The five-year plans that turned into lifetimes: Windrush elders’ stories ‘open door’ for young people

Collecting first-hand accounts of older generation’s struggles is opportunity for Hackney’s children, says leader of pioneering project

There are faces young and old around a table in Hackney library as people share a meal of curry goat, rice and peas and sorrel cake. There are photos of the smiling faces of Windrush elders scattered around. They will soon become permanent fixtures of the Hackney Archives.

There is a feeling among the group that somebody is missing. Lessept Saunders, the founder of the Hackney Caribbean Elderly Organisation, died in April aged 107. He had been the second-oldest known living man in London and the oldest contributor to Stories of Windrush. Saunders was part of the Windrush generation, having arrived in London from Jamaica in 1944 after hearing stories about higher wages and hope from returning friends who had served in the second world war.