The Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth is linked with the Anglican Church in Ghana, West Africa. All Saints’ Church, East Meon has a link with St. Mary’s Anglican Church, Ayifuah, Cape Coast.
There are currently 30 to 40 links between parishes in the Portsmouth area and Anglican churches in Ghana. The aim of the links is encouragement in the Christian faith and mission, learning about different societies and cultures, friendship and mutual support. The links are sustained by prayer, by letter, by ‘phone and email, and by personal visits. Experience shows that links come alive as Christians from the UK and Ghana visit each other.
Cape Coast
Cape Coast today is the capital and administrative centre of the Central Region of Ghana. It is situated on the coast, as its name implies, just under a hundred miles west of Accra, the capital city of Ghana. At the last census in 2000, Cape Coast had a population of some 80,000 people, so it is a town or city of considerable size. Its economy depends on fishing, fruit and vegetables and, increasingly, tourism. It is a university town. Its most famous contemporary son is Michael Essien, the Chelsea and Ghana footballer, who attended school there. European traders first visited that part of the West African coast in the 16th century. In those days it was a difficult and dangerous coast for ships, because of the lack of natural harbours. So wherever a sheltered, accessible beach could be found, the Europeans competed with one another for control.
For a hundred years or more, from 1555 to 1664, this small strip of beach was fought over by the English, Portuguese, Dutch, Danes and Swedes. The Portuguese built the first trade lodge in 1555, and gave the area its name. They called it ‘Cabo Corso’, meaning short cape. Later on this became corrupted to the anglicized ‘Cape Coast’.
From 1664, Cape Coast was permanently in British hands, and remained the administrative centre of what was then called the ‘Gold Coast’ until 1877, when the capital was moved to Accra. From 1664, Cape Coast became an important centre of the British arm of the transatlantic slave trade. Indeed, the Castle which was built on the beach was described in 1837 by the then Governor Maclean as having been, at least until 1807, the ‘grand emporium of the British slave trade’.
Visits
Canon Robert Dawson-Ahmoah, then the parish priest of St. Mary’s Anglican Church, Ayifuah, Cape Coast, visited East Meon in December 1996. It was through his visit that the link was established. Dr. John Moor, then living in East Meon, made a visit to Cape Coast, on behalf of All Saints’, in January 1998.
Terry Louden, our vicar, and his family, first visited Cape Coast in June 2003. Terry has made three more visits since - November 2005, September 2006, and September 2007.
On this recent visit, he was accompanied by Mrs. Emily Greinke, a class teacher at East Meon (Church of England Controlled) Primary School. Emily’s visit was to develop a link with St. Cyprian’s Anglican Primary School, an outstation of St. Mary’s, situated in a rural village ten miles north of Cape Coast. As a result of the visit, contacts between children in the two schools have been established, and the staff hope to work together on curriculum development. All Saints’ Church and East Meon Primary School are helping St. Cyprian’s to develop their resources and facilities. A gift of £900 was presented during the visit for the setting up of a library.
