Following road-blocked DJ/ VJ nights at New Street Market in 2025 and early 2026, Woodbridge Festival's resident vinyl and visuals DJ x VJ tag team return for a special Civil Nights Weekend edition, celebrating the legacy of the Clarkson brothers.

Tonight's guest DJ, Bopper Ranking, is a leading figure in Ipswich's reggae scene. He hosts his reggae show on Ipswich Community Radio and his Freedom Sounds Sound System is a mainstay at Ipswich’s May Day festival and regular roots reggae events throughout the year.

The night is part of Woodbridge Festival's new spring festival, Civil Nights, which celebrates the lives and legacy of the Clarkson Brothers. Thomas Clarkson was a founder and leading advocate in the movement that led to the abolition of the slave trade. His younger brother, John Clarkson, established Freetown in Sierra Leone, as a home for formerly enslaved African people. On returning to the UK John settled in Woodbridge, while Thomas lived in nearby Playford. Together they founded the first global peace movement in 1816. They are increasingly recognised as the founders of modern, grass roots-up, civil rights movements. John Clarkson is buried in the family tomb in St Mary's Church, Woodbridge.