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Simon Schama: TV historian to pay tribute to anti-slavery pioneer

Author and TV historian Simon Schama will deliver a tribute to slavery abolition pioneer Granville Sharp in a memorial service at All Saints Church on July 8.

It will mark the completion of conservation work on Sharp’s tomb in All Saints churchyard.

The service, on the nearest Sunday to the anniversary of Sharp’s death on 6 July 1813, is the culmination of a campaign to repair the tomb of the man known as the ‘father of the abolition movement’.

The conservation project was launched to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade this year, which has seen events taking place locally and across the country as well as TV documentaries by Professor Schama and others.

In only six months the Granville Sharp Working Group has persuaded the government to give the tomb a grade II listing and has raised £15,000 to repair it.

The work, which involves the replacement of some stone, started this week and is due to be completed on June 29.
Read entire article at http://www.24dash.com