From Jamaica to England, My Story

Roy Wilks now lives with his daughter Cherry in Dagenham and attends Connections, the support group run by the OrangeLine service at Saint Francis Hospice.

As he celebrates his 87th birthday, he reflects on his extraordinary journey. Since leaving Jamaica in 1959 to start a new life in England as part of the Windrush generation, he has proudly watched five generations of his family thrive, their accomplishments and travels becoming the living legacy of the life he worked so hard to build.

I was born in Jamaica in 1939, and in 1959, at just nineteen years old, I left for England to build a better life. Many people from Jamaica were leaving at that time, a movement now known as the Windrush generation, named after the ship HMT Empire Windrush, which brought the first large group of Caribbean migrants to Britain in 1948. We came to support the country after the war and to build new futures for ourselves. Many people went to America, but England felt like the place of opportunity. It was my first time leaving my mum and dad, and I still remember my mum crying, worried she might never see me again.

When I arrived in Nottingham, I was young and excited, but I was not prepared for the shock of the cold. I had never seen snow or fog before, and that first winter made me think more than once about going back home. With no central heating, three of us shared a bed and slept in our clothes just to stay warm. 

My early work was tough. In Jamaica, I had been a tailor, but my first job in England was in a foundry making radiators at Beeston Boilers. The work was so hard it brought tears to my hands. After a year, I moved to Gedling Colliery and spent 13 years working on the surface of the mine, avoiding the dangerous underground shifts. Later, I went into printing at Courtaulds in Derby, where I worked 12?hour shifts for 25 years. I worked night and day with little time for myself, but I did it all for my family. 

Two years after arriving, I had saved enough money to bring my first wife, Iris, from Jamaica. We had known each other since school. Soon after she arrived, we married in a Baptist church in Sheffield in 1961. Together, we raised 7 children. Later I met my second wife Joanne and we had 3 children together. There are now five generations of the Wilks family, and nothing fills me with more pride than seeing them doing well. They are the legacy that continues, so all my work was not in vain.

In 2002, during Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee year, I was honoured to receive a Windrush Award for notable public and community service. It meant a great deal to be recognized as part of the generation that helped shape modern Britain.

Even after retiring, I kept working, driving a school bus and later working in a furniture shop until 2023. But if there’s one thing life has taught me, it’s this: take it easy, respect life, and remember that there is nothing greater than life itself.