As well as singing and composing, choir leader and writer Katie Rose also turned her hand to DJing on CroydonFM Radio. In 2016 and two weeks before Croydon’s first Pride event since 1993, Katie spoke to Herbert Bulindi, leader of the Rainbows Across Borders, and Ray Harvey-Amer who had taken on the role of choirmaster.

Katie’s second donation was a copy of ‘The Open Door’, which is a newsletter distributed by Reverend Art Lester of the Croydon Unitarians. In July 2018, they held an event for the Festival of Peace. Katie sang about the women of Greenham Common, who made camps at RAF Greenham to protest the storage of cruise missiles and continued their demonstrations for twenty years.

The Rainbows Across Borders were also invited to sing at this event, where they gave a rousing performance including Marching by the Light of God, Down by the Riverside and Soon and Very Soon.

One article in particular recognises the love between two men, Daryl and Matu who had fled their native countries to escape violence due to their sexuality. Free to express their sexuality openly in the UK, I found it particularly moving that they had also found a place within the Unitarians where they were welcome to continue expressing their spirituality.