The Bell Tower in Evesham is turning red next week to raise awareness of modern slavery.

The symbolic act is part of Anti-Slavery Day, which takes place on Monday, October 18, and will see many other churches and cathedrals across the country unite by being lit red.

The event has been organised by the Clewer Initiative, a national project by the Church of England to combat modern slavery.

Councillor Bradley Thomas, leader of Wychavon District Council, said: “We are grateful to our partners including All Saints’ Church in Evesham and all the stakeholders involved in the Enlighten Evesham Creative Lighting Trail for making it possible to light up the Bell Tower in a colourful show of support for such an important issue.

“Modern slavery undermines basic human rights and causes immeasurable suffering. Wychavon is committed to doing whatever we can to tackle it.

“We do this in a number of ways including the support we provide to people in need - reducing the risk they will be drawn into slavery - the work we do in our communities, the work our housing team does with landlords, only awarding contracts to companies that commit to ensuring slavery or human trafficking is not taking place in their business or supply chain and awareness raising.”

Launched in 2016, initially as a three-year project, the Clewer Initiative has now received funding from the Order of St John to keep it going until 2030.

The Evesham Rotary Club will be in Market Square on Saturday October 16, giving out information and contact cards, produced by the Clewer Initiative, ahead of the day itself.

Member, John Darby, said: "Rotary, as an organisation, has over the years campaigned for a number of important issues.

"Modern Slavery is a desperately important issue nationally, with more than 136,000 potential victims of Modern Slavery in the United Kingdom.

"A number of speakers have spoken about this issue to Rotary in Evesham and we were concerned to learn that this is a real problem locally."

He added: "The three-fold card we will be giving out provides information about Modern Slavery, what to look out for and who to contact if you feel someone is the victim of Modern Slavery.

"Our intention is that by giving out these cards we will raise awareness and give the people of Evesham the information they need to report any concerns they may have."