Family Life

In 1955 Beresford Edwards married Elouise Edwards nee Chandler at the St Georges Catholic Church in Georgetown, Guyana. Their first son Beresford, Junior was born in 1958. After Nana migrated to England in 1960 to study for three years, Elouise and their son joined him in 1961.

“I never wanted to come to England, Mr Edwards wanted to, he was a printer and wanted to study lithograph. So he came over first and then I followed but it was never my intension to leave home. I was very unhappy when I came here”
– Elouise Edwards MBE

The Edwards lived at several places in and around old Moss Side; eventually owning their own home and settling at 78 Platt Street for several years before the area began experiencing widespread housing regeneration. Through this experience, they showed the mettle of a couple willing to struggle to ensure that their rights were not trampled upon.

“After the City Council decided that they wanted to demolish Moss Side we decided we were not going to move unless they gave us the value for our property so that we could move and buy somewhere else. In fact we were the only house left in Platt Street.”
– Elouise Edwards MBE

The family expanded with three more sons Mark, Ian and Conrad. They all went to school at Princess Road School nearby home then. He had grand and great grand children, whom he tried hard to involve in plenty of fun and leisure pursuits, both in family circles and those organized for the community.

Like many other African Caribbean families, the Edwards were able to save for the deposit of their first house using the Partner or Susu scheme. Their chance of obtaining a bank loan or a mortgage then was unheard of.

For a long time when Nana was out of work, Elouise took her first job at Hotel Piccadilly where she met many people from across the globe who were experiencing similar racial problems at work. She was often asked to help and with their community involvement, the Edwards’ house became a meeting place to discuss and solve a range of issues. This continued for many years until community buildings were made available to carry out discussion, plan struggles against racism and organize the formation of several groups and political campaigns.