CHILDREN from Medway had the opportunity to meet the civil rights activist the Reverend Jesse Jackson.

Youngsters from the Medway African Caribbean Association talked to him at Westminster about his work on Monday.

The children had been researching black achievers wrote to ask if they could meet him during his UK tour. Mr Jackson is in the country as part of celebrations marking the abolition of the slave trade.

Associate chairwoman Carol Stewart said the meeting "marked a significant event in history for our young people of Medway".

She added: "It was a day they will never forget, we never dreamt this would happen. Of all the high profile people the young people have written to, it's the one furthest away that has responded."