Term had barely started when the English Department made their  first extra- curricular visit of the academic year to The Queen Elizabeth Hall  on London’s Southbank. Ten year 8 students and one year 11 student,  supported by Ms Bolton, Ms Campbell, Mr Guyver and Mr Warner, braved rush hour  traffic on Wednesday 18th September to reach the Southbank for a  spectacular celebration honouring Nelson Mandela. 

As part of the Southbank Centre’s Literature and Spoken Word  Season “REVOLUTIONS” twenty -seven leading writers, musicians and poets read  twenty-seven extracts from  Mr Mandela’s autobiography “Long Walk To  Freedom” .

The evening was insightful yet entertaining and our students  were easily the youngest members of the audience. The performances ranged from  moving extracts where we learned what Mr Mandela went through on Robben Island  to his eventual release after twenty-seven years. Performers such as Sharon D  Clarke sang, Beverley Naidoo read extracts and Gillian Slovo remembered her  childhood in apartheid South Africa.  In addition poets such as LInton  Kwesi Johnson and author Ben Okri performed their own work.  The two hours  flew by and we all agreed it was wonderful  to see and hear such a  diverse range of performers.