Triumph of the Grassroots is an exhibition showcasing 40 years of charitable work at a ‘grassroots’ level by Afrikans, who arrived in Britain from the British Commonwealth during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. They were invited by the British government to assist in re-building Britain’s war-torn economy, and in the process, they made invaluable and lasting contributions to British Social History.

To mark British Black History Month the Vince Hines Foundation highlights the work and struggles of the Black Self-Help Movement in Britain during the period 1972-2012. Over these four decades the Vince Hines Foundation, based in west London, have been involved in a number of social initiatives and programmes including education, careers advice and training, community support, musical endeavours, outreach activities and business advice. We present here a small snapshot of their work and hope you will enjoy finding out more about the Foundation and its broader historical context.

Through forty years of photographic evidence, we follow the innovative and creative community development work undertaken by these new comers to Britain, which has had a deep and lasting influence on the host community and has added values to Britain’s existing social structures.

The Foundation’s work includes; securing hostels for homeless youth, providing supplementary education, leisure and recreational activities in community sports, arts and entertainment as well as providing information, advice and guidance and campaigning for social justice in introducing and reforming equality laws.

Today, over forty years later, we can look back and identify lasting monuments in British Social History, which the Vince Hines Foundation, a community, education and training charity, had made as national lead partner of the Self-Help Partnership Network, within Britain’s Voluntary and Community Sector. A demonstration of outcomes of over four decades of continued work in making a difference for the well-being of Afrikans; Asians and other members of society. This included those harder to reach within our wider society, and who were at risk of falling through societal safety nets. Lessons, from which members of other communities have learnt, applied and gained benefits from.