00:00The Notting Hill Carnival started in 1964, but the prelude to that goes as far back as the Windrush
00:08because it was started by many people who came as part of the Windrush generation between 1948 to 1972.
00:16So many of them came with their skills and culture and traditions into London.
00:23And as we all know, there were very, very difficult times for these Caribbean people.
00:30And they ended up congregating in places like Brixton and Notting Hill.
00:35They started to try to develop their own communities.
00:40And the Notting Hill Carnival came about as a direct result of the Notting Hill riots
00:47because, of course, there was a lot of racism and hatred and discrimination going on at the time.
00:53An Antiguan man called Kelso Cochran was murdered on the streets by gangs.
01:00The idea of the carnival started with someone called Claudia Jones, who was a Trinidadian journalist
01:06and decided that she would try and make every effort to unite the communities and get them working together.
01:13Carnival is a very integral part of our lives in Trinidad.
01:16She wanted to replicate something similar.
01:20So she started off holding galas in great halls, like having a steel band, having calypsos, having dancers.
01:29And she also engaged the services of her friend, Russ Henderson.
01:34She asked him to play music in the street on this particular day for the children to parade in costume.
01:41My husband was one of the musicians who played with Russ Henderson.
01:46And so they put all their instruments on their backs and around their necks
01:50and played music in the streets of Notting Hill.
01:53And that has been acknowledged as the start of the street carnival.
01:58We told him, me and the children, that he had a choice of, you know, what we call the band.
02:05And he decided on the word Genesis.
02:07And we're one of the oldest and longest running bands that participates in Notting Hill Carnival.
02:15My husband passed away in 2003.
02:19But we ensured that our children understood the legacy, understood what carnival was about.
02:26And they actually, to my wonderment and joy, they have actually embraced it fully.
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