A Positive Magazine. For Positive People. By Positive People.
TheOrator.Press Events Page. Events Dear Boy Events! The Third Annual ‘Caribbean Takeover Day’ At Royal Greenwich Maritime Park, South East London, Proved A Nice Suprise For Polish English Language Student – Alex, Fun For Local University Students, And Abundant Alfresco Action For Dynamic Caribbean Seniors Sharing Their History With The Wider Community. May 2024
The Caribbean Social Forum ‘Caribbean Takeover’ In Royal Greenwich Maritime Park
Visitors To Greenwich Park Received A Pleasant Surprise And A Day of Celebration On Saturday May 18th 2024 As The Royal Park Hosted A Caribbean Takeover Day Full of Education, Culture, Food And Fun To Celebrate The Caribbean Community’s Contributions To Britain.
And There Were Also A Few Celebrity Guests Supporting The Festivities (As Pictured Above). The Three Headlines Stars Were Veteran Actor, Rudolph Walker @rudolphwalkerfoundation Who Annonced He Will Be Having An 85th Birthday Celebration At The Broadway Theatre Catford In September Hosted By @robbie.gee1 And @eddienestor. Pamela of The Caribbean Social Forum Who Organised The Event Raved About Patrick’s Performance In The Amazing Episode of Eastenders Aired On May 7th Just A Couple of Weeks Ago. It Was Outstanding And She Urged The Crowd To Watch It On BBC iPlayer If They Have Not Already Seen It. We Covered It This Month Too.
Barrister & TV Personality Shaun Wallace From ITV’s Award-Winning Quiz Show The Chase Was On Fine Form @theshaunwallace. And Former MET Police Superintendent Now Policing Improvement Advocate @leroylogan99 Gave His Support Too Before Dashing Off To Attend A Community Policing Forum Taking Place Across Town.
Organised By The Caribbean Social Forum And Supported By The Royal Museums Greenwich CEO Paddy Rodgers (Pictured Above Next To The National Maritime Museum In The Above Photo Gallery) The Event Is In Its Third Successful Year. The Caribbean Forum Was Launched In 2015 To Help Combat IsolationAnd LonelinessFelt By Some of “The Children of The Windrush Generation”Who of Course Are Now All Grown Up And Then Some (With Children And Grandchildren of Their Own). Led By Community Organiser Pamela Franklin They Are Based At The Tramshed Theatre Woolwich And Organise Events On Site Such As Health Talks And Recreation And Days Out Such As Seaside Trips, Days Out In The Park And Even Holidays Away. TheCaribbeanSocialForum
We Went Out And About Among Some of The People Performing And Attending At The Event, And In Another of Our Pods On A Page Interview Series We Spoke To Them To Find Out Why They Feel The Royal Greenwich Park Caribbean Takeover Day Is So Important And What They Like About It.
Amongst Those We Spoke To Were Students (Emily, Francis Miller, And Olivia) From The Local University, Greenwich University, @GreenwichAlumni.
As Well Formal Style Jamaican Quadrille Dancing Demonstrations And The History Bend It There Were Black British History Stories To Be Told By Actors In Period Costumes Dressed As Pioneering Black Characters In Historical Britain (Including Jamaican Physican Harold Moody 1882-1947) As Well As Different Talks In Various Classrooms And Games For Children.
Strategic Skills Inherent In Playing Chess Are Transferable Skills For Navigating One’s Way Through Life, Whilst Dominoes Can Also Help Build Social Skills & Confidence
Symbolically We Chose Chess Pieces As The Logo For TheOrator.Press Magazine When We Launched It Four Years Ago, As It Reflects The Art of Skillful And Strategic Manoeuvring Within A Discerning Society of Black And White People Who Believe In Co-Existing With Racial Peace And Harmony. This Game Seemed Like The Perfect Metaphor For The World In Which We Live Where This Can Sometimes Be Difficult To Achieve. But It Is A Beautiful Thing When And Where It Does Exist. And It Is Also The Raison d’etre of The Magazine.
Plus The Film ‘The Queen of Katwe’ Starring David Oyelowo And Lupita Nyongo, About A Dedicated African Chess Master And His Protege, Is One of Our Favourite Films. @queenofkatwe
Dominoes However Remains The Current Caribbean Favourite. Especially In Jamaica. It Went Down A Treat At The Caribbean Takeover.
Dominoes Players Sam (Pictured Above) Has His Say On The Importance of Black British History.
Seeing Dominoe Players Enjoying One of The Caribbean’s Favourite Group Games, Hearing The Slapping of The Dominoe Pieces On The Table And The Laughter And The Chatter Was All Part of The Fun. The Dominoe Group On The Day Was From TheCaribbeanSocialForum Which Helped Organise The Event And Launched The Initiative Three Years Ago.
Red Stripe Larger, A Caribbean Favourite Alcoholic Beverage, Joins Up With A Favourite Caribbean Social Pastime, To Become Featured On The Back of This Particular Set of Dominoes. The Jamaican Overproof Rum Wray & Nephew Features Too Sometimes As Does The Jamaican Flag.
Greenwich Museum Worker Anna-Marie (Pictured Above) Is Short & Sweet And Caribbean Forum Member Richard Also Puts It Succintly.
JA’NUKA Jamaican Quadrille Dance Teacher Beverley Bogel Led A Dance Demonstration Accompanied By Her Grandson And Members of Her Dance Group (Picture Directly Above And In The First Photo Gallery).
Check Out Our Interview With Her In TheOrator.Press Next Month.
Meantime Here’s Winston The Dominoes Captain (Pictured Above).
The Windrush And Then Some
I Think It’s Important For Basically Highlighting And Just Reminding People That…
We Dere’ From Morning
And We Nah’ Just Soon Come.
