22 June 2023 , 08:56
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Trisha Goddard has shared her views on the 75th anniversary of the Windrush migration landing in 1948.
The television legend whose mum Mary Agnes Fortune hailed from Dominica was part of the Windrush generation who headed to "cold" Britain to start a new life.
As the nation marks the 75th anniversary of the day, Trisha has stated that while people believe it is a part of "Black history", she says it's not, it's part of "British history".
During an appearance on ITV's Lorraine, the 65-year-old who lost her mum in 2004 shared the traumatic experiences she endured growing up with a white step-dad and a "coloured" mum.
"I really think it should be part and parcel of the school curriculum," she told the host, before adding: "It drives me nuts when people say 'well, it's Black history', it's not – it's British history!"
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Trisha Goddard believes Windrush should be on the school curriculum (ITV)She went on to add: "If you want to talk about the rebuilding of Britain after the Second World War, you have to involve the invaluable contribution of not just Windrush, but all the Windrush generation which only ended in 1971.
"They were still coming over but also, everyone from the Commonwealth.
"The thing is Lorraine, my grandfather, mum's dad, fought in the First World War, these were people who had great-great grandparents who were either enslaved or indentured workers and they knew the cruelty they'd gone through.
"Yet when Britain called them after that war, they went knowing they may never see their families again."
The former Dancing On Ice contestant went on to say: "They went and they answered Clement Atlee's call for people to come at a time when Britons were leaving the country faster than anything.
Trisha's mum was part of the Windrush generation (ITV)"Britian's population was depleted, they had a really rough time of it – they are heroes and they should be part and parcel of British education."
Trisha explained that after the Home Office lost thousands of pieces of paperwork, people who were part of the Windrush generation were deemed illegal immigrants with some even deported to their home country.
She went on to reveal that her mum who came to Britain with a coat due to hit being "cold" had no idea when she would ever see her own mum again, but this never became a reality.
Trisha's gran died when she was just 14 and her mum Mary never saw her after arriving in England.
Throughout the earlier years of her life, Trisha and her family were subjected to horrific abuse and even heard the N-word from people.
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"When she met my step-dad, he said that he would go to get lodgings," Trisha said before continuing: "They'd say 'Yes, yes, by all means', and as they then called them, his 'coloured wife and coloured baby' would turn up, they said 'No, you can't come in'."
"There were notices in windows saying 'No' and the N-word, quite blatantly, we ended up living in a caravan on a caravan site."
Concluding her reflection on Windrush, she said she gets "really emotional" discussing her mum, who died in 2004 and her contribution to the country and helping to rebuild it after the war.