Commemoration, Gospel Concert to be held in Memory of Damilola Taylor

Two special events will be held on 27 November in London in memory of 10-year-old school boy Damilola Taylor, who was attacked and left to die on a Peckham estate almost exactly five years ago.

|TOP|A daytime event will be held at the Barbican to encourage young people to stay away from crime, followed by an evening gospel concert in Peckham with special guests Four Kornerz.

The Barbican event, to be attended by over 200 ‘at risk’ young people from across London, will run from 12 noon to 5pm and will be opened by Harriet Harman MP. The event features speakers from New Scotland Yard and the Youth Justice Board, as well as those in the justice system.

The Gospel concert will be held at the Faith Chapel in Peckham with proceeds going to the work of the Damilola Taylor Trust, the organisers behind the two events. The special guests of honour at the event are Sir Trevor McDonald and His Excellency Dr Christopher Kolade, the Nigerian High Commissioner.

The Damilola Taylor Trust is currently running two UK projects, peer-mentoring programmes and the Access to Medicine Prize, which helps young people from deprived backgrounds become doctors. In Nigeria the Trust is currently helping to clothe, feed and educate street orphans.

|QUOTE|At the age of 10, Damilola wrote: “I will travel far and wide to choose my destiny and remould the world. I know it is my destiny to defend the world, which I hope to achieve in my lifetime.”

The Damilola Taylor Trust was founded following the schoolboy’s death by his parents, Richard and Gloria Taylor, as a lasting memorial to their son and to help others achieve the ambitions that their son was unable to fulfil himself.

Richard Taylor said recently: “It is five years since our dear son was attacked. For much of that time we have felt grief. Now, more than ever, we want our son’s death to mean life, opportunity and hope for downtrodden and underprivileged youth in Britain and Nigeria.”