September was an unusual month for myself and the Discovery Centre. At the beginning of the month I received a very unexpected email from Europa Nostra, one of Europe’s largest citizens’ movements to protect European culture and heritage, offering me a place on their Inclusive Heritage Residency in Malta – in just 10 days time. After entering panic mode followed by a quick discussion with others at TDC, it was confirmed that I would be jetting off to Valletta to take part in this amazing opportunity.

Felix and Tom, aged 9 and 11, loved that it presented lots of facts in a fun way and when there were questions the answers were on the same page (albeit upside down) so you did not have to go hunting for them. They were excited about the fact that instructions were given to build a boat – a future project perhaps!

David Alston has assiduously and impressively conducted wide-ranging research for this book, gathering information about Africans who were enslaved—and their descendants—in cotton, sugar and coffee plantations, mainly in the Caribbean Islands and Guyana during the 18th and 19th centuries.