When the blackbird sings

 We had an amazing experience last night called 'When the blackbird sings' .

First of all we had to get there, which involved catching a bus to the outskirts of Oxford to an estate called Blackbird Leys. The estate was built in the 1950's and 1960's to re-house people from the delapidated inner city areas, including where we now live. It also housed factory workers from the nearby motor plants and people from the Caribbean who came to work for the NHS, factories and other jobs.

All of the audience met in the local pub, although Darren and I were some of the few who bought a drink because it was cash only. And then after a quick check of our headsets we were off to meet Paulette, our guide for the evening.

Paulette was a time travelling cleaner from 1966 who lived in Blackbird Leys and caught the bus to her job in the centre of Oxford. She narrated the evening and sat next to Darren for part of the journey. She chatted with the conductor and various other people who got on the bus. 

We had travelled a couple of miles and then the bus was stopped by a loud protest. A group of sufferagettes waving placards wouldn't let us pass and marched up and down yelling 'votes for women'. 

Eventually they let us go past, and then a hippy from 1969 who took drugs and didn't believe in money got thrown off by the conductor, while a pastor who had escaped from Nazi Germany in 1942 came and sat next to me. He was very polite and gave me a lemon sherbert that had apparently been in his pocket for a long time. 

Once in Oxford we all got off to meet Alan LeRoy Locke who was the first African American Rhodes Scholar. He also later wrote a famous book that Paulette was carrying with her. 

The evening carried on in this style and we also went to the original meeting of Oxfam - originally Oxford famine relief for Greece during WW2, then we met an Indian princess who went to Somerville College, Dudley Thompson who was one of the first black pilots in the RAF, and St Frideswide from 727 who fled a forced marriage and became patron saint of Oxford. 

Once back on the bus we were joined by a very sweary pregnant lady who was desperate to get to the hospital to give birth to her fifth baby, but was very nasty to Paulette. 

Finally, back at the Schwarzman Centre, we followed a procession of Caribbean nurses fighting against discrimination and for equal pay. 

What a strange, funny, educational and fascinating event.