SCHOOLS and organisations across Bexley are celebrating Black History Month with a variety of fun and fascinating events.

One of the highlights will be another chance to see the touring exhibition detailing Bexley’s connections with the transatlantic slave trade.

The exhibition will be on display for one afternoon during the school half-term holiday, at Danson House, Danson Park, Welling.

And a new element, aimed specially at children, will be the chance to handle objects such as manacles, cowrie shells and sugar cane.

The choice of venue is significant as Sir John Boyd, who built Danson House in 1766, had Bexley’s biggest connection with the slave trade.

The exhibition details his part as a plantation and slave owner and his involvement with the company which transported thousands of enslaved Africans to the Americas.

It also covers the borough’s black historical past, such as Bexley’s first recorded African resident, the African prince who went to school at Hall Place, and an African coachman called Scipio.

The exhibition shows how many of the borough’s wealthy who lived in Bexley’s grand houses, made their money through connections to the slave trade.

But there were others who opposed the trade and actively campaigned against it.

The exhibition is open on October 27 between 1pm and 4pm and entry is free.

Meanwhile in Thamesmead, there will be another exhibition, this time of photographs, on display over the half-term holiday.

Organised by Trust Thamesmead and Gallions Housing Association, it will be on show at both organisations’ offices in Joyce Dawson Way and Harrow Manorway.

Staff from both organisations will also be touring Thamesmead communities with a fun Black History Month quiz.

The town’s pre-school children have been entertained by Whippersnappers, a professional theatre group, who used drama and dance to teach youngsters and their parents about black history.

And parents at the Greenmead children’s centre in Lime Row are hosting an international day on November 2, bringing the food and wearing traditional dress from their native countries so they can learn more about each other’s backgrounds.

Also in November Cliff Pereira, who provided the ground-breaking research for the Bexley exhibition, will be launching his book on the subject.

To organise a group visit to the Bexley exhibition, or to host it this year or next year, call Sarah Fosker on 020 8298 6958 or email sarah.fosker@bexleyheritagetrust.org.uk