Name: Friday Late: Caribbean Journeys
Start: 2022-06-17T18:45:00+01:00
End: 2022-06-17T22:00:00+01:00
Location: London Transport Museum

May Half Term: Routes and Roundels

Fuel your imagination at our Festival of Curiosity this half term as your family enjoy curious and creative problem-solving challenges and meet real-world engineers. Follow our STEAM-inspired family trail, join an interactive workshop or storytelling session, and much more!

Down Street: Churchill's secret station

Experience the Railway Executive Committee’s bomb-proof headquarters during World War II, the warren of tunnels where Churchill sheltered.

Plan your school visit

Find the information you need to plan and book your visit to London Transport Museum in Covent Garden or the London Transport Museum Depot in Acton, west London.

Inspired by our current exhibition Legacies: London Transport’s Caribbean Workforce, join us for an evening of expert talks, live music, dance workshops, Caribbean street food and a chance to explore our galleries after hours. Follow the journey of the Windrush generation and how London Transport recruited workers directly from the Caribbean in the 1950s, the London they encountered upon arrival, and how their journeys shaped the London we know today.

A yellowing poster selling tickets on the Santa Maria ship from Kingston, Jamaica to the UK

What's happening?

Metronomes Steel Orchestra

Caribbean Zone, Legacies, 7pm - 7.30pm
London Now, Connections, 8:30pm - 9pm

Dance along to traditional Steel Pan music with one of London’s finest steel orchestras. Metronomes is an innovative steelband based in Ladbroke Grove, West London. They’ll kick off the evening with a set in the Legacies exhibition itself, before leading the Carnival festivities with Rock it with Rho and our Carnival dancers.

Waistline Workouts with Coach Rho

London Now, Connections, 7:30pm - 8pm and 8:30pm - 9pm

Rock it with Rho is bringing the spirit of Carnival to London Transport Museum with her infamous Waistline Workouts session! This class will get you ready for carnival with high energy Soca aerobics, waistline drills and techniques. Let’s Rock it - and get your waistline ready for the road!

Windrush Stories Living Room

London Then, Mezzanine, 6:45pm - 9:30pm

Hear stories from the Windrush Generation in their own words, and learn about the impact London society had on their lives, in this session organised through the Raising Awareness of Culture and Ethnicity (RACE) Staff Network Group at TfL.

Herbert Kendall, Jamaican-born Station Master

Caribbean Zone, Design Gallery, 7:30 - 8pm and 9 - 9:30pm

Valentine Hanson plays Herbert Kendall, telling the story of how he was recruited by London Transport and travelled over from the Caribbean.

Windrush, the real diaspora and teaching Black migration in school

London Now, Cubic Theatre, 7:45pm – 8:15pm

Panel discussion with Samantha Williams, Founder of the This Is BookLove bookshop and charity BookLove & Beyond, Helen Sanson (consultant, Associate Lecturer at Open University and Assessment Specialist at awarding body OCR), Tony Warner (Black History Walks Founder, Diversity Consultant and author of GCSE migration texts), and Nicholas Taylor-Mullings (secondary school vice principal with a passion for race, education and Public Policy) as they discuss Black migration and the classroom and ask:

With some critics suggesting the Black migration story is being over-simplified or dumbed down in the classroom, how can teachers effectively teach the amazingly complex history of the Black presence within the British Isles? Is there a narrative emerging within the classroom creating a generation of school leavers believing the Black British presence starts and stops aboard the Windrush?

This is Book Love

London Now, Transportorium, 6:45pm - 10pm

The brilliantly colourful multicultural travelling book carnival and pop-up bookshop will be filled to the brim with inclusive and culturally representative books for adults and children; music from the Caribbean; flags; dolls and more. 20 pence from every book sold goes towards their BookLove and Beyond GoFundMe appeal, which puts free multicultural books into schools.

Black Eats London

Caribbean Zone, by Transportorium, 6:45pm – 10pm

Food Fusion 95 - Caribbean street food stall with Michelin-star trained chef Aleandro

Pure Cane and The Coconut Shack - soft drink stalls

Las Olas - Caribbean spiced rum bar

DJ Dubplate Pearl

London Now, Connections, 7:30pm - 8:30pm and 9pm - 10pm

Dub and reggae DJ sets to transport you on a musical journey.

Carnival Parade

London Now, Connections

Join in with the carnival parade led by Rock it with Rho, Metronomes Steel Orchestra, and dancers wearing costumes created by designer Shari Royer, whose pink headdress is on display in the exhibition.