Changing Britannia Archive Project

October 2004 marked two years of the three for the Changing Britannia Archive Project. Sarah Garrod, the Project Archivist who has been with the GPI since May 2003, has worked hard on the Caribbean Artists Movement and New Cross Massacre collections, and both of these are practically complete now. The New Cross papers raised a lot of issues pertaining to access as many of the interviews given to the New Cross Massacre Action Committee were confidential, and we thank Trustee Ian Macdonald for his advice on this matter. Sarah is now going to move onto the papers of the early Black Education and Black Parents Movements.

From November 2003 till September 2004, David Govier was also part of the GPI archive team, working as Archives Assistant. David sorted, cleaned and catalogued the newspaper, journals and ephemera collection during this time, including some of John La Rose’s copious papers! He did very well to finish before he left to embark on his MA in Archive and Library Work at Liverpool University. There was an enjoyable dinner at Chez Liline to send David off with very best wishes from everyone at the GPI. We hope to see him here again in the future.

As always, volunteers have continued to contribute to the work of the Changing Britannia Archive Project by cleaning, sorting, mending and writing in reference numbers. Sarah White, Janice Durham and Zuleika Dobson have been busy with this whilst Brian Alleyne has proved to be an invaluable IT consultant! Wole La Rose has also helped with sorting and with keeping the building clean and Remi Harris has worked on the website, IT and accounts. In recent times we were happy to welcome Sarah Garrod’s mother to the GPI to help with the archive cleaning and sorting. There is always work to be done at the GPI so if anyone would like to volunteer, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Throughout the year our archive consultants, Janet Foster and Amelia Rampton, have continued to give us advice. Amelia has visited the GPI on a regular basis to provide training and to help with the conservation work. We would like to thank them both for their continued support.

In 2004 members of the GPI archive team attended a number of public activities in the field, which has been a good way to find out about other archive projects that are underway. Following up from Brian Alleyne and Sarah Garrod’s visit to Resource, the Council for Museum Archives, in 2003, Sarah White attended the launch event for their report in March 2004. Trustee Gus John made a presentation at one of the meetings for the Mayor’s Commission on African and Asian Heritage during the year. And in January Sarah Garrod and David Govier attended a Cultural Diversity Network Seminar organised by the London Museums and Archives Council.

We have also managed to fit in a range of training sessions for volunteers and staff alike. Amelia Rampton trained Sarah Garrod, David Govier and Janice Durham in the cleaning and mending of materials over a number of visits. Sarah and David also had a day’s training on our archive cataloguing system, CALM, and both went on separate archive training day courses during the year.

Finally, we are happy to report that the GPI has received some new materials this year. Eloise Edwards gifted us display boards and posters concerning the early struggles of the West Indian Community in Manchester. We received a set of the Dominica Star from the 1960s and 1970s from Louis James and Lawrence Scott gifted us a selection of journals and newspapers. Sarah Garrod has drawn up Deposit and Gift Agreements for all new acquisitions so that they are properly recorded.

While all of the archive work has been going on, we have also had a number of building improvements done. The top floor of the GPI was cleared out, replastered and painted a very fetching blue. This room has since proved a good place for sorting and cleaning archives. New windows were put into the top room and the office, and the office in particular now seems much brighter – and warmer!

Thanks again to everyone involved in the GPI archive work. It is amazing to see how much progress we have made, and we are looking forward to carrying this on in 2005.

Public Events

Although we haven’t held a regular series of talks this year, we have had a number of one-off events which have proved to be popular. They started off in March with a talk on Cyberorganising and Change by Professor Abdul Alkalimat, who had recently published a book on the subject. He gave a stimulating and inspiring presentation about how the internet can be used to organise political and social movements across communities and countries.

In May, Lawrence Scott gave an evocative reading from his new novel, Night Calypso, which was published to great acclaim by Allison & Busby that month. Lawrence also participated in an event held in November, reading from the short stories of Dominican writer Phyllis Shand Allfrey, which was followed by a talk about Allfrey by Polly Pattullo. Polly, publisher of Papillote Press, launched Allfrey’s book, It Falls Into Place, in October.

