From The Sunshine To The Snow: Remembering my friend - by Louise Garvey

I first met Tryphena on a project that a group from the African - Caribbean community participated in based at Nottingham Castle called From the sunshine to the snow. 

Our friendship developed as we worked together on the project. We discussed our journeys emigrating from the Caribbean to England. Tryphena told me she emigrated to England in 1952 age 19 years of age, whilst I was aged 16 when I emigrated in 1957. The group discussed how we felt leaving our families behind, our first experiences of the British winter, and the smoky chimneys from the endless sea of factories.

I was born in East Portland, Jamaica in village called Scotts Runn, whilst Tryphena was born in the village of Old Works. The style of dress in England was so different from our sunny homeland where we wore bright coloured fashionable clothing, compared to the dark and heavy clothing such as tweed skirts paired with loads of cardigans and jumpers to cope with the colder climate. 

Our friendship grew from that project, and many other community projects we became involved in that challenged, highlighted or portrayed black history. We became involved with many Clubs and Associations that discussed social awareness, education and most importantly for two nurses, health.

Tryphena trained as a nurse gaining registration as a Registered Psychiatric Nurse (RMN) State Registered Nurse (SRN) and working on the District as a qualified Midwife and she was also the first black Health Visitor to be trained and work in Nottingham.  Tryphena also ran a nursing home for a number of years before retiring. Like wise I also trained as a nurse gaining registration as a Registered Psychiatric Nurse (RMN) and State Registered Nurse (SRN), and worked as a nurse in the National Health Service for more than 40 years.

It makes me laugh to recall a story that Tryphena told me about her experiences of being the first black midwife to work in Devon. The Devon doctors worried that the mothers would not take to a black midwife, to which she replied “when a women is giving birth she doesn’t care about the skin colour of the midwife, she just wants to get the baby delivered” and that was that.

Like Tryphena, with our love for people, and wanting always to be active and involved helped our friendship grow stronger. We involved ourselves in a variety of health and social care voluntary organisations sharing our skills and life experiences. 

The Legacy Makers project and Sisters Against Cancer were two projects she devoted much of her time and energy to, and similarly with the Standing In This Place project. My friend Tryphena was just a lovely human being, so knowledgeable and caring. We had so many wonderful conversations, I will miss our friendship, our love for one another and our laughter.

Mrs Tryphena Anderson (front row right seated) with Mrs Louise Garvey (standing far right) at the Mapping Memories project.

Thanks to Ethel Anderson (seated front left) for providing the image.

The Roaring Whisper by Louise Garvey

Listen to Louise Garvey read a poem from her latest publication Voices from a Village, available now from our online gift shop.

Heritage Garden remembers Tom Oliver by Ethel Anderson

On the 75th anniversary of the Windrush, family members of Tom Oliver unveiled a stone dedicated to his life at the Heritage plot that bears his name on the St Anns allotments where he gardened for many years.

His niece Ethel Anderson explains “It gives me great pleasure being here with family and friends to celebrate and unveil this work of art on this plot. A stone sculpture to acknowledge, my uncle Thomas George Oliver’s contribution to the development of this Heritage Site with his original hat perched on it. Today is also a chance to highlight contributions from other Caribbeans who have migrated to this country. History and heritage are very important we learn from our past to build the future.”

The allotment is a great place to visit. Beautiful scenery, lovely volunteers and more importantly it’s good for wellbeing. There is something magical about being outdoors. I happened to visit the allotment one day and met Heritage Plot manager Joe, we talked for a while and I pitched a few thoughts and ideas how this site could be improved and create learning spaces for children and visitors using the Artifacts that can be seen around the site. Joe was encouraged by this and ask if I would like to be a volunteer; I said yes.

Ethel adds, “Theres an old saying ‘Sow a thought you reap an act, Sow an act you reap a habit, Sow a habit you reap a Character, Sow a Character you reap a destiny’. Today this is it, as we unveil the stone sculpture dedicated to Tom Oliver, developed from a thought that came out of a project by Mrs Rachel Carter Standing In This Place, who inspires conversations that lead us here.”

“Thanks to Renewal Trust for allowing the Family to use the space to do this.” Mrs Ethel Anderson, Legacy Maker

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Images curtsy of Ethel Anderson and the Oliver family

Fill Gap Braiding with the Legacy Makers and Rachel Carter

Over the first phase of the project, Rachel has been offering free braiding workshops to encourage the local community to create braids that will become part of the new sculpture for Nottingham.

Fill Gap Braiding Kits - Over 120 Fill Gap Braiding Kits were created and posted out to Women living in Nottinghamshire. Asked to learn with Rachel via an online tutorial, the women could then select a handful of braids to return. These community braids will become part of the new sculpture.