Project launched to mark bicentenary of Abolition of Slave Trade Act

Last evening, around 150 people took part in a Service of Commitment at Holy Trinity Church, Clapham Common, south London, to launch the 'Set All Free' project commemorating the upcoming bicentenary, in March 2007, of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807.

Holy Trinity Clapham was the home church of the Clapham Sect, a group of dedicated Christians gathered around William Wilberforce who felt personally called by God to work for "the abolition of the slave trade and the reformation of manners" in a dechristianised British society of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The 'Set All Free' Campaign will not only consider what the slave trade was, its impact on British society and the Churches involvement in the anti-slavery campaign, but will actively address issues of slavery today - bonded labour, sex-trafficking and forced marriage - to name but a few, which involve up to 20 million people across the globe.

Richard Reddie, project director for "Set All Free" was commissioned by Inderjit Bhogal of Christian Aid. All the Churches and their agencies are involved in the project, based at the Churches Together in England offices near Euston. For more information: www.setallfree.net