On Friday 31 October we celebrated 60 years of the University of Kent in Canterbury Cathedral, coming together with friends, partners and our community to raise our Voices for Sanctuary.
The evening featured outstanding performances from the Kent Gospel Choir, alongside Canterbury Christ Church University Gospel Choir, and Clive Brown & Urban Sound — filling the Cathedral with energy, hope and unity.
Our Chancellor YolanDa Brown OBE hosted the evening:
‘Here we all are in this iconic space full of history and energy, where so many people have found peace, safety and sanctuary over hundreds of years. Today we are here together in unity, using our voices as one, to show how togetherness is powerful and how collective voices can communicate important stories.’
The experiences of our resilient Sanctuary students were shared by special guests BBC Radio 1 Xtra DJ and Kent alumna, Fee Mak, actor and KRAN mentor Simon Paisley-Day and Gospel performer and broadcaster, Muiywa Olarewaju OBE, who lent their voices to amplify these stories. Their poems and songs shared the power of welcome and belonging.
The Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover, inspired with her warmth and compassion:
‘The University is drawing us in and reminding us who we are as a people and what we should be doing to lead meaningful lives in celebrating sanctuary.’
The collaborative evening reaffirmed a future vision, for Canterbury to be recognised as a City of Sanctuary. Proceeds from the event raised go towards the University’s Sanctuary Fund supporting young people seeking asylum in the UK to progress to higher education at the University of Kent.
Find out more about Sanctuary at the University of Kent.