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Oral history recording with Deloris James, born in 1954 on the island of Nevis in the Caribbean. Recorded as part of Race Council Cymru’s Windrush Cymru Heritage Project.

“Take opportunities, make the best of yourself and of life because we only get one life.”

Deloris James was born on a tiny island in the Caribbean called Nevis.

“My granny, she was my great grandmother actually, was lovely, she… bought me up until I was ten.”

“My biological mother died… when I was about 21 months old, so I didn’t know her.”

“She [my grandmother] did a bit of everything really… But I do remember at one point, she moved us to St Kitts, because there weren’t that many jobs on Nevis and she got a job in the sugar cane fields. “

“She’d come and pick us up, with a snack, and we would just be on the edge of the field while she was doing her job picking cane.”

“I was ten years old… I arrived on 3rd August 1964… we got on a big ship and it was called the SS Sorrento. I would be coming to Cardiff. I remember being on the platform waiting for the train shivering with cold…”

“Initially, my parents had a flat in Butetown, Loudoun Square. It wasn’t a bad experience. I do remember a couple of the kids saying nasty things, just a couple, most of them were fine.”

“I was a very avid reader… I practically lived in the library. I devoured books.”

“I went into the school and addressed, in the hall, all the staff, the students, I cooked some Caribbean food for the staff and I took a basket of fruit and veg… and explained what they were, so that was lovely. I enjoy doing that sort of stuff.”

“I can say I’m now at the age where I am content with life, I’m not rich, but I am content. I have a job which I enjoy, I have two lovely sons, I have a few very, very close friends, I’m relatively healthy, and as I said, life is good, life is good.”