Tribute Events for John La Rose

 In 2005 the acclaimed writer Caryl Phillips had the idea of holding an event at the South Bank to celebrate the work of John La Rose and New Beacon Books. Sadly, before that could be arranged, John died. In 2007, Caryl Phillips’ original idea came to fruition in the form of a tribute day for John and a celebration of the 40^th anniversary of New Beacon Books.

On Saturday 3 February the renowned Barbadian poet Kamau Brathwaite opened the afternoon with a spectacular reading of Rights of Passage, his seminal work which had publicly launched the Caribbean Artists Movement some 40 years earlier. The reading was followed by a screening of the film Dream to Change the World, where director Horace Ove was on hand to talk about his lively film which covers part of John’s life, his influences and his ideas on culture and politics.

In the evening, the sell-out crowd were treated to an array of voices talking about John La Rose’s vision through the work of New Beacon Books. Caryl Phillips gave the keynote address, whilst a history of New Beacon and John’s work was provided by Brian Alleyne, Janice Durham, Gus John, Roxy Harris, Michael La Rose, Errol Lloyd, Anne Walmsley and Sarah White, all of whom have been involved with New Beacon in some way. Readings from books published by New Beacon were given by Erna Brodber, Burt Caesar, Dona Croll, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Ruel White, whilst respected Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o presented his memoirs of John. Sadly, Susan Craig was not able to travel from Trinidad as planned, but her piece was read by Gus John. The evening was framed by music from the Buru Drummers and Keith Waithe.

On Sunday 4 March the George Padmore Institute and LKJ Records hosted a Memorial Tribute Concert for John La Rose. It was held at the Camden Centre in London, home for many years of the International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books, which brought back a host of memories for organisers and many of the audience alike. Reflecting both John’s eclectic taste in music and his range of friends and comrades, the concert attracted an impressive list of performers. Kicking off the evening were the Pamberi Pan Players from Trinidad. This was followed by classically trained singer/songwriter and musician Deirdre Pascall, award-winning flautist Keith Waithe accompanied by cora player Jo Jo Yates, and contemporary classical composer Shirley Thompson. Rapper Faro brought the house down with his conscious lyrics, whilst jazz poet Jayne Cortez pulled no punches with her poetry as she performed with drummer Denardo Coleman. Jazz giants Randy Weston and TK Blue also gave an amazing set, their music taking the audience across continents and musical genres. The evening was rounded off with a stellar performance from reggae poet Linton Kwesi Johnson and the Dennis Bovell Dub Band, who had also played with Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze and Winston Francis earlier. Although it was a very rainy Sunday night, the audience turned out and tuned into this wonderful concert to remember John La Rose.

All of us at the GPI would like to reiterate our thanks to everyone who helped make both events so unforgettable: Ruth Borthwick and Sarah Hickson at the South Bank in particular and Caryl Phillips for having the idea; and Nicky Ezer at the Camden Centre. Thanks too to all the participants and the  great audiences.

The Crossing Borders Archive Project

Our latest archive work, the Crossing Borders Archive Project, started in November 2006. This two-year project aims to conserve the archives of the International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books (1982-95) and of European Action for Racial Equality and Social Justice. The Project Archivist from our previous Changing Britannia project, Sarah Garrod, is with us for the duration of this one too and we are very glad to have her invaluable input. One year in, significant progress has been made and Sarah has been helped by a number of volunteers – Hannah Baker, Margaret Chevis, Zuleika Dobson, Janice Durham, Wole La Rose and Sarah White – whom she has also been training in basic cataloguing skills and as archive search room assistants. Freelance workers have taken on some of the tasks for the project too.

One remit of the Crossing Borders Archive Project is to hold a number of outreach events to make the archives known to a variety of audiences in England. To this end, many Institute members have been involved in promoting the GPI. On 25 April GPI Trustee Roxy Harris gave a talk about the International Book Fairs at the New Gallery in Finsbury Park, which garnered an enthusiastic audience. On 5 June Institute volunteer Brian Alleyne spoke about New Beacon and the George Padmore Institute at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London, as part of their event series commemorating the 200^th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. On 17 August Trustee Milverton Wallace presented a talk on the late Pearl Connor-Mogotsi to some 50 young people who were taking part in Carnival Messiah at Harewood House, Leeds. And in September GPI Administrator Sharmilla Beezmohun gave a paper about European Action and the Book Fairs at the ‘Creolising Europe’ conference in Manchester.

All of these events have brought the Institute, our archives and our work to the attention of new audiences, which is great news as we will soon be ready to admit researchers into the GPI to search and look at our archive material. Sarah Garrod has been leading the organisation of a public room to enable us to offer proper public access by appointment.

