BLACK History Month has celebrated the work and achievements of black people in the UK for the last 30 years.
The Bolton News marks the end of the month by celebrating five influential Black people from Bolton.
1.Clive Myrie
Clive is a BBC Journalist and the new host of Mastermind. Born to Immigrant parents, a seamstress and factory worker, the now 57-year-old has had a successful career reporting from places like Bangladesh on the Rohingya Crisis.
His career also covered major stories like the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton, and wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Clive grew up in Bolton, attending what is now Essa Academy and Bolton Sixth Form College.
He’s talked previously on the lack of diversity and has had his fair share of racism directed at him in the past.
2. Campbell Jocelyn H Benjamin
Campbell Jocelyn H Benjamin, OBE, was Bolton’s first black Mayor.
He came to the UK in 1942 to help the war effort and worked in a munitions factory in Liverpool.
He moved to Bolton in 1945 and worked at Dobson & Barlow on aircraft manufacture and later represented the Breightmet Ward from 1964-98.
He later worked at Montague Burton (Tailors) in Worsley and became a shop steward there in the National Union of Tailors & Garment Workers.
An OBE was awarded to him in 1998 and he died in 2004.
3. Ashley Fletcher – Footballer
One of Bolton’s many sporting stars, Ashley began life at Bolton Wanderers as a youth before signing to Manchester United in 2014.
He has since played for the likes of West Ham Utd, Middlesbrough, and is now with Watford.
Ashley was a whizz kid at Canon Slade School in Bolton, achieving 12 GCSEs grade As and Bs.
The footballer has previously taken a stand against racism on social media and supports Marcus Rashford’s campaign to end child poverty, as then team Middlesbrough FC delivered 25,000 meals in the pandemic.
4. Daniel Sukula
Daniel runs volunteer youth group Be The Best, who are even part of England’s Lionheart squad and supports all the youth in Bolton with their dreams.
He arrived in England with his family from the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo at the age of 11, but they faced the prospect of deportation in 2005 – only to be saved thanks to a campaign led by the people of Bolton.
Since then, Daniel has thrown himself into organising activities for young people, giving them something to do and keeping them out of harm and trouble.
5. Rhiane Fatinikun
In 2019, Rhiane set up a hiking group for black girls called Black Girls Hike. What started as a small group has now become a charity with over 14k followers on Instagram.
Rhiane made it her mission to encourage black girls and even older women to go hiking locally at the Entwistle Reservoir, before taking on tough hikes across the country.
You can follow her journey @Bgh_UK
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