celebration

Look at a satellite photograph of Britain taken on a clear night and the only things visible are the glowing street lights of towns and cities. If you cast your eyes to the centre of northern England, the distinctive, cupped-hand-shaped boundary of the Peak District national park is clearly outlined as an island of darkness washed by an ocean of light from the industrial conurbations of the north and Midlands.

It was established in April 1951 as the first national park in Britain. And that view from space gives the clearest indication possible of why this site was chosen – it put a national park where it was most needed in the country. It has been estimated that about a third of the population of England and Wales lives less than an hour away from the Peak District.

And the teeming populations of those surrounding industrial cities – Manchester, Sheffield, Derby, Leeds, Nottingham and even Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham – are where the vast majority of the more than 13 million annual visitors come from, regarding it as their back yard and playground, making it one of the busiest national parks in the world.

The inviting hills of the Peak District were close enough to be visible to the workers toiling in the cotton mills and steel foundries of Manchester and Sheffield. In the words of the late Manchester journalist and broadcaster Brian Redhead, they represented the “Great Escape”. It’s still not unusual to see a well-equipped walker kitted out in Gore-Tex, breeches and boots striding out along Piccadilly in Manchester or Fargate in Sheffield, heading for a day out in the Peak.

When Sir Arthur Hobhouse first proposed the Peak District as a national park in his seminal 1947 report, he stated: “Beyond its intrinsic qualities, the Peak has a unique value as a national park, surrounded as it is on all sides by industrial towns and cities … There is no other area which has evoked more strenuous public effort to safeguard its beauty … Its very proximity to the industrial towns renders it as vulnerable as it is valuable.”

The Peak District national park is split between two distinct geographical regions: the glorious limestone dales, such as Dovedale and Lathkill Dale, are in the White Peak; while the contrasting gritstone moorlands, in places such as Mam Tor and Bleaklow (whose very names give a clue to the uncompromising nature of their terrain), are in the Dark Peak.

I’ve always been a Dark Peak man myself, preferring that unique, away-from-it-all, top-of-the-world feeling of freedom you get in places such as the peaty expanses of Kinder Scout or Stanage Edge to the gentler, more subtle joys of the White Peak dales. It must be said that not everyone shares that view. The fell wanderer Alfred Wainwright couldn’t wait to escape Bleaklow’s peaty bogs, and actually had to be rescued from one by a passing ranger when researching his 1968 Pennine Way Companion. “Nobody loves Bleaklow,” he stated unequivocally. “All who get on it are glad to get off.” In the same year, the nature writer John Hillaby was equally scathing in his book Journey Through Britain, describing Kinder Scout’s boggy summit as looking as if it was “entirely covered in the droppings of dinosaurs”.

But Kinder Scout, the highest point in the Peak, is as much a spirit as a mountain – and it just tips the scales as one by topping the magic 2,000ft (610-metre) mark. Few people have actually reached the 2,087ft summit, as it lies in the middle of an extensive peat bog and was marked by a solitary stick when I last visited.

Of course, Kinder occupies a special place in rambling folklore as the scene of the celebrated 1932 Mass Trespass, after which five “ramblers from Manchester way” (as Ewan MacColl dubbed them in his song) were imprisoned merely for exercising their unjustly stolen right to roam.

Another of my Dark Peak favourites is the atmospheric tottering towers of Alport Castles on the southern slopes of Bleaklow. This is said to be Britain’s largest landslip, and I have fond memories of watching spellbound as a family of nesting peregrine falcons swooped and dived above the walls of gritstone, which glowed gold in the late afternoon sun as their piercing “kek-kek-kek” calls rang out.

Lud’s Church, hidden away in the birches and beeches of Back Forest in the far west of the park, is another favourite landslip. This one is wreathed in Arthurian legend because it’s widely acknowledged as the location of the Green Chapel in the denouement of the anonymous early medieval alliterative poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I’ll never forget my first visit to this mysterious 18-metre-deep chasm, when I nearly bumped into an escaped red-necked wallaby and was the first to spot the unmistakable profile of the helmeted, lantern-jawed Green Knight in the natural rock wall of the Chapel. Everyone sees the knight now, but the wallabies are long gone.

My favourite pub in the Dark Peak has to be The Old Nags Head at Edale, a traditional, stone-floored pub in the centre of the village. It is popular with walkers and famous as the starting point of the 268-mile (431km) Pennine Way, envisioned in 1935 by rambler Tom Stephenson and finally opened in 1965.

The most famous of the lovely limestone dales is Dovedale, whose gin-clear waters were first described by Izaak Walton in his Compleat Angler (1653) as the “princess of rivers”. But Dovedale is probably best avoided in summer when it can resemble Blackpool on a bank holiday, and queues form to cross the famous, now restored, stepping stones.

