Church aims to ‘make its mark’ in Lambeth

06/02/07

Lambeth is set to host thousands of people from across the country as they join the Archbishops of Canterbury and York for an historic event taking place at Kennington Park on Saturday 24 March to mark the Bicentenary of the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

The Archbishops will lead the Walk of Witness from Whitehall Place and over Lambeth Bridge; while a separate party will begin a procession from William Wilberforce’s church, Holy Trinity, by Clapham Common. The two simultaneous walks will culminate in a large-scale act of worship at Kennington Park to reflect on the lasting legacy of the slave trade and to pledge action to end modern forms of slavery.

The event, organised by the Church’s Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns (CMEAC), forms the main part of the Church’s wider awareness campaign, Making our Mark, set up following the General Synod’s debate in February this year on the subject of the Bicentenary which led to an apology by the Church of England for the part it played in the slave trade.

The timetables for the two aspects of the Walk of Witness are:

11.30am Those walking from the centre of London assemble at Whitehall Place

12.15pm Proceed into Whitehall, across the front of Parliament into Millbank then over Lambeth Bridge, and down Kennington Road

1.00pm Short Act of Worship at Holy Trinity Clapham for those starting from this point, followed by walk along Clapham High Street towards Kennington Park

c.2.15pm Walkers converge at Kennington Park for an Act of Worship focusing on Remembrance, Repentance, and Restoration.

The liturgy – written specifically for the occasion – will include readings from various black writers, including extracts from Olaudah Equiano’s book and writings by Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. A choir will perform a song commissioned for the Bicentenary by Churches Together in Brixton, and the worship will close with a special arrangement of the Lord’s Prayer.

The Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, chair of CMEAC and a vicar in Dalston, explains the significance of the walk, which aims to serve as an act of repentance and confession for the role that the Church played in the slave trade:

“The event will mark the beginning of a healing process and a foundation for future relationships. We hope it will serve as a public acknowledgement of a time in history when people of African origin were barbarically treated, and will present an opportunity to re-commit ourselves to truly live by the values of the gospel – loving, caring and respecting one another as human beings made in the image of God. With these aims in mind, we pray that the walk will become an assertion of the power of the resurrection.”

A dedicated website, www.makingourmark.org.uk, contains full details of the routes and answers to frequently asked questions. A link also provides visitors with the opportunity to sign up to Anti-Slavery International’s Declaration, calling for measures to better understand the Transatlantic Slave Trade, redress its legacies, and end modern day slavery.

Making our Mark is benefiting from funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The venture is also supported Anglican mission agency USPG, who today continue to work with churches in the Caribbean and West Africa. Making our Mark is the Church of England’s national contribution to Set All Free, a project of Churches Together in England working to commemorate the bicentenary.

For further information, or to register, contact the Walk of Witness team on 0870 321 2005 or visit www.makingourmark.org.uk.