The Imperial War Museum Partnership

As another aspect of our outreach work, the George Padmore Institute has gone into partnership with the Imperial War Museum’s Journeys of Change Two project. This scheme aims to introduce schools to archives via the Museum, using their exhibits to fire the imagination of the children. We will be working with a group from Kokayi Supplementary School and with one other local school. We’re looking forward to forging links with these children who will hopefully learn something about their community’s history of organisation and protest.

Public Events

2007 was so hectic with the Tribute events mentioned above that only two events were actually held at the GPI. In February Jamaican writers Opal Palmer Adisa and Erna Brodber read to an appreciative audience. In April there was a celebration to launch Horizons: The Life and Times of Edric Connor, with tributes from Geraldine Connor and Ian Randle and singing from Ronald Samm, Simone Sauphanor and Nigel Wong.

Since then we have happily promoted events that have been linked to the Institute in some way. These have included Shirley Thompson playing at Keats House, Marika Sherwood talking about Manchester’s links with the slave trade, John Cowley speaking on recorded Caribbean Music in Europe, the Caribbean Arts Movement retrospective exhibition held at the McKenzie Pavilion in Finsbury Park throughout October and various poetry readings by Linton Kwesi Johnson and lectures by Gus John. On 13 October there was a splendid line-up of tributes, film clips and music at the memorial celebration for Pearl Connor-Mogotsi. The GPI and New Beacon Books also took part in the Word Power Book Fair at the Emirates Stadium, which included a workshop on the origins of New Beacon Books.

During 2007 the Institute has been offering its support to a campaign protesting about the proposed building of the Kajbar dam in Sudan, which will result in the destruction of some of the major sites of Nubian heritage. You can find out more about this campaign by contacting campaign@kajbar.net

Website

In October 2007 a new revamped website for the George Padmore Institute was launched. It was designed by Jon Hadley – who is now working on the New Beacon Books website (yes, they may finally be dragged into the 21^st century!) – and it looks lovely, so our heartfelt thanks to Jon.

Publishing

As you can imagine, the two tribute events to John La Rose at the start of the year very much warranted an ‘all hands on deck’ approach and left us all more than a little tired afterwards! However, over the summer Sharmilla Beezmohun, Roxy Harris and Sarah White have been working hard on the second and third volumes of talks in the Changing Britannia: Life Experience With Britain series, which should be ready in 2008. We will also be releasing a DVD of the Tribute Concert for John La Rose sometime next year.

Institute Policy and Practice

In May 2007 Trustees and some long-term supporters of the Institute met for a day-long discussion about the GPI and its future. This included looking at how the GPI has evolved since it was founded and how it runs on a day-to-day basis. The ‘Away Day’ proved very useful as a meeting point for an exchange of ideas and hopefully will be repeated regularly so that we can all see what progress the Institute is making.

2007 has also seen regular meetings of the Institute’s Health and Safety Committee, which is putting together policies for the staff and also improving the building.

Finance

With our new archive project grant the Institute’s finances are in a healthy position. However, in no time at all our project will be finishing, so we have already started the task of trying to look for new funding. We are really keen to find some funds which will allow us a few years of core funding of our Archivist so that she can do some major work on the rather voluminous personal archives of John La Rose. So, if you know any millionaires who want to make a donation, or if you’re one yourself, do get in touch! Of course we are always happy with any donations, big or small, so do keep sending them in and, if you are a UK taxpayer, please ask for a Gift Aid form to make your money go even further.

Fundraising Lunch

As ever, the Fundraising Lunch held in 2006 was a great success and everyone enjoyed the day – thanks to Janice Durham, Jeffrey and Joyce Simon and to all those who donated dishes and who came.

This year’s lunch will be on Sunday 2 December and we look forward to catching up with old friends in the convivial atmosphere that we have come to expect from this event.

Other News

There are a number of groups based around the GPI which are helping people to network and get together in a variety of ways. On email is the ‘Friends of JLR’ group, who regularly email each other about interesting or important news items etc (the electronic version of John La Rose’s photocopies!). And more recently there has been the setting up of ‘Young Friends of John La Rose’ where younger people who want to take a more active part in the Institute have started to get together. If you’d like to know more on either of these, please email us.

Finally, in 2007 Michael La Rose was elected Chair of the George Padmore Institute. GPI supporters can rest assured that he, along with all the Trustees, workers and volunteers here at the Institute will continue to be slow but sure builders and consolidators in the tradition of John La Rose. On this note we would like to say thanks to all of you who have been such staunch friends over the years and we look forward to another year of hard work and progress, but also fun and enjoyment. Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2008.