Ely Cathedral turns Green for Green Fair

Green is the colour as Ely Cathedral gets ready to hold its inaugural Green Fair this weekend – less than 100 days before the UK hosts the COP26 Climate Change summit in Glasgow.

Ely cathedral turns green

Ely was awarded the a Rocha Silver Award last year from the international Christian charity group for the protection and restoration of the natural world. It is currently working towards achieving Gold, and is committed to being carbon neutral by 2030 in line with Synod’s decision.

Ely Cathedral has a working environment group, Renew, which started off meeting regularly to pick litter three years ago and to implement practical ways of achieving Eco church status, and now has projects ranging from bee-keeping, monitoring their energy consumption and ensuring the care of the world is at the heart of their worship and teaching.

This Saturday (31 July) Ely Cathedral will hold their first Green Fair.

showcasing eco-friendly stalls selling home-made, locally produced artisan products, vegan specialities, local beers and ciders. There are workshops throughout the day and visitors can discover more about local environmental groups and how they can support them.

The Green Fair is part of the cathedral’s Heaven & Earth – The World in Our Hands project that saw Luke Jerram’s ‘Gaia’, a 7 metre replica of planet Earth, installed in the nave throughout July as the focal point to highlight and address issues around creation, safeguarding our planet and the impact of climate change.

This month-long project saw visiting speakers, events and sermons around environmental issues and culminates with the Green Fair this Saturday.

Photo credit – James Billings

A Prayer for COP26 read by the Dean of Chichester, under the Museum of the Moon at Chichester Cathedral.