| Eunice McGhee-Belgrave MBE |
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 Eunice McGhie-Belgrave was born in Jamaica and came to the UK in 1957. She settled in Birmingham at the request of her then husband-to-be who had been in the British Army until 1945. She found work easily and secured a job as a nursing assistant at Highcroft Hospital. She later went on to work for the Probation Service working mainly in the juvenile courts. Her migration to ‘The Mother Country’, which England was commonly called and her early life in Birmingham was not without it difficulties. As a result, Eunice decided to capture her feelings and experiences and wrote a short book called “A journey from Paradise to Reality” Eunice McGhie-Belgrave was also very active within her local Baptist church in Stechford, where she and others within the church were involved in campaigns to oppose the National Front in the 1970s. She launched her community group, Shades of Black, in the wake of the Handsworth Riots in the mid 1980s after so many youngsters were on the streets day and night with nothing to do. “After the riots, myself and other mothers couldn’t work out why some youngsters weren’t growing up as they should do, so we decided to try and help out.” The group was set up to rebuild and reconcile the community as well as reassuring people. The project has since expanded to help the elderly and the housebound and take them on day trips, as well as the thriving allotments scheme which introduces city youngsters to the joys of growing their own food. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are taught vegetable gardening. The produce is distributed to elderly people who cook for themselves, elderly day care centres and any surplus is used at a local catering college to help students prepare food from other cultures. Shades of Black have also worked to raise issues around Mental Health. In 1999, Eunice McGhie-Belgrave went on to develop the HELP (Help Enables Learning Positivity) allotments project that encourages primary and secondary pupils to develop horticultural skills, while supporting their academic work. In the Queen’s birthday Honours of 2002, Eunice was awarded an MBE for Services to the Community. She also received the Queen’s Jubilee Award in 2004.
Tim
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| Eunice is a star, she has helped to create a community vegetable plot at the fire station at Handsworth, it is always a joy to see her. |
Amandeep
said:
| A great story. Please add the publication details of the biography mentioned in the article |
sunder
said:
| Great to read and hear about such people, very inspiring! |
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