Celebrating freedom (From Stroud News and Journal)

Celebrating freedom

THE restoration and repair of the Anti-Slavery Arch, erected at Paganhill in 1834 to commemorate the abolition of slavery, is almost complete and celebrations will be taking place at Archway School this week.

There will be a play written and performed by The Stroud Football Poets, along with pupils from Archway School and Brockworth School, where Football Poets' co-founder Stuart Butler works.

The Arch, long-neglected due to its non-central position in the town, has been lovingly restored by Nicholas Quayle and specialist architect Annie Page with £24,000 raised by the Stroud Preservation Trust, Churches Together and numerous other local groups.

All that remains to be done is new surfacing at the base of the Arch and the erection of a plaque.

Meanwhile, pupils from Archway School are working on an information leaflet and an anti-slavery website featuring the Arch.

The restoration project formed part of the Stroud News & Journal's Millennium campaigns.

The play, Freedom's Arch - When Will Freedom Come? - deals with the history of slavery and its many contemporary forms and uses The Football Poets' invigorating trademark blend of first-hand accounts, traditional songs and original music. It looks at the people in Africa, the West Indies and Stroud who were involved in defeating the evils of slavery.

The play takes place on Thursday, March 7 and Friday, March 8 at 7.30pm in Archway Drama Theatre and all profits go to the United Nations Trust Fund for Contemporary Forms of Slavery.

Pupils from Archway have attended a United Nations conference on slavery and hope to foster further links through this play.

Tickets are available from Archway School, Bishopston Trading Estate, High Street, Stroud or from 01453 766273.