We're back: A message from our MD, Arike Oke

Greetings to our local communities, our researchers and visitors.

Welcome back.

1 Windrush Square is re-opening, Covid-secure, on Thursday 3rd September. We recognise that this year has been harder than most. It has been one of the hardest years in the recent history of our communities, people of African descent.

This summer was the one in which George Floyd was murdered and Black Lives Matter seized headlines. It was the one where Carnival couldn’t take place in person for the first time and one we will always remember.

We did not stop working while 1 Windrush Square was locked down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus this summer.

We welcomed the support of new funders thanks to Covid emergency funding, and we are humbled beyond words by the support we received from individuals donating by text and to our justgiving page. We would not be able to re-open 1 Windrush Square without your support.

A few things we’ve been working on, from home include:

Bridging the Atlantic: Fulbright scholar Daisha Brabham and our very own Ayshah Johnston curated a series of conversations on Blackness in the UK and in the USA.

Document! Black Lives Matter: we called out for lighting collecting of the summer’s protests. You responded in the hundreds. We’ll be sharing the collection for research and education soon.

Windrush: we celebrated and commemorated our Windrush elders with oral histories, talks and events and friends. Our resident associates, Decolonise The Archive, launched their radio channel with Windrush content. Even HRH Prince Charles recognised BCA in his Windrush Day message.

Politics: We got involved. We accepted the Home Secretary’s invitation to join the Cross-Government Windrush Working Group. We accepted in order to ensure that Wendy William’s Lessons Learned Report was implemented. There must never be another Windrush Scandal.

Getting digital: Thanks to funding from the London Community Response Fund members, City Bridge Trust and Bloomberg Philanthropies we were able to work from home! We moved our office files to the cloud and our exhibition onto the website, leading to it being used for home schooling and being highlighted in a range of press.

Black Future: A global pandemic might be a strange time to launch a strategy but we look to the future as we launched our 10-year strategy in May. We held online stakeholder listening events, and are going to hold more as we reimagine our building for the new era.

We are delighted to be back, to be able to share our space and to be able to see you all again.

Here are a few things to know about our re-open of 1 Windrush Square:

Our times have changed: for the foreseeable future we’ll have limited opening hours, based on how often we can afford to open and making sure that you can still have access to our space. The courtyard and gallery are open Thursday, Friday and Saturday 11.30am to 5pm. You can drop in. You don’t need an appointment. You will have the opportunity to check in for the NHS Track And Trace on arrival. The library is open 12pm to 3.30pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday. You will need to make an appointment in advance, we have very limited space under social distancing.

The staff will wear masks or visors. As mask wearing is essential inside our building, we also have a small supply of free masks for visitors who forget theirs. Mask wearing is not essential outdoors, and you’ll see that we’ve transformed our courtyard into a garden for you to enjoy and relax in. The basement is closed for social distancing, and so we’ve included an accessible toilet on every other floor.

Our café is closed: We are working on ways you can order food from local businesses instead.

Our shop isn’t open again yet, but we’re working on that.

Look out for an announcement soon on when our free Windrush legal advice surgeries re-start, in partnership with McKenzie Beute and Pope.

We look forward to seeing you again soon – whether it’s in person at 1 Windrush Square, or online.

We have an autumn season set to inspire and educate as using Black history to change the world is what we do best.

Join us.