Source for both: British Newspaper Archives
Images © Johnston Press plc. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
ABOVE:
1. “Italian Conversation”, Sussex Agricultural Express, Friday 17 April 1953, page 4
2. “Scholastic”, Portsmouth Evening News, Friday 20 July 1951, page 15
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Although they are by no means representative of the behaviours and opinions of every individual, the two clippings above suggest some level of willingness within Italian and non-Italian communities to engage with each other. The first is a clipping of a personal advert in which an "Englishman" asks to meet an Italian in order to "exchange conversation". In the second, an"Italian Girl" expresses the desire to teach languages as well as "drawing" and "design" skills. Whilst there is, of course, an element of personal benefit to the writers of both adverts, they also provide two, single examples of multinational and multicultural communities engaging with each other.
COMING TO ENGLAND
What was it like coming to England? What was the reception from other local communities?
The agreement between the Italian Government and the British Ministry of Labour came into effect very quickly. Former Prisoners of War and European Voluntary Workers* were among the first to arrive, later followed by individuals who came seeking work of their own accord and those who followed family and friends over. Although not the only nationality coming to the South Coast after the War, Italian migrants helped to lessen the immediate shortage of labour in skilled and semi-skilled manual work.
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Most Italian migrants who recalled their experiences spoke of the immediate difficulties faced after moving, especially when learning and speaking English and getting used to a very different culture in completely new surroundings. The response for many was to bond with other Italians, preserving the ideas of home they had left behind and creating community networks as close to the ones they'd had before as possible. Whilst memories of those early days are full of mixed feelings, a number of respondents remembered the help they received from neighbours and colleagues, most of them English. This extended beyond just language and culture to recollections of minding each others' children and swapping household tips, including recipes.
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Not all Italians who came to work in England stayed, and many others intended to return home even if they didn't make the eventual move. The rest chose to remain, making new lives and the majority eventually raising families. Settling in by no means solved problems of homesickness and a longing for home, but they made the best of it with the aim of achieving a better life for themselves and their families.
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*European Voluntary Workers: A term used to describe the European workers who came to Britain under various work schemes in the immediate post-War period, mainly to deal with the labour shortage, but also to help people displaced by the War.