner suits, the women loved it! My sax was made in Germany and it’s 30 years old. Jazz is my music.