Yesterday the MJR trustees gathered in in Manchester to meet and share with a wider group from the Manchester area and the North West. We heard the latest news about and discussed MJR’s Zong project, the replica slave-ship and exhibition which we are hoping to bring here as part of a summer 2019 voyage around Britain. This tour will be dependent on the local interest and ownership at each of the ports of call and it was good to welcome enthusiastic supporters from not only Manchester but also Whitehaven and Lancaster.
We also looked at – in the city where it happened – the ‘Peterloo Massacre‘, where on August 16, 1819, cavalry were ordered by the authorities to charge a peaceful crowd of 60,000 who had gathered to support electoral reform. 18 died and over 650 were injured – some horribly – yet the churches, believing the poor should be “resigned to their God-given lot” mostly took the side of the authorities. This dark day has its 200th anniversary in 2019 and we looked at how Christians today could mark this significant anniversary.
A big thank you to our hosts the Nazarene Theological College for their hospitality.
