Screening of a film by Solent University students, introduced by poet Stevina Southwell, with performances by the Activists SO collective, as part of the Black Business Arts and Music event.
MAST Mayflower Studios is screening a film tribute to Beverley Dowdel on Saturday 17 October, as part of a Black Business Arts and Music (BBAAM) event. The film was made by TV Production students at Southampton Solent University, and the screening will be introduced by poet Stevina Southwell, with further performances from the Activists SO collective of Black Southampton poets.
Beverley Dowdel was a Windrush generation nurse and community leader who died earlier this year. She arrived in Southampton in January 1971, having qualified as a registered nurse in Kingston, Jamaica, and completed an intensive care training course at Southampton General Hospital. Beyond her nursing career, she chaired Southampton's Black Heritage Association, a support group for older people from Caribbean and other communities, and contributed to the anthology We deh yah — Jamaican Patois for 'We are here' — produced with Solent University.
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Five years ago, university TV students asked Stevina Southwell to write a poem about her as part of a Black History Month project. The students then filmed that poem, bringing both the words and Dowdel's story to life. One of the filmmakers, Cameron Tait, graduated with a first-class degree in 2021 and is now a video producer at Chelsea FC. The screening is part of a Black Business Arts and Music event, so the film is just one part of the afternoon: Southwell introduces it, and the Activists SO collective perform around it. It's a local story, made by local students, about a woman who spent decades working in the city's hospitals and community.
