Time is running out for Hitchin Nub News readers to visit a brilliant exhibition on Black History Month which runs until the end of this week.

From From Windrush to North Herts: A New Life in a New Country is on at North Herts Museum on Brand Street until Sunday.

Read a review of the exhibition below, by Kerrie Portman

................

Hitchin is made from community, from the people who live and move and grow up here.

It is the feeling of love and safety when you come home, or hear your station announced on the train after work.

That acknowledgement of our bones and heart is captured in North Hertfordshire Museum's latest exhibition in The Arches; From Windrush to North Herts: A New Life in A New Country.

The photography exhibition consists of twelve greyscale photographs from their previously published book 'North Herts African Caribbean Roots' (2007) by Eric Blakely and Gurdev Delay, with support from Heritage Lottery Fund.

The photographs feel intimate and special to look at, of friends and families gathered together at parties, photoshoots and weddings.

It is very personal to look into the eyes and smiles of people I've never met, and probably never will.

Sometimes I like to imagine who the people in photographs are looking at, the person behind the camera.

Maybe this curiosity stems from my time as an events photographer.

Each photo is accompanied by a brief description and little tidbit, which is written in familiar tones, adding to the feeling of family within Hitchin.

"Don Lewis arrived in England from Granada in 1957 and got a job with British Rail at Hitchin Station."

"George came to Hitchin from Jamacia with this family, aged just seven."

"...They settled in Hitchin, where they had eight children."

The companion book is for sale from the gift shop for only £1 and works to add context to the photos in the display, but also provide a plethora of further photographs, stories and poems in its forty-eight pages.

The displayed photo titled 'Cherelle and Janica with their mother Pam Olowo' is accompanied in the book with a poem written by Cherelle Olowo, aged only ten, about missing her nan.

Found near the back of the book, the sixteen lined poem speaks eloquently about the feelings of loss and estrangement of being separated from your family.

History can be a very emotive thing.

Personally, when I visit the museum, I love seeing the plaque about Henry Moore, who moved from London to Hertfordshire during the Second World War.

Growing up, before being taken into care, I was told I was related to Henry Moore.

While I don't necessarily believe this, as it sounds rather fanciful, I like the idea of having family roots in my home town, as Hitchin is the only place that I've ever felt in my heart to truly be home.

Finding the sign for Portman Close in SG5 was tremendously exciting!

From Windrush to North Herts: A New Life in A New Country. Photographs of some of the families who made their homes in North Hertfordshire' runs from October 5th to 31st in The Arches, North Hertfordshire Museum, celebrating Black History Month.