Caribbean Social Forum Member & Volunteer,Kyungu(Above Right)
It Wasn’t Just The Windrush But Other Ships Too…
Caribbean Social Forum Member & Volunteer,Vilma(Above Left)
The Armed Services
It’s Nice To Give Back And Educate People That We ‘re Not The Kind of People They Think We Are. There’s An Artistic Side To Us. There’s A History. There’s Professionalism About Us.
I Know Servicemen & Women And I’ve Actually Invited Some of Them To My Concerts To Raise Funds And To Show That Black People Are Part of The War Effort.
Truly Taking Over This Sort of Establishment Is Really Good, To Have A Presence, To Show That Black People Want To See Things Right In The World.
In Poland I Don’t Have So Much Opportunity To Meet So Colourful Culture
Alex From Poland (More From Her Below)
Meantime Neville (off-Shot Next To Dominoes Captain Winston Above) Longs For More Sun
At Least It Didn’t Rain All Day
History, Education, African Drumming, Music, And Dancing, Delicious Food, Drink & Dominoes Combined To Make A Great Day Out In South London
Above: Alex From Near Dansk, North Poland (Visiting The Museum And Loving A Taste of The Caribbean – Especially The Chick Pea Curry Apparently).
This Year’s Event Was Advertised On The ‘Royal Museums Greenwich’ Website With A Poster Featuring A Large Scale, Orange, Twirling, Caribbean Costume From One of The Previous Two Years (As Pictured In The Opposite Column). So Many People Were Colourful This Year, Including Members of The African Drummers Group @sangoma_drummer; Sister Sheron (Opposite, In First Column), Mervlee And Rasshappa (Above Centre) And Kehinde (Directly Above & In The Short Audio Below With ‘Cold Hands, Warm Heart’).
Alex (Oppostie Column) Visiting From Poland, Had Come To Visit The Museum And The Meridien But Unexpectedly Bumped Into The Event. She Said She Enjoyed The Music, The People And The Caribbean Food. The Latter Supplied By A Number of Stall Holders Including Caribbean Hut @caribbean_hut_uk.
Patron of TheCaribbeanSocialForum Former Metropolitan Police Superintendent Leroy Logan @leroylogan99 And Royal Greenwich Park Director Paddy Rodgers @Paddy Rodgers Are All Smiles At They Greet Each Other As The Day Gets Underway.
The Need To Protect One’s Mental Health & Wellbeing And Seek Social Justice Is Ever Present, Especially In The Caribbean Community (Due To Recurring Racial Discrimination In Various Guises At Various Times). This Was Exemplified By The Marvellous Mervlee Myers Even On This Fabulous Day of Caribben Fun In The British Sunshine
Mervelee Myers(She Has Suffered A Number of Encounters With The Police). She’s Friends With The Drummer Group And Is Enjoying The Atmosphere of This Day Out. Nonetheless She Says:
The Brutal Realities And Examples of The Oppression And Suppression of Black People Within A Political System That Constantly Subjects Afro-Caribbean People To Abuse, Mis-use And Mis-treatment Are Ever Present. But Still As A People The Black Community Is Always Fighting Such Oppression And Repression, Abuse, Mis-use And Mistreatment, And Yet Simultaneously Remaining Resilient, Continuing To Rise And Grow In Strength.
We Ask What The ‘Decriminalisation’ Message On Her T-Shirt Relates To. She Replies: “By The Law You’re Looking At A Mervlee Myers Who Is A Criminal Needing ‘Emotional Regulation Treatment And Now A ‘Violent Nusaince’ Has Been Added On To It.
Mervlee Says Tomorrow She Will Be 65 Tomorrow (May 19th 2024) And Reveals That Her Husband Recently Died. Aged 101. That Is A Difference of 36 Years. Virtually Forty Years. At Least Two Generations Older Than Her.
Her Life Has Clearly Been A Very Challenging One, Less Than Ideal And With Enormous Negative Impacts On Her Personally. And Yet, Whilst We Can See A Sincere And Deep Element of Sorrow And Sadness, Somehow She Also Still Has A Spark. She Seems Happy To Be Amongst The Drummers (A Friendly Group, Which She Is Part of) And She Clearly Still Has A Zest For Life. As Rasshappa Says, African Drums Can Be Used For Healing Purposes. So She Is Clearly Now In Great Company.
Positivity In The Royal Park Near The Cutty Sark
Positive, Sociable, Educational, Uplifiting And Joyful Events Such As The Caribbean Takeover Day At The Royal Greenwich Park Maritime Museum And Park Help Bring People of All Creeds, Colours, Religion And Nationalities Together And Foster Greater Understanding, Unity And Tolerance Which Are The Conquerors of Hate And Ignorance.
At This Event Attendees Were Black, White, Brown, Young, Middle-Aged, Old, Children, Grandchildren, Tourists, Celebrities, Opera Singers, Gospel Singers, Educators, Dancers, Fabulous Food Stalls, And A Great Atmosphere.
We Salute The Royal Greenwich Park For Hosting The Caribbean Takeover Day In This Regard And Look Forward To The Whole Community Continuing To Enjoy The Park. From The Original Days of The Cutty Sark As A Society We’ve Come Very Far.
Royal Museums Greenwich – The Cutty Sark rmg.co.uk
In 2014 The Late Poet And Academic Benjamin Zephania Presented A Documentary Called ‘The Caribbean Dominoe Club’ For BBC Radio 4 Extra. Click This Link (To Watch) If You’d Like To Learn More About This Popular Passtime In Caribbean Culture And Fun Socialising: The Caribbean Dominoe Club
Click This Link If You’d Like To Learn More About A Dynamic Emerging Womens Dominoe Team: UKDiamondLadiesDominoeTeam
TheOrator.Press ~ A New, Monthly, Online, Independent Magazine 