World-renowned textile artist and Windrush elder Althea McNish has been commemorated with a blue plaque on the building where she lived and worked for 60 years.
The plaque was unveiled on May 15, which would have been her 99th birthday, at the house in West Green Road, Tottenham.
Althea died in 2020 at the age of 95, born in Trinidad and emigrating to Britain in 1951.
She settled in Tottenham in 1957, got a degree in textile design at the Royal College of Art and went on to become an internationally-acclaimed textile artist who designed for companies like Liberty’s. Her work was included in V&A collections.
“Anthea called West Green Road home for so many years,” Haringey Council leader Cllr Peray Ahmet said. “We have this opportunity to reflect on the contribution that she and the Windrush generation have made.”
The Windrush 75th anniversary is in June, marking the arrival of the Empire Windrush ship at Tilbury Docks which brought the first immigrants from the West Indies.
The installation of the plaque was made possible by the work of the Nubian Jak Community Trust, and funding from London Unseen - part of the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan’s Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm.
The production of the plaque was the result of proactive and sustained support for Althea’s work by the staff and students of Earlsmead Primary School in Tottenham.
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