Far better to stroll through the sylvan delights of Lathkill Dale, below Over Haddon, along the River Lathkill, described by Walton as “by many degrees, the purest, and most transparent stream I ever yet saw, either at home or abroad”. But be warned, the Lathkill shares the habit of many of the Peak’s limestone rivers of disappearing underground for much of the year, only to reappear in quite spectacular fashion after heavy rain.

After a walk, I always enjoy a pint at the Church Inn at Chelmorton. “Chelly” (as it is known locally) is one of the highest villages in the Peak, and the Church Inn stands at the top of the village opposite the parish church, which has a golden locust as its weathervane in recognition of its dedication to John the Baptist and his time in the wilderness.

The White Peak is also the best place to appreciate the incredible richness of the Peak’s prehistoric past. It’s humbling to walk up to the now-prostrate, clockface-like Neolithic stone circle of Arbor Low, near Middleton-by-Youlgrave, and hear the silver, spiralling song of the skylark just as the builders of this atmospheric monument must have done 5,000 years ago. Or to visit the nearby haunted ruins of Magpie Mine near Sheldon, the best-preserved lead mine in the Peak, which was worked almost continuously for 300 years.

As the first British national park, the Peak District has always been a pioneer in the way it manages its ever-increasing tide of visitors. This has included groundbreaking traffic management schemes in places such as the Upper Derwent and Goyt valleys, and the conversion of former railway tracks into popular walking and cycling routes such as the Tissington and High Peak Trail and the Manifold Way.

But like all the British national parks, the Peak has suffered crippling cuts in its government grant over the past decade. A massive 50% cut in real terms, resulting in a 10% decrease in staff last year alone, prompted the establishment of a charitable Peak District Foundation to raise income. A visitor tax of 10p a head has also been mooted, something which would undoubtedly make those trespassers of 90 years ago turn in their graves.

The Peak District national park proved to be a vital and easily accessible lifeline for the frustrated, locked-down folk of the surrounding towns and cities during the recent Covid pandemic. It’s a proud role it has served for the 75 years of its existence, and long may it continue to do so.

Roly Smith is the former head of information services for the Peak District national park, which earned him the epithet “Mr Peak District” in the local media. He is the author of 99 books, including 111 Places in the Peak District That You Shouldn’t Miss (Emons) and Fifty Odd Corners of Britain (Conway), both of which will be published this year

CHICAGO — A day after former presidents, sitting governors and local Chicago residents alike attended a vibrant, televised celebration for the late Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., the family and friends who knew him best hosted a more intimate gathering Saturday to grieve the civil rights leader at his organization’s headquarters.

The final memorial service at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s headquarters on the South Side of Chicago included a few hundred attendees, most of whom were family members, allies and confidants. The event served as a capstone to a week of services and a call to action.

In a series of speeches, the late reverend’s children, civil rights leaders and two presidents of African nations said the best way to honor Jackson’s legacy is to continue his advocacy for universal human rights and economic justice.

“It is appropriate that we respect this season of grief,” said Yusef Jackson, one of Jackson’s sons and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. “However, it is also appropriate to honor him by stepping up, to step out, and continue his work by answering his call to serve.”

The younger Jackson said that the Rainbow PUSH Coalition recently honored Jackson by deepening partnerships with activists in Minnesota, which saw mass protests after the Trump administration launched a massive immigration crackdown in the state.

U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson, an Illinois Democrat and a son of the late reverend, said his father taught him “that any society that will not support the many who are poor will never be able to save the few who are rich.” He said that his father’s relentless activism and charisma were rooted in a Christian call to service.

“For the children on the reservations, in the barrios, in the ghettos, he was speaking to you,” said the congressman. “My father was attacked for speaking about diversity. He was vilified for his stand on equality, and had the people who wanted to kill him had their way, we would have never seen a rainbow coalition.”

Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, said that ambitious politicians should emulate the political strategy Jackson championed during his two presidential bids.

“Let the word go out that anyone who would like to be president of the United States in 2028, you’d better study this concept of the rainbow coalition,” Morial said.

Public visitors greet family, world leaders

In a move meant to reflect Jackson’s ethos, some members of the public who gathered outside the PUSH headquarters were allowed to enter the private service.

“Dad’s theology was rooted in the belief that every human being carries inherent worth,” said Ashley Jackson, the late reverend’s youngest daughter. “He fought for that truth in places that most people never saw, people whose names never made the news across decades and continents and causes.”

The service included musical performances by Stevie Wonder, Opal Staples, Terisa Griffin, Kim Burrell and others. Comedian Chris Tucker added some levity to the solemn services with a stand-up set.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa thanked the late reverend for his work to end South Africa’s apartheid system. Jackson was a close friend of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s iconic anti-apartheid leader and its first Black president.

