Olympian Donna Fraser's Windrush parents were rejected by local church
Donna Fraser OBE remembers the time her Windrush parents went to an English church during the sixties.
“I’ll never forget it,” said the former four-time Olympian. At the bottom of our road from the house that I grew up in, there's a church and my parents went there one Sunday.
“At the end of the service, as they were leaving, the vicar stood at the door and waited for them. He shook their hands really warmly and said: ‘Thank you so much for coming. Don’t come back again.”
Donna’s dad Alston and mum Eugena were left stunned.
“It crushed them,” she added. “They never, ever went back. Even though the church was at the end of our road.
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“Even to this day, mum always talks about it because in the years that followed, the people from that church would be giving leaflets out on the streets and saying to people: ‘Come in. Everyone is welcome!’
“Mum would just kiss her teeth and carry on. It burnt her and my dad. It really hurt them. You’re supposed to be welcoming and Godly and friendly. Even in the church.”
The rejection would not define the Frasers or their time in this country. Far from it. Fuelled by the belief and positivity instilled by her parents, Donna would go on to become a household name, the former 200m and 400m runner medalling at the World Championships, European Championships and Commonwealth Games.
Now director of Diversity and Inclusion at the Professional Cricketers Association she is continuing to break down barriers. But that story still hurts.
Fraser adds: “Its upsetting because my parents made the home we had fun,” she said. “I don't ever remember feeling the tension they’d have had but now I know what they went through. But at the same time, it gives me strength that they had that resilience and overcame.”
Donna Fraser in action for Team GBThe plan for the Frasers was to remain in England for a few years before heading back to their homeland of St Vincent in the West Indies. They thrived for over 50 years before finally returning.
“They didn't give up,” Donna went on. “I had to really persuade them to go back in the end. They’d saved money and built a house over there. So I'm like: ‘Go and enjoy it!’ They went back for good in 2018.”
Alston had arrived in Southampton on April 5, 1961 after 11 days at sea. Eugena joined him a year later. They married in 1962. Alston was, a mason and carpenter while Eugena did factory work. Neither struggled to find employment but accommodation was a different matter.
She said: “Everybody knows the signs they were presented with: ‘No dogs, no Irish, no blacks’.
Donna Fraser celebrates with fellow Olympian Christine Ohuruogu“That what they struggled with the most. That hostility. “Eventually they did have accommodation, sharing a house and then eventually saving up enough to buy their own home. “They then did the same where people lived with in their house.”
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While her parents are now thousands of miles away, Donna is pleased they are safe from the trauma of the government’s current hostile environment campaign, pressuring Caribbeans who’d been asked to come in the sixties, to justify being in the UK.
“One hundred percent,” she continued. “I can get on a plane and go and see them. It was hard, don’t get me wrong. But I'm glad they're there, enjoying the sun. Yes, they miss us. We know that. But now with WhatsApp and connections and technology, you can stay in contact.
“And also when you think about what they went through, when they first came with the rejection, it's almost like history repeating itself. Why would I want to subject them to that again?
Dad talks about it all the time. He hears what's happening here, because he gets the news and he’s like: ‘Donna is that really still happening?’ I can’t believe it is. But I'm delighted they are safe and happy away from it."
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