Beverley Bennett Passing the Baton Interview

We had the pleasure of speaking with the powerful community organiser, Beverley Bennett - a woman full of love, driven by the passion to serve her community, and one of Sheffield's top chefs when it comes to Caribbean food. Auntie Bev or Mrs. B as some tend to call her has spent over twenty years working in Sheffield to platform the Caribbean community and has worked tirelessly to ensure that her community and culture are celebrated.

In this interview, we capture her story of growing up in Sheffield as first generation British of Jamaican heritage, raised by the legendary Windrush pioneer, Samuel 'Sam di Barber' Williams. She candidly sheds light on the inequalities affecting the Caribbean community, the decline of cultural spaces, and gifts us with stories of her youth. Most importantly, she discusses the ways in which the Windrush pioneers permeated Sheffield with their culture and passed on the baton.

Beverly is currently running for Green Party councillor for the Netheredge and Sharrow Area, she is the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion officer for the party and is the manager for TICK (The Independent Caribbean Kollective). To find out more about her work, her campaign, and her plans for the Netheredge and Sharrow area, email [email protected].

To keep up to date with the Passing the Baton project head over to: https://www.nyaraartschool.org/. We'd love to hear from you and to hear some of your stories too!

To see the full film and more stories from Windrush elders and their descendants just hit the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gflZt2HBtYY&t=762s.

Director: Paris North
Producer: Danae Wellington
Funded by Sheffield City Council through the Windrush Day Grant 2021
Supported by the Black Artists Collective and The Independent Caribbean Kollective.