Book Fair veteran Florence Alexis presented a stimulating evening in August entitled The Burden of Memory. Florence spoke about Haitian art as part of the history of that country, which is celebrating its 200th anniversary of independence from colonial power this year. She showed a number of artworks by a variety of Haitian artists. Florence’s talk was a sellout event and many newcomers attended, thanks to advertising it on the internet!

Publications

Thanks to a grant from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, we have been concentrating on getting the book on the International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books ready for publication. As well as publishing in full all 12 brochures from the Book Fairs and Book Fair Festivals, the book will include a comprehensive history of how the Book Fair came about, how it was organised, and why it eventually ended, along with memoirs from a number of participants. We are aiming to launch the book in March 2005. This would mark the 10th anniversary since the last Book Fair. Look out for more publicity about this!

All of our other publishing projects are still ongoing at the moment. These include Changing Britannia: Life Experience With Britain Volumes 2 and 3, and the project on the Black Supplementary Schools Movement. Hopefully 2005 will see the completion of the Changing Britannia volumes!

Website

Both New Beacon Books and the GPI took a leap into the 21st century this year by going onto broadband! It has been a popular change.

The George Padmore Institute website now looks really bright and is much easier to navigate, thanks to a revamp by Hardip Mothada. Hardip also trained Sharmilla Beezmohun and Remi Harris in database building to help update the website. This has proved helpful and both the News and Events sections are being added to regularly. Brian Alleyne has also worked hard to put some images up onto the website, having trained David Govier and Janice Durham in scanning.

Now that the website Events page is running, we would welcome information about any events, such as readings, exhibitions etc. that we could put onto the site, so if you have anything that you would like to publicise, please email us the details at info@georgepadmoreinstitute.org

Finance

In 2004 the GPI didn’t receive any major grants. We have been operating with our ongoing funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (due to finish in December 2005), our one-year grant from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and donations from our regular supporters. We did receive a small grant of £100 from the London Archives Regional Council in April to pay for website training. Although we are in a sound financial position, we are now starting to think about other ways to raise money for future activities as all our major grants are due to end next year. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

Fundraising Lunch

Last year's lunch raised £883.90 and over 100 people attended. We received a number of food and financial donations over and above the ticket costs. Janice, Jeffrey and Joyce provided an excellent menu and worked hard to give everyone an enjoyable lunch. Our thanks to them.


Following suggestions from the Trustees, this year’s Fundraising Lunch on Sunday 5 December will also include some ‘entertainment’. Plans have yet to be finalised but there will be some music and singing, so it should be even more fun than usual. We look forward to seeing you there!

Other News

Roger Sylvester Inquest

Following the historic verdict of unlawful killing that the jury returned in October 2003 after the inquest held into the death of Roger Sylvester, the Sylvester family had to go back to court in November 2004 after the Metropolitan Police launched an appeal against the verdict. At the time of going to press the judge hearing the appeal has indicated that he will overturn the unlawful killing verdict.

Roxy Harris

The GPI would like to offer Trustee Roxy our congratulations on completing and obtaining his PhD this summer.

Linton Kwesi Johnson

Congratulations also to Trustee Linton who released his first ever DVD LKJ Live in Paris with the Dennis Bovell Dub Band, in July, celebrating LKJ’s 25 years as a reggae recording artist. Linton also became an Honorary Visiting Professor of Middlesex University in 2004.

John La Rose

Talking of exhibitions, the bronze bust of John La Rose, sculpted by Errol Lloyd, can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery where it is on loan until September 2005.

Finally

Thanks again to everyone, paid and unpaid, who has supported the GPI in 2004. We look forward to continuing to make progress in 2005, with your valued contribution. Until then, have a peaceful and Happy New Year.

The GPI always welcomes donations towards our work. Cheques should be made payable to the George Padmore Institute. Let us know if you are registered for Gift Aid