Trevor

Plantain, yams, and sweet potatoes, are the foods I remember most from Ridley Road, when I used to come to come to here with my mum as a kid. As a teenager, I visited a record shop around here called ‘Regal Records’. I loved buying all the tunes, lovers rock, reggae and the Jacksons, ‘Ben’ and ‘Looking through the window’.

There was a Caribbean Café on the corner of Sandringham Road called Johnsons where I would meet other young people and play pool. On Kingsland High Road, there was Centerprise, a Caribbean bookshop and café, where you could get jerk chicken rice and peas for less than a pound. The black and white communities were close back then, mainly working class and living and socialising together. Sure, the area had its issues, but I always felt safe here. That feeling of safety has remained important to me as I have mental health issues and rely on the people around me. I now live on Ridley Road, so I suppose my life has come full circle…

I became homeless about three years ago and I ended up back on the road, living on Ridley Villas. My mental health issues came from my mum who was abusive to me when I was a small child. She told me she hated me so I never stayed indoors as I should have done as a child. I ended up on the streets with bigger boys. I left school at 13 or 14 and was given a work permit so I didn’t get educated in the same way as other children and have no qualifications, as a result of that. I’ve been diagnosed with Schizophrenia and then multiple personality disorder, but these are just cliches or ways of identifying what they don’t know. But I take the tablets to stay well and calm and I just hope I don’t upset people and that I don’t get hospitalised again.

I haven’t seen my mum in about 30 years and my stepfather died of alcohol poisoning. My mum did not let me know he had died and he did look out for me. I don’t feel bitter towards my mum anymore and if I do ever see her, I would talk to her. I don’t know if she is even here as she is Windrush generation and many of that generation were asked to leave or not made to feel welcome. This upsets me greatly as I feel we should honour those people. I hope that one day I can live in my own home and reunite with my mum.