Tributes paid to Windrush ‘pioneer’ Alford Gardner after his death at 98

Tributes have been paid to Windrush “pioneer” Alford Gardner who has died at the age of 98.

Mr Gardner was one of the last surviving passengers of the HMT Empire Windrush and worked to break down racial barriers by setting up Britain’s first Caribbean cricket club.

He set up the club in Leeds in 1948 – three months after arriving in the UK from Jamaica on the ship.

Paying tribute to Mr Gardner, the England and Wales Cricket Board called him a “pioneer and a trailblazer,” adding: “He did so much for the black cricketing community in this country.”

Actress and campaigner Baroness Floella Benjamin said Mr Gardner “encapsulated joy, dignity and courage”.

While the Lord Mayor of Leeds Abigail Marshall Katung said: “He was a true pioneer who made a lasting impact on Leeds while blazing a trail for so many members of our Caribbean community.”

Back in February, Mr Gardner was presented with the Leeds Award by the city council “for his vast achievements and contribution to the city”.

The charity Jamaica Society Leeds, which supports Jamaican culture in the city, posted on X calling Mr Gardner “a proud Jamaican, and part of a generation who helped to rebuild postwar Leeds and Britain”.

Mr Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone.

The pair disembarked the ship at Tilbury Docks in Essex with hundreds of Caribbean migrants who were called on to rebuild post-war Britain.

He also served as an engineer in the RAF, and earlier as a motor mechanic during the Second World War.

In 2018, 70 years after stepping off the Empire Windrush, Mr Gardner said if he had to do it again, he would “do every damn thing just the same”.

He said he was told by a friend in 1987 that “people like me could be thrown out of the country”, but said he responded by applying for British citizenship at a cost of £80.

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Commenting on the Windrush scandal, which erupted in 2018 after it emerged that the UK Home Office had kept no records of those granted permission to stay – and had not issued the paperwork they needed to confirm their status – Mr Gardner said: “It shouldn’t be happening.

“It’s disgraceful what’s going on. People don’t realise how hard we worked to get this country back on its feet.”

Last year, the Prince of Wales visited Mr Gardner at his home for ITV’s Pride Of Britain: A Windrush Special documentary, before taking him to Headingley cricket ground for a surprise celebration with cricketing stars.

His portrait was also included in a set of new Royal Collection paintings of the Windrush Generation, which the King called “marvellous”.