Janet was born in 1935 in 'Kitty', a neighbourhood of Georgetown, Guyana.
Her dad owned some land as well as the village shop.
Janet did well at school. She was also sporty and loved tennis, athletics and cycling.
She went on to work for a printing company called 'B.G. Lithographic", where she did print finishing and putting together leaflets and booklets.
The company had a sports team where Janet regularly competed in track and field events and often won medals.
An accident damaged her knee, so she could no longer compete. Janet came to England on the SS Ascania in 1961. Janet’s older sister, known as 'Baby', was already in London and working as a machinist. She had a job and somewhere to stay lined up for Janet.
Janet was told that the streets of 'The Motherland' were paved in gold. She was disappointed when she arrived on a freezing cold smoggy day. She wasn't expecting to see so much poverty in England either. Her parents had a nice house and land, and back in Guyana, the thought of paying to keep warm was unthinkable.
Despite this, being in her early twenties, Janet loved the excitement of living in London. She has always been into music and, in those early days, often attended house parties. It was a lot of fun, and she made many friends.
She then got work as a nurse at St Ebba's Hospital in Epsom, which was a hospital for the mentally ill. It was around this time that she met John. He was from Nigeria and was a trained mechanic living in Tooting. The pair married and had their honeymoon in Paris. The couple had 3 daughters and a son.
John went on to become a bus driver,
When the kids were small, Janet stayed at home. She would often take them on day trips to museums and the zoo. She encouraged them to share her love of sports. Several cups and medals won by her kids are displayed at her house.
Janet used to love going to Wimbledon to watch tennis. (Her daughter was one of the first black ball girls at Wimbledon).
Once the kids got older, Janet returned to work and got a job at M&S. Firstly in the womenswear department and then in the food hall. Before going to work, she always left little snacks out for the kids so they had something nice to come home to when they returned from school.
Her first pay packet at M&S coincided with the opening of McDonald's in Croydon. This was one of the first in the country, and she remembers how novel and exciting it was for her and the kids to visit this strange American store.
Back then, shops were all closed on Sundays, so on a Saturday afternoon, the staff at the M&S got to buy all the unsold food at a big discount, so Janet was able to buy lots of treats for her family.
Janet retired after 21 years at M&S and has lived in the same SW London house for nearly 40. Her estate once had a pub frequented by the National Front, and there were a lot of racists in the area. Janet remembers back in the 80s, her neighbours opening their windows and playing recordings of the racist comedian Jim Davidson at full volume.
Janet never took the racists that seriously. She never understood how they could look down on her when they all had dead-end jobs and lived in virtual poverty. Janet was well-educated from a good family and had come to England as a young woman purely because it was an exciting opportunity for a girl in her twenties. Not because she had to come to earn money. The area is much more cosmopolitan now, and attitudes are thankfully changing in Britain now.
Janet used to love knitting, but arthritis has put a stop to that. She still loves watching sports and always looks forward to seeing athletics and tennis on TV.
Janet is now 88. She has vascular dementia and is cared for by her daughters, Pearl and Beverley. Pearl was a huge help with this interview.
Janet may struggle to remember everything, but she still has her sense of humour. "When I first came to England, All I used to do was go to house parties. Nowadays, all I seem to do is go to funerals.”
