Remembering Struggles Past

The project’s first Memory Workshop was held during the Come What May Festival at Ascension Church Hulme in May 2023. Photograph courtesy of Rachel Bywater Photography

Remembering 760 Days of Sanctuary: The Legacy of Viraj Mendis at Ascension Hulme

In December 1986, Sri Lankan activist Viraj Mendis entered the Church of the Ascension, Hulme, seeking sanctuary from deportation. For the next 760 days, the church became both refuge and rallying point, defended around the clock by the Viraj Mendis Defence Campaign - a movement that united local residents, students, and radicals in one of Britain’s longest sanctuary campaigns.

Nearly four decades later, the marks of that struggle remain part of our building’s living memory - from the deep grooves in the sacristy door where officers forced entry, to the stone memorial in our lobby commemorating Viraj’s time in sanctuary. These traces remind us that places of worship can also become sites of resistance, where faith and justice meet in practice.

Since 2021, we’ve been honoured to work with Dr. Kerry Pimblott, the Radical Reading Room, and former campaign members like Janet Batsleer to rediscover and preserve this vital history. Through oral histories, memory workshops, and a forthcoming archive at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, their work ensures that the story of sanctuary, struggle, and solidarity at Ascension Hulme continues to inspire new generations.

To learn more about the project, you can read Dr. Pimblott’s full article here:
👉 https://www.racerootsresist.com/post/remembering-struggles-past