Quaker banner reminds people slavery exists 200 years after abolition

A BANNER is going on display in Minehead’s public library during April to commemorate the 200th anniversary of a Parliamentary Bill being passed to abolish the slave trade in the British colonies.
It has been made by a number of Minehead Quakers, who chose words to represent the human right to a life of freedom and then made panels to illustrate them.
An embroidered section is based on pictures drawn by children to show some of their favourite activities, which would have been denied to children in slavery.
The project was the idea of Angela Birch, of Watchet, and will normally be displayed in the Quaker Meeting House, in Bancks Street, Minehead.
It will also be exhibited in other places during the year, and postcards of it will be for sale from the Under the Rainbow shop, in Friday Street, Minehead.
The bicentennial is on March 25, but, 200 years on, Chris Lawson, co-clerk of the Minehead Quaker Meeting, said: “Many forms of slavery still exist.
“It is hoped that the banner will help people want to work for freedom and human rights today.”

• Our photographs show the banner itself, and the banner being held outside the Quaker Meeting House by (left to right) Maggie King, who helped to make it, Jamahl Cummings, one of those whose pictures is at the foot of the banner, and project originator Angela Birch. Photos by Chris Lawson.