Short film honouring Windrush generation to premiere at Bradford Literature Festival 

Jacaranda Books and Fane are producing a film to “bring to life the locales and communities” at the centre of Alford Dalrymple Gardner’s Windrush memoir, Finding Home, which will be published on 22nd June 2023 in hardback.

Launched at the Bradford Literature Festival in June, the documentary-style film will star father-son duo Alford Dalrymple Gardner and Howard Gardner. As part of their 2023 partnership, Jacaranda Books and Fane will be making Yorkshire the centre of the film honouring the Windrush generation as a way to mark the 75th anniversary.

One of the few living passengers to have travelled on the "Empire Windrush", Alford’s story, told through conversations with his son, explores "the uplifting highs and intolerant lows that West Indian migrants of his generation encountered upon travelling to Britain to forge out a life". The publisher said: "In the context of a supposedly post-imperial Britain where the lives of West Indian migrants hang precariously on the whims of the Home Office, Alford’s heartening testimony is a celebration of those who endured hardships so that generations to come could call this place home."

Alford is a 97-year-old RAF veteran while his son, Howard, is a retired engineer. They are both still based in Yorkshire, and will be appearing at Bradford Literature Festival to premier the film, which will be followed by a panel moderated by Windrush Generations UK director Nigel Guy.

On the experience of embarking on this project, Howard said: “Working on my father’s memoir has been hard but enjoyable. Learning about his childhood and his role in the RAF. 

“As a child you don’t realise just what your parents are going through, and being a mixed-race couple in the 1950s it must have been harder for them. For dad to leave his parents not once, but twice to go to a new country to help in their hour of need must have taken a lot of courage.”

Syima Aslam, c.e.o. and artistic director, said: “Bradford Literature Festival is delighted to partner with Jacaranda and FANE to present the Finding Home screening and in-conversation as part of the national Windrush 75 celebrations. It is an honour to platform Alford and Howard Gardner’s experience in this way, and to celebrate the incalculable impact of the Windrush generation in Yorkshire."