On Anti-Modern Slavery Day, churches across Somerset were lit in bright red as part of the Clewer Initiative’s campaign to show their stand against modern slavery. Clewer is the national work of the Church of England to combat modern slavery. They support churches across the country to help tackle it where they are, especially with their Hidden Voices programme.
Bath Abbey, which recently hosted a Monuments, Empire and Slavery exhibition to explore the Abbey’s past connections with the transatlantic slave trade, was one of the ‘red churches’. Yet, 200 years after the abolition of the slave trade there could still be up to 136,000 men, women and children trapped in modern slavery in the UK. The first town to petition against the transatlantic trade slave was Bridgwater and today the community is still active in battling slavery and are part of Hidden Voices Somerset which has had 60+ lay people and clergy involved from five denominations. An event to mark Anti-Slavery Day was held on 18 October at St Mary’s Church, Bridgwater.
The theme for this year’s Anti-Modern Slavery Day was #OrdinaryActivist and Clewer shared stories of people from all walks of life doing their bit to fight modern slavery, from the bride sourcing an ethical dress for her wedding to a mum working in the evenings and during her child’s nap times to raise awareness of the issue.
If you think you could be an #OrdinaryActivist visit: theclewerinitiative.org
This article featured in the November issue of the Manna mailing.