AN EVENT celebrating Black History Month and the Windrush generation is coming early this year, thanks to the Basingstoke Caribbean Society and Friends.

Between Black History Month, taking place in October, and the 70-year celebration of the Windrush generation arriving in this country, the society has an event planned to celebrate their culture and history.

The event will be taking place on Saturday at the Popley Fields Community Centre in Popley, starting at 5pm, and finishing at 11.30pm.

Anyone is welcome to attend the evening event, which will feature dominoes, live musical entertainment, and Caribbean food.

Vice chairperson Paul Hamilton said: “It is going to be a vibrant event, filled with Caribbean music and food and stories of Caribbean culture.”

There will be a number of people attending the event who were part of the Windrush migration coming to the UK and will be there to tell their story.

Paul added: “We will be having a group of people involved in the original Windrush movement.

“It will be very poignant to celebrate with them. We have a small community who came over from the Caribbean and set up for their life here.

“It is really useful for people to have that connection to the past. On our 60th anniversary celebration, we had one of the pioneers come down and celebrate with us, something that he is still doing to this day at 93-years-old.”

Part of the event will be an ‘Each One Teach One’ session, where children and young people will hear stories from the Windrush immigrants about their time in the Caribbean and their life.

Paul added: “Sometimes people either are or feel so disconnected from their heritage, but that is what we are celebrating with this event.”

Tickets to the event cost £12 for adults, children aged 12-16 are £6, and under 12s are free.