A musician from the Caribbean has recounted what living in High Wycombe as a young Black man in the 1960s was like. 

Dossie Forbes was in his early twenties when he decided to make High Wycombe his home.

Landing in the town happened at a stroke of luck as Dossie was first living in Southampton after arriving from the island of St Vincent with his three brothers.

However, finding work in Southampton was “difficult”, and after his friend and cousin invited him over to Wycombe for a weekend, he decided to stay.

Dossie, 88, said: “I was about 23 and he invited me over. I came over for just a weekend and then stayed.

“I wrote to my brother saying I’ll stay in High Wycombe.”

Although there was more work in Wycombe, finding lodgings was tough.

“My cousin and friend were living in lodgings with three to four people in one room,” Dossie explained.

On the first Monday after his arrival, one of his friends took him out and they found him a job in Cressex as a labourer and in just few weeks he was working, although “the salary wasn’t much,” he said.

He went on to operate machines at an engineering company in Loudwater before seeing an ad in the Bucks Free Press for a machine operator apprenticeship at Hoovers.

Although he was invited for an interview, Dossie was told in the reception the vacancy had been filled.

“The moment I saw her I knew she was prejudiced. But I insisted to see someone and told her I wasn’t leaving until I did.”

Dossie had taken time off his old job to attend the interview, which he told to the manager when they finally agreed to see him.

“I said you’ll have to explain to me why I can’t get the job, and in the end I did get it.

 “There was a lot of prejudice around at that time. As soon as they see the colour of skin, they say there’s no vacancy, but you saw it advertised outside at the gate.

“I worked at Hoovers for seven years. Everybody wanted to get in at Hoovers. They only took on about three other people after me.

“There were only about four of us people of colour, and the others got in after me, and the only reason was they had a cricket team they wanted players in,” he claimed.  

In his free time, Dossie was an accomplished musician in a steel band, playing the double second pans in the rhythm section.

From playing in a social club on Birdcage Walk and in towns like Chinnor and Aylesbury, he went on to co-found and the lead The Maestro’s All Steel Band when he was 24-years-old.

Bucks Free Press: The Maestro's All Steel Band The Maestro's All Steel Band (Image: Dossie Forbes)

The band published an LP The Caribbean Sound in 1968 and played gigs around London, The Savoy, Heathrow Airport and at parties for the rich and famous, including Lord Snowden on the River Thames.

“We got the contract for the LP and from there The Maestro’s became quite famous. We used to travel all over the country,” Dossie said.

Now retired and living in Milton Keynes, Dossie plays his instrument at least 30 minutes every day.

“I’ve had treatment from people. I was attacked in High Wycombe outside my home by three guys, who told me what to do and where to go back to. I had another attack here in Milton Keynes by a group of National Front people attacking me.

“Sometimes you have to rise above it. There is a lot of resilience,” he said.