Heritage Lottery Fund

It is a great pleasure to tell you that our Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) application has been successful. We have secured a grant to fund the three-year Changing Britannia Project, the main purpose of which is to catalogue and conserve five important collections in our care: the Caribbean Artists Movement, the early Black Education Movement, the Black Parents Movement, the New Cross Massacre Campaign and early newspapers and ephemera (1960s-1970s) from the UK and the Caribbean. Funding started in October and we are now actively recruiting for a part-time fully qualified archivist. As we enter this new and exciting phase in our work, we are keen to make sure that we take on board staff who have an understanding of, and sympathy for, the objectives of the GPI.

Archive Work

While awaiting the decision from the HLF our volunteers and consultants have continued to make great strides in developing the archives.

Early in the year we bought two new computers and the CALM 2000 Archive Cataloging software system. In March Janice Durham, Brian Alleyne, Sarah White and Zuleika Dobson attended a training day to learn how to use the software. Since then these volunteers have met regularly to familiarise themselves with the software and to learn basic methods of cataloguing archives and Janet Foster, a consultant archivist, has run three training sessions. The group are working on materials collected by the team that sat on the Macdonald Inquiry Into Racism and Racial Violence in Manchester Schools, which we received last year.

Running parallel with the cataloguing work and training Amelia Rampton, a paper conservator and her colleague, Julie Fitzgerald, have visited the archives regularly to continue with the cleaning and boxing of materials.

Life Experience With Britain

This year we held the third series of our Life Experience With Britain talks and conversations. Speakers were: Professor Harry Goulbourne, who has made a major contribution in the fields of history, politics and sociology; Errol Lloyd, painter, sculptor, pioneering children's book illustrator, author and arts administrator; Waveney Bushell, educational psychologist and campaigner in the black education movement; Yvonne Brown, solicitor in her own legal practice specialising in cases concerning children, education and mental health; Neil Kenlock, photographer and founder/director of Choice FM London; Gloria Mills, active trade unionist and Director of Equal Opportunities in the UK's largest trade union, UNISON; and Shirley Thompson, composer of opera, symphonic and chamber music, music for films, TV and theatre, film director and lecturer in music. All the talks have proved as interesting and diverse as previous ones in the series and we are now starting to make these ready for publication.

Public Events

In addition to the Life Experience With Britain series, the GPI has organised a number of other public events, mainly involving overseas visitors who were in London for a short time.

In March African-American jazz poet Jayne Cortez gave a lively poetry reading followed by a reception later that month and Professor Yusufu Bala Usman, a leading Nigerian intellectual and historian, gave a talk on the situation in Nigeria and Africa. In April our Chairperson John La Rose treated us to a reading of his favourite poetry, ranging from Tagore to Pasternak to Martin Carter. Linton Kwesi Johnson, who is a GPI Trustee, joined John to read some of his poems. In early May Jamaican poet Mervyn Morris entertained us with a well-appreciated poetry reading. Kamau Brathwaite, the acclaimed poet, lecturer and historian, gave a reading and talk in July which enthralled the audience and which drew on his many years of writing and teaching.

Publications

The GPI is working towards publishing the complete set of brochures from the 12 International Book Fairs of Radical, Black and Third World Books 1982-95. The publication will also contain essays from various people who attended the Fairs. We have had some 20 replies from over 100 participants ranging from poems and short comments to essays. As the costs of printing such a book - which will be over 600 pages long with lots of photos - will be high, we are looking for specific funding for this publishing project.

We are also still in the process of preparing for publication the second Life Experience With Britain book which has been a bit delayed this year because of all the other activities going on. It will definitely be out in 2003 and we
are aiming for the book of the third series, held this year, to follow hot on its heels.

John La Rose

Sadly John La Rose, our Chairperson, had to go to hospital for 10 days at the end of May, as he was suffering from acute unstable angina. He is recovering well but has had to take a back seat in his role at the GPI. Aggrey Burke, our Vice Chairperson, and Linton Kwesi Johnson, one of our Trustees, have been taking on many of John's jobs in his stead. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their get well wishes to John and for their support.

75th Birthday Tribute

27th December 2002 marks the 75th birthday of John La Rose. The Trustees of the GPI have decided to mark the occasion by commissioning a bust in bronze to be sculpted by Errol Lloyd, an artist who has created portraits of John and who has been part of our movement for the last 35 years. Errol has been working away steadily throughout the summer and autumn. The presentation should take place early in the New Year.

Paid Posts and Helping Hands

This year the GPI has plunged into the role of employer. In September Sharmilla Beezmohun began working for us as a part-time administrative assistant one day a week. We welcome her into the GPI team. Her contribution is already easing the workload of the secretary and carrying out much of the administrative work involved in running the HLF grant project.

We would also like to welcome Remi Harris who has taken the unpaid voluntary post of Assistant Treasurer early this year. She has been doing a wonderful job, dazzling us with budgets and cash flow projections and again has eased the workload of the Trustee postholders.

Website

The GPI website was launched at our Fundraising Lunch on 9 December 2001. Since then Remi Harris and Brian Alleyne have been working hard to update the website regularly. Recently we have been having some problems with our server but hope to get these sorted out soon.

Email Addresses wanted

One of the services that we are hoping to launch in the near future is the GPI Information Service Online, where we will download newspaper and journal articles and email them to interested people on our lists. Michael La Rose and Milverton Wallace will coordinate this work and we are starting to collect email addresses for our database, so please let us know yours if you want to be included.

Finance

We have not done any major fundraising this year apart from the HLF grant. We received £5000 from the Stone Ashdown trust in early Janaury in response to an application we sent out in 2001. We shall be working on more applications in 2003.

Fundraising Lunch

Last year's lunch raised £1363.15 and was very well attended. We would love to do even better this December. As in previous years, Jeffrey Simon of Northern Range Foods will be preparing the bulk of the dishes. The GPI is grateful to him and his helpers for the contribution they make. We are looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday 8th December. Come and enjoy a delicious lunch and good company!

The GPI always welcomes any donations to our work. Cheques should be made out to the George Padmore Institute. Standing order forms are available if you should wish to use one.

Other News

The GPI continues to support the Roger Sylvester Justice Campaign. Roger was killed whilst in police custody in January 1999 and the campaign goes on for an inquest and for prosecution of the officers concerned with his death.

This year saw a number of books published by our Trustees and volunteers.

In April New Beacon Books held the launch of Radicals Against Race by Brian Alleyne. The book, published by Berg, tells the story of New Beacon Books, founded in 1966, of its circle of activists and of the development of the George Padmore Institute.

Linton Kwesi Johnson's Mi Revalueshanary Fren: Collected Poems were published by Penguin in their Modern Classics Series to a hail of media attention in May. Linton is the first black poet - and only the second living poet - to be included in this series. The BBC made a half hour programme about Linton's work which has been shown on BBC 4 a number of times and which included an interview with John La Rose.

One of our regular supporters, Joe Mogotsi, has a new book out this December published by The Booktrader. Mantindane: 'He Who Survives': My Life With The Manhattan Brothers, is the story of this group of musicians - South Africa's first superstars standing at the apex of African musical entertainment and popular culture in the 1940s and 50s - as told by one of the original members.

Finally

We would like to thank everyone who has supported us this year with donations, attending events, volunteer work and in any of the other countless ways that we rely on you. Thanks and Season's Greetings to you all.