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Oral history recording with Ethelyn Carnegie and Clement Carnegie from the Back-a-Yard project. Part 1 of 4 (AV 11773/1-4). This project collected stories from older African-Caribbean people who came to live in Newport from the 1940s onwards, including their recollections of the Caribbean and reasons for coming to the UK. The eighteen-month project was run by the South East Wales Racial Equality Council (SEWREC) and supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project ran from October 2014 to March 2016.

Summary covering AV 11773/1-4:

Veris Carnegie

A Jamaican childhood: Veris grew up in Mountainside where her parents were bakers. Her father’s name was Fred Mullins and he came from Barbary Hall. Veris would help to make bread, buns and cake for her parents shop and the night market that was popular with local policemen from Black River, Santa Cruz and Maggotty. Among her favourite recipes were bulla cake - a rich Jamaican cake made with molasses, nutmeg and ginger - and cocoa bread. The family were Anglican and Veris sang in the choir.

Coming to the UK: Veris waved her husband Clement goodbye on New Year’s Eve 1959 and didn’t see him again until 1961 when he sent for her to join him in the UK. Clement had been renting a flat in Wolverhampton but when his wife arrived, the couple moved to Newport where Clement’s brother Stanley was already living. Like many Caribbean people, the couple left their two children - Patrick and Viveen - behind in the care of Veris’s mother. Both children remained in Jamaica and the Carnegies paid for them to go to college there. Viveen is now a teacher on Grand Cayman. In Newport, Veris soon found work at Crompton Batteries where she stayed for eight years.

The Kendal railway crash: Veris remembers hearing about the Kendal railway crash on September 1, 1957, which left nearly 200 dead and 700 injured. She recalls how the train left the railway line and fell to the bottom of a narrow gully. The terrain was not level and the train had to go around a hill.

The Caribbean community in Pill: In Newport, the Carnegies lived at 3 Capel Crescent, Pill. Their immediate neighbours were Thomsons furniture shop (which is still trading) and a garage with huge doors. In those days, no-one in Pill locked their front doors, not even at night. Veris remembers once mistaking the house next door for her own; she was halfway up the stairs before her elderly neighbour stopped her. The Caribbean community was strong in the 1960s and 1970s, with blues parties and dancing every Saturday night. The Carnegies would dance the night away at the popular Silver Sands on Commercial Road. Veris wrote home regularly, putting money in her letters.

Clement Carnegie

Life in Jamaica: Clement – better known as Passey - was born on May 24, 1931 in the parish of St Elizabeth, Jamaica. The son of a cultivator in Horton, the young Clement spent his early years tending to the farm animals - goats, pigs and chicken - and helping his father grow popular crops like peanuts, callaloo, rice and green beans. The two of them would travel to market in Kingston to sell their produce and any left over food would be given away before the hot sun dried it - or eaten by Clement. Clement enjoyed fishing and he'd head for a channel coming off the Black River where he'd catch the fish swimming upriver. He met his wife Veris in Jamaica when her father bought land near his home. The young couple fell in love and started a family.

The Kendal railway crash: Tragedy struck Jamaica on September 1, 1957 when twelve carriages of the Montego Bay to Kingston train derailed. It was the worst accident in the island’s history. The train was overcrowded - there were around 1600 passengers on board - and many were known criminals and pickpockets. Nearly 200 people died, including several of Clement’s friends.

Moving to the UK: Soon after the crash, Clement started to think about moving to the UK. He wanted a better life for his young family. He sailed from Jamaica on December 31st 1959 – for him 1960 would not just be a new year but a whole new way of life in another country. He left Veris and two small children behind. In Jamaica, he’d been used to working outdoors but in the UK the jobs available were in heavy industry. He quickly found work, first in London and then later in Wolverhampton.

Moving to Newport: In 1961, Clement sent for his wife Veris – the couple’s children remained behind in Jamaica with their grandmother. With Veris at his side, Clement decided to join his brother Stanley in Newport. It was the early sixties and the newly built Spencer Works needed men to work in the steel industry - thousands of them. Clement found work in the new steelworks. The Carnegies had other children, but the oldest two - Patrick and Viveen – remained in Jamaica. They stayed in Newport and lived in Capel Crescent for thirty years, later moving to Balmoral Road and then Treberth estate.