NIKKI TAPPER OPTIMISTIC ABOUT FUTURE AS BBC SHOW COMES TO AN END

On September 24th the BBC WM radio show, Sunday Night with Nikki Tapper, aired for the last time.

Whilst Nikki is saddened that her show has ended, she remains optimistic, telling Keep The Faith: “I’m pleased about what the future could look like. I’m still with the BBC, so I’ll be asked to cover and do other shows. I’m delivering training and facilitating at the BBC Academy, and I’ll continue hosting events. And in the next six months I’ll be podcasting, so I’m good.”

Nikki has blessed the airwaves for 25 years. She got her break into radio in 1998, starting at Choice FM. It changed hands and became Galaxy Radio, and her show was called Gospel Heat. Four years later she was headhunted to join Radio WM, as the late great Frank Stewart was moving on from his gospel show.

She recalled: “They asked me to send in a tape, and in March 2003 I started on BBC WM, presenting a show called Gospel Lounge I did that for 9–10 years. I then co-presented a show with Bishop Dr Joe Aldred for five years, and when he left it was back to me on my own, and that’s where Sunday Night with Nikki Tapper has been for 7–8 years.”

Nikki has interviewed numerous people over the years, including Lord Simon Woolley, Tim Campbell MBE, Judi Love, and Trevor Nelson. She says stand-out interviewees have been pop star, Joan Armatrading CBE; Barbara Blake-Hannah, the first Black TV reporter in the West Midlands; and UK gospel artist, Noel Robinson. She recalled: “It was one of the most powerful interviews I’ve done. I really felt the presence of God in the studio.”

Whilst Nikki is looking forward to the future, she is full of gratitude to God for her career. “You have to have faith – for the life I’ve been blessed with, and the career I have, and through the experiences I’ve had, I know it’s God-ordained.”

Anglican Mission Agency pledges £7m to slavery reparations project in Barbados

During a recent visit to Barbados, the United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) announced that it will be seeking to address the wrongs of their past by committing to the ‘Renewal and Reconciliation: The Codrington Reparations Project’, in partnership with Codrington Trust/Church in the Province of the West Indies (CPWI), in Barbados.

The work will include four areas of work in collaboration with the descendants of people enslaved during the transatlantic slave trade. USPG has pledged £7million to finance this work in Barbados over the next 10–15 years. It’s due to start in spring 2024.

“USPG is deeply ashamed of our past links to slavery,” stated Rev Duncan Dormor, General Secretary of USPG. “We recognise that it is not simply enough to repent in thought and word, but we must take action, so we are working in partnership with Codrington, where the descendants of enslaved persons are still deeply impacted by the generational trauma that came from the Codrington Plantations.”

USPG has long been aware of its links to the slave trade. In 1710, the Society of the Propagation of the Gospel (former name) received a bequest from Sir Christopher Codrington for two plantations in Barbados. Between 1710 and 1838, USPG benefitted from the labour of enslaved persons on the Codrington Estate.

This new project in Barbados is part of USPG’s ongoing commitment to engage with its shameful history.