In October 2022 we received our fourth successful Arts Council grant. We would be working with the Cowper & Newton Museum in Olney (Bucks) in a project running from December 2022 to the end of June 2023.
John Newton was Curate in charge of St.Peter and St.Paul's Church (Olney) when he wrote the words to Amazing Grace for his New Year's Day sermon in 1773. Today the song is universally loved, yet its writer was a slave trader for a long time before becoming an abolitionist. To many his involvement in the slave trade is problematic.
We interviewed Amazing Grace and Slave Trade subject matter experts including Tom Jones and James Walvin (historians), Marylynn Rouse (curator), Martin Clarke (musicologist) and Judy Collins (folk singer and activist). We also interviewed widely to discover contemporary attitudes to historic slavery.
Folk musicians Angeline Morrison, Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne and Jon Bickley came to Olney for a 3 day retreat. They visited the Museum and various other sites pertinent to Amazing Grace and John Newton. The objective was to write new songs and music inspired by the life of Newton, the Olney Hymns and the legacy of the Slave trade.
In June a concert performance by Angeline, Cohen & Jon in the garden at the Cowper and Newton Museum showcased the new songs . In the finale they were augmented by the Fusion Choir, a diverse children's choir from Queen's Park in Bedford. It was a beautiful day and a joyous occasion.
Angeline, Cohen and Jon
The heart of the project is the creation of new music. Angeline Morrison, Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne and Jon Bickley got together in Dartmouth House in Olney to research and respond to the writing of Amazing Grace, Newton's life and times. It was a time when slavery was an accepted part of the trading economy of the world. Earlier in his life Newton had been the captain of a slave trading ship and then later he was an abolitionist.
The house was once owned by the Earl of Dartmouth and he gave John Newton his first clerical posting as Curate in Charge at St.Peter and St.Paul's in Olney.
The Cowper and Newton Museum showed us where Newton preached and where he wrote, we played Cowper's harpsichord and we saw the manacles that kept kidnapped Africans incarcerated in the cargo hold of British trading ships.
We were visited by Amanda Molcher and Jo Hudson-Lett (see podcasts) and by Ian Yarwood who took this photo and shot some film of Angeline, Cohen and Jon trying out new songs.
The Amazing Grace Podcasts
Tom Jones
Martin Clarke
James Walvin
Tom Jones (left) Olney historian is seen being interviewed by Invisible Folk's Jon Bickley (right) in the courtyard of the Cowper & Newton Museum. Tom talks about John Newton's life; what brought him to Olney, his life as a preacher and hymn writer, his relationship with Cowper and his journey from slave trader to abolitionist.
James Walvin
Martin Clarke
James Walvin
Professor James Walvin OBE is a world renowned authority on the transatlantic slave trade and has written extensively on the subject. James describes a worldwide economic system which held the slave trade in place for so long. It was protected and supported by the British Government and penetrated every walk of British life.
Martin Clarke
Martin Clarke
Marylynn Rouse
Dr Martin Clarke is a musicologist at the Open University. He talks about the music in Newton's sermons, the 'West Gallery' music of the time, and how the most famous tune associated with Amazing Grace came about so long after the words were written. Finally he reflects on the iconic performances that made it one of the most loved songs of all time.
Marylynn Rouse
Marylynn Rouse
Marylynn Rouse
Marylynn Rouse is founder of the John Newton Project, a charity established to make available previously unpublished sermon notes, letters and writings by John Newton. She has written extensively about Newton's life and his remarkable ability with languages and the profusion of writing and scripture that gave rise to Amazing Grace.
Judy Collins
Marylynn Rouse
Project Diary
Judy Collins has been a beloved and admired folk singer and activist since the early 60s. In 1970 she had a worldwide hit with Amazing Grace that went a long way to making it the universally known and loved hymn it is today. Indeed it proved to be a talisman in the dangers, toils and snares of her personal life.
Project Diary
Marylynn Rouse
Project Diary
An occasional bonus podcast recording key stages of the project. Listen Part 1
Part 2 is Jon's personal response to meeting Angeline and Cohen for the first time in Dartmouth House, Olney. Listen Part 2
Jon formed Invisible Folk in 2016 along with Producer and Sound Recordist Steve Yarwood.
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne
Cohen is one of the foremost folk musicians in Britain. He is also a Brummie of Caribbean descent. His Black History resource Black Singers and Folk Ballads is available at EFDSS.We asked him about the legacy of slavery. Listen Podcast
Pauline Stepney
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne
Pea is a community leader and an inspiration from Bedford. She is an advocate and campaigner for the voice and the empowerment of the Caribbean community. Listen Podcast
Sharon De Leonardis
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne
Sharon De Leonardis
Sharon is another inspirational community leader. She heads up Spectacularts and stages events commemorating the International Day of Remembrance of the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. Listen Podcast
Amanda Molcher
Sally-Anne Huxtable
Sharon De Leonardis
Amanda (left) is a trustee at the Cowper and Newton Museum. As well as being a knowledgable guide, her warm and moving stories have been a wellspring for all of us involved in this project.
Sally-Anne Huxtable
Sally-Anne Huxtable
Sally-Anne Huxtable
At the time of our conversation Sally-Anne was Head Curator at the National Trust and she had just co-edited a report tracing money from the trade and compensation of the slave trade back to properties managed by the National Trust.
Lydia Saul
Sally-Anne Huxtable
Sally-Anne Huxtable
Lydia is Keeper of Social History at the Higgins, Bedford and has previously worked and studied at the Wilberforce House Museum in Hull. Her generous networking has been crucial in the development of Invisible Folk.
The Invisible Folk Club Band
L to R: Annette Burrows, Bob Templeman, Jon Bickley & Diana Stone
Our partners
Cowper & Newton Museum
Cowper & Newton Museum
Cowper & Newton Museum
Arts Council England
Cowper & Newton Museum
Cowper & Newton Museum
.