JUBALEE!
150 years on from Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and with
‘12 Years a Slave’ packing the cinemas and scooping up film awards this
Spring, Ian Wintersgill’s one-man show about the music of the American
slaves is extremely topical.
Fine local bass Ian Wintersgill began his singing career, aged seven, in
his church choir on the Wirral. His father, also a bass, introduced him
through the voice of Paul Robeson, to Negro spirituals, ancestors of the
southern states’ blues which arrived on Merseyside while he was a
teenager. Ian pursued this interest in the ‘Songs of the captivity’,
researching first-hand accounts by slaves themselves as well as
observations by writers such as Frederick Douglass, the great black
abolitionist. The result is ‘Jubalee’, a fascinating and moving blend of
readings and song, which Ian has performed many times for charity since
its first performance in York in 1992.
Profits from the evening will go to the Food for Thought project in
Uganda, where, coincidentally, Ian worked as a VSO teacher. Food for
Thought is supported by Exeter-based Devon Development Education and
works with schools in 3 rural districts of Uganda – plus one special school
in the capital, Kampala. The partner organisation in Uganda is the Kulika
Charitable Trust, which has a very strong programme on sustainable
agriculture and provides Key Farmer Trainers, small scale farmers trained
in sustainable agriculture, to work with teachers and pupils in school
gardens. This work is vital. Without good food-growing skills, these rural
young people face an uncertain future. Key Farmer Trainers work in the
schools at least one day each month for a period of three years and are
paid £17 a day by Food for Thought. They train pupils with confidence
because they have proved on their own farms that the methods work!
For more details go to www.globalcentredevon.org.uk
A donation from this evening’s performance will also be given to AntiSlavery International, a charity that Ian supports in its continuing fight
against slavery in all its different forms today.
Ticket price includes a glass of wine and canapés/nibbles in the interval.
Tickets can be booked by using the form below.
Adults £15/ Students £7
If the weather is fine and you would like to come early to wander round
Lukesland’s lovely garden please do so. Parking will be in front of the
house.
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To: Lorna Howell, Lukesland House, Harford, Ivybridge
PL21 0JF (Tel 01752691749)
.............Tickets Adult (£15),
..........Tickets Student (£7).
I enclose a cheque for £.............. made payable to LUKESLAND
GARDENS and a stamped, addressed envelope.
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