Coat of Hopes Arrives in Sheffield

The Coat of Hopes is visiting the Sheffield Methodist District in July and August on its journey around Britain.

The patchwork coat has been made, worn and walked by hundreds of people during its pilgrimage from the south coast of England to COP26, the UN climate summit, in Glasgow autumn 2021.

The coat is made up of pieces of blanket into which people have worked their griefs, remembrances, prayers and hopes for the place they call home. It walks ever calling those who encounter it, or who share it, into the present. Supported by its warmth (love) – to bear its weight (responsibility). So, each might "wear the promise that we all belong together" as we seek to respond with our whole self to the climate and ecological emergency.

The Coat's journey in the district is as follows and you are invited to visit, wear it and walk with it:

• Monday 8th July 7pm Arrives Chapeltown Methodist Church
• Tuesday 9th July Walk from Chapeltown Methodist Church to Sheffield City Centre to 35 Chapel Walk
• Wednesday 10th July 10.20am Walk from 35 Chapel Walk to Sheffield Cathedral
• Wednesday 10th July – Tuesday 16th July On display in Sheffield Cathedral
• Wednesday 17th – Bents Green Church
• Thursday 18th July 10am – 3pm On display at Carterknowle Methodist Church whilst the café is open.
• Friday 19th – Saturday 20th July Will be walked around Bamford Village
• Sunday 21st July 10.30am Arrives at St. Andrews Psalter Lane Church for an Eco Service, then walked 3 miles to Wisewood Methodist church for 3pm.
• Sunday 28th July – Saturday 3rd August On display at Edale Methodist Chapel

More dates and locations will be announced in due course.

Jenny Carpenter from the Sheffield Circuit and Former Vice President of the Methodist Conference said: "I am delighted as a Christian climate activist and long-time supporter of South Yorkshire Climate Alliance to welcome the Coat of Hopes to Sheffield. Do come and see it and even try it on during its stay in and movements around the city. It incorporates many individuals' hopes and fears for much loved places. Care for the planet is a vital plank of all the world faiths, and climate justice is a requisite for the peace we long for.

"The Coat is arriving in the first week of a new government of whom much is expected. Climate and the environment need to be further up the agenda. My hope is that the Coat of Hopes will inspire us to press our newly elected MPs to make the Climate and Nature Bill a priority. They must also back the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty that originated with nations most severely affected by climate change, while having contributed least to the problem. As one of the slogans at the recent "Restore Nature Now" rally declared, There's no economy without the ecology."

Find out more about the coat visit https://www.coatofhopes.uk/