World War Two Caribbean RAF Veterans Memorial Garden Unveiled in Leeds
Jamaica Society Leeds (JSL) will unveil a new memorial garden and plaque in memory of the Caribbean World War Two RAF veterans who settled in Leeds after the war. The new plaque, featuring the names of 49 veterans, will be unveiled at a special event on Friday, May 8, at the garden outside the Society’s offices at Jamaica House, in Chapeltown, Leeds.
More than 40 relatives of the RAF veterans are expected to attend the private event where they will be joined by specially invited guests, including His Excellency Alexander Williams, the Jamaican High Commissioner to the UK. As part of the roll call of honour, family members and RAF cadets will read out the names of veterans on the list, which will also acknowledge unnamed veterans.
The Society has worked with families and the local community since 2019 to compile the list for the plaque. The city’s last surviving Caribbean World War Two veteran, Alford Gardner, died in 2024.
The plaque unveiling will be followed by a special wreath laying ceremony and a rendition of The Last Post Tenor Steel Pan Solo, by Melvin Zakers of New World Steel Orchestra.
The event also includes a pop-up version of the Society’s For King, Country & Home exhibition, originally displayed at Leeds Central Library in 2023, which explored and celebrated the lives of the city’s Caribbean World War Two RAF veterans.
Wendy Henry, Chair of Jamaica Society Leeds, said: “Caribbean WW2 RAF veterans who made Leeds their home were true pioneers to whom the city and the UK owe a great deal. As well as serving the country during the war and helping to rebuild post-war Leeds, they were at the heart of early community relations, the fight for equality and justice and helped to set up organisations that still operate today – including Jamaica Society Leeds.
“Our members, partners, volunteers and friends coming together to transform our garden into a space of reflection and dedication in their honour is a testament to the respect and remembrance that they deserve. That so many of their relatives, from Jamaica Society Leeds children to great-great-grandchildren, will be a part of the garden unveiling makes it all the more poignant.”
Yvonne English, widow of Hubert ‘Glen’ English MBE (1926-2018) and one of the Jamaica Society Leeds founders, said: “It is an honour for us to be able to pay our respects with a dedicated space in memory of Caribbean veterans. My late husband Glen was 17 when he left his parents and place at college behind to serve in a war thousands of miles away. Knowing that the garden and plaque with the veterans’ names inscribed on it, including Glen’s, helps to keep his legacy alive means the world to our family.”
Barbara Goodison, daughter of Astley ‘Tommy’ Roy Thomas (1928-1960), another of the veterans, said: “It’s just wonderful to see the veterans, including my father, remembered in such a meaningful way after all these years. They have not always been given the recognition they deserve for their services and contributions so it will be an incredibly emotional moment that I hoped but never believed would happen.”
The memorial garden and plaque has been funded and supported by Unity Housing, Wades Charity and the University of Leeds’s YPIP Grant support.