When you say the word ‘Jamaica’ most people think of reggae music, perfect beaches, and Bob Marley. It is not a place that immediately comes to mind as somewhere to spend your retirement – that’s more along the lines of Devon or Skegness. But it’s exactly what some of Leicester’s Jamaican community are doing! East Midlands Today’s Social Affairs Correspondent, Jeremy Ball, went to talk to some former Leicester residents who have gone back to Jamaica... They moved to Britain, and specifically cities in the East Midlands like Leicester, Derby and Nottingham, to work in factories, hospitals and the postal service.
 | | A place in the sun |
But now they’re older, the cold English weather and fast-paced lifestyle is tempting them home to the Caribbean. Their pensions allow them to buy houses in Jamaica’s best residential areas, but even life in a tropical paradise has its drawbacks. Because they've been away for so long, they say that the island's residents treat them like outsiders and some charge them more for goods and services. They also miss their friends back in England, and the Leicester community they became a part of. Other Jamaicans left the island when they were still very young and haven’t returned since – William Chong is one of them. Jeremy Ball accompanied William on his first trip back to the Caribbean since 1948 to revisit his past and find out how things have changed… William emigrated from Jamaica to Leicester nearly sixty years ago, when Jamaica was still a British colony. His son, Tony, had never been to Jamaica before, so the trip was a real voyage of discovery for him, as well as a step back into the past for his father. | 