“He told the world that the struggle for dignity in the United States was inseparable from the fight against apartheid and injustice in South Africa,” said Ramaphosa, who said his nation claimed the late civil rights leader as one of their own.

“When Jesse Jackson reminded the United States that its strength as a nation lies not in exclusion, but in the beautiful diversity of its people — Black and white, rich and poor, urban and rural, workers and farmers, immigrants and the forgotten — we were hugely inspired by his message,” said Ramaphosa, who was a key negotiator in the process to the end the apartheid system.

Felix Tshisekedi, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, praised Jackson as a peacemaker and humanitarian.

“Your mourning is also ours. You have lost a father, a husband, a brother. The world has lost a pastor, a champion, a mender of bridges. Africa has lost a faithful, loving son,” Tshisekedi said.

Since his death last month, Jackson’s family and allies have honored the late reverend with commemorations, community service and demonstrations in an effort to continue his work.

Mourners first honored Jackson as he lay in repose in Chicago last month. The late reverend then lay in state at the South Carolina Capitol. Jackson grew up in segregated Greenville, S.C. As a high schooler, he led fellow students into a protest that desegregated a local library, starting a lifetime of civil rights leadership.

Services honoring Jackson in Washington were postponed after a request for him to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol was denied. House Republican leadership cited the precedent that only former presidents and senior generals typically receive the privilege.

Jackson’s allies have emphasized the forcefulness of his message and convictions.

“He maintained an intense relationship with the political order, not because presidents were white or Black, but the demands of our message — the demands of speaking to the least of these, those who were disinherited, the dispossessed, the disrespected — demanded not Democratic or Republican solutions, but demanded a consistent, prophetic voice,” said Jesse Jackson Jr., the reverend’s eldest son and a former congressman seeking to win back his seat in this year’s elections.

Fraternity brothers

Jackson’s mentees also organized efforts to continue his civil rights activism.

“We’re in a global moment where peace in the world is in jeopardy, where we just have bombs being dropped carelessly, killing children, innocent victims of political actions,” said the Rev. Janette Wilson, a longtime senior advisor to Jackson and executive director at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. “When the government cuts SNAP benefits and you have millions of children and families who will be food insecure, I think you have to tell them that we’re fighting for you.”

On Thursday, the headquarters hosted a series of events that celebrated Jackson’s life, including a memorial service for several hundred members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., of which Jackson was a member. That same night, the chamber hosted a reunion for Rainbow PUSH alumni to commemorate Jackson and his years of activism.

They celebrated Jackson’s life and reminisced about his 1984 and 1988 presidential bids, his globe-trotting activism as an anti-apartheid activist and hostage negotiator, and his evangelism for a Christianity that emphasized justice for all and support for the downtrodden.

Jackson family expected at voting rights march

On Sunday, members of the Jackson family and many of Jackson’s mentees will travel to Selma, Ala., to commemorate the “Bloody Sunday” protest marches when civil rights activists were beaten by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965.

The Rev. Jackson often attended the same anniversary march.

“Selma has always stood for the basics of what civil rights is, what we are debating in policy,” said Jimmy Coleman, a longtime aide to Jackson and native of Selma. “He was always focused on what we needed in terms of policy in any given political moment, and that’s what the march represents.”

Brown writes for the Associated Press.

Pall bearers carry the casket containing the body of the Rev. Jesse Jackson as it arrives for the public service at the House of Hope church in Chicago on Friday. The public service is for people to pay respects and honor Jackson. Jackson, a well known advocate for civil rights and for the poor, and two time presidential candidate, died Feb. 17 after suffering from progressive supranuclear palsy. Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI | License Photo

March 6 (UPI) — The public funeral for the Rev. Jesse Jackson began Friday morning, with state, religious and local dignitaries attending.

Former presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are scheduled to attend along with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and First Lady Jill Biden. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Ill., and Chicago Cubs owner Tim Ricketts are also scheduled to attend.

Musical guests scheduled are pop singer and actor Jennifer Hudson, and gospel singers Bebe Winans and Pastor Marvin Winans.

The event, called “The People’s Celebration,” is at House of Hope, a south side venue that can hold 10,000 people.

By 8 a.m. CT Friday, thousands were waiting outside the House of Hope to pay respects to Jackson, USA Today reported.

“This is an occasion for all of us – not only the African American community, but the rest of the world, to celebrate the accomplishments of a great man,” Eric Williams, a Chicago resident and member of the House of Hope church, told USA Today. “He will be greatly missed.”

Jackson died Feb. 16 at 84 of complications from progressive supranuclear palsy.

The civil rights activist lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda in Columbia, S.C., the state where he was born, and there were public and private services held in his honor there.

A service planned for Washington, D.C., has been postponed.

“The Jackson Family looks forward to honoring Rev. Jackson’s work and life in Washington, a city that held rich friendships and deep meaning for the Reverend,” Jackson’s family said in a press release.