Local AA groups

Flyer advertising a gig at the Assembly Rooms, Derby in September 1988. The concert was organised by Derby AA Group in partnership with the Afro-Caribbean community organisation, The Hadhari Project, which provided care for elderly people. The gig featured bands from Derby, Nottingham and Leicester, and was advertised throughout the East Midlands. Half the proceeds were given to the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College.

Many local AA groups produced regular members newsletters. This issue of Edinburgh AA Group’s newsletter reports on the Glasgow to London Freedom march and the campaign to save Robert McBride, sentenced to death in South Africa.

Leaflet publicising a concert to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday organised by Nottingham AA Group. It featured La Danza Continua. Events like this were held all over Britain.

All over Britain special events were held to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday. In the photograph, anti-apartheid supporters in Inverness display a giant card in the town’s shopping centre. At the conclusion of the AAM’s ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign, a poll showed that Nelson Mandela had become a household name in Britain and 70% of people  supported the call for his release.

Sheffield AA Group celebrated Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday with a 5-a-side football competition and a birthday party. Special events took place all over Britain as part of the AAM’s ‘Freedom at 70’ campaign. At the end of the campaign a poll showed that Nelson Mandela had become a household name in Britain and 70% of people  supported the call for his release.

Sheffield AAM arranged a special programme of ‘Freedom at 70’ events to mark Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday on 18 July 1988, as well as sending coaches of supporters to the national rally in London on 17 July. Events included a live video screening of the Wembley Mandela tribute concert, a five-a-side football competition and a party on 18 July.

The Glasgow to London Nelson Mandela Freedom March arrived in Durham on 22 June 1988. This leaflet announced plans to welcome the marchers with a civic reception in Durham Town Hall, an evening event in the Mandelas Ballroom, Dunelm House and a send-off the following morning. Durham AA Group also planned a publicity drive to inform all households within a 10-15 mile radius of Durham about the Free Mandela Campaign.

Twenty-five freedom marchers, one for each year of Mandela’s imprisonment, walked nearly 600 miles from Glasgow to London in June and July 1988. Along the way they held meetings and events calling for Mandela’s release. This leaflet advertised the march as it came through Tyneside in the north-east of England.