View images from the Walk of Witness on our photo gallery website
One of the people who joined the Walk of Witness was Bill Drayton, a direct descendant of two slave-owning families from Charleston in South Carolina. You can visit his website at www.grimke.co.uk.
The following information is archived from before the Walk of Witness took place but is offered here to give readers an understanding of the event.
The Walk of Witness will be a major event passing significant sites in South London with three specifically liturgical moments. The three strands of these are: remembrance, repentance and restoration.
There will be an acknowledgement of the past and its continuing legacy, and recognition of what God requires of us, through to repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.
This pilgrim Walk will provide all those making this journey with a particular focus as they remember the lives of many Africans lost on their journey on the slave ships and through hard labour on the plantations. Unlike the enslaved Africans who were bought and sold as chattels, the pilgrims on this walk are doing it by choice.
The event is intended to be the beginning of a healing process and provide 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.
This group will begin at Whitehall Place and proceed into Whitehall, across the front of Parliament into Millbank then left over Lambeth Bridge, right into Kennington Road and then across Kennington Park Road into the Park. The walk is intended to assemble at 11.30am and will start at 12.15pm - and arrive at Kennington Park for approximately 2pm.
The main Walk from Whitehall will begin with a reflection and include an act of Remembering at Victoria Gardens and Lambeth Bridge. The Archbishops, accompanied by some of our ecumenical partners, will lead the Walk of Witness which will culminate in a large-scale act of worship in Kennington Park. The most important part of this will be an Act of Repentance and Restoration to be led by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and Primates from West Indies and Ghana. The part of the Walk from Lambeth Bridge to Kennington Park will be in silence - a time of reflection and preparation - accompanied by occasional drumming and a small group of singers who will sing/beat a lament as appropriate.
The second start point is at Clapham, and will comprise of people drawn mainly from the Diocese of Southwark (although others are most welcome). The walk will weave down Clapham High Street, around the triangle at the junction with Lambeth Rd and Stockwell Rd, back onto Clapham Rd and straight across the Oval and Camberwell junction into Kennington Park Rd and then into the park. This walk will leave Holy Trinity, Clapham, at approximately 1.15 pm and arrive at the Park around 2.15pm.
The proceedings will begin at 11.45am with the screening of new film 'The Walk' (see right), followed by a short liturgy at 1.00pm in recognition of William Wilberforce who was instrumental in getting the Bill through parliament.
The proceedings will begin with a short liturgy (about 15 minutes) in Holy Trinity Clapham in recognition of William Wilberforce who was instrumental in getting the Bill through parliament.
While people are in Kennington Park they will be encouraged to sign the Anti-Slavery International declaration calling for measures to better understand the Transatlantic Slade Trade, redress its legacies, and end modern day slavery. There will be pre-printed cards given to each person to complete and sign (if they wish to) in specially designated areas staffed by Anti-slavery International staff.
Once everyone is gathered there will be an introduction to the liturgy and the group who sang the lament will lead the gathering in singing. There will be readings from various black writers - including extracts from Equiano's book, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King's writings and reading of poetry. There will be a focus on freedom fighters past and present.
A choir will perform a song that has been commission ed by Churches Together in Brixton and the choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields girls choir will also sing. The main part of this act of worship will be the Act of Repentance, for which a specially written liturgy will be used. The act of worship will start at about 2.15pm and finish by 3.30pm.