Look out for Sussex Bylines reports on the COP26 Climate Change Conference as we go through the week. Anna Scott will be in Glasgow talking to activists, Glaswegians, community groups and many others about why they have come to the conference and what they hope COP26 will achieve.
Up first is a photo record of the amazing march undertaken by the Coat of Hopes pilgrims, setting out on the 30 August to walk 500 miles from Newhaven in Sussex to Glasgow, bearing their message of hope and wishes for the future of the world to give to delegates at the conference.
On a grey, mild and blustery Monday in late August I downed my coffee faster than usual and ventured out to meet up with a group of walkers who were already gathered on Newhaven’s East Beach. But this was no ordinary walking group: I was about to witness the start of an epic, two months-long pilgrimage to the COP 26 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, and at its centre would be a community-created (and worn) patchwork coat.
Coat of Hopes is a fascinating project that has been in the making for almost a year, initiated by Lewes artist and designer Barbara Keal. Different walkers will wear the coat during its 500-mile journey northwards, and the coat will grow ever more colourful as more and more hand-stitched patches are added to it from contributors along the way.
The group gathered on the beach at Newhaven ranged in age from five to 50, and included a town crier, a film-maker, and some families joining the walk just for the first seven-mile stage to Lewes.
There were also several hardier souls who plan to walk with the “coat pilgrims” along most of the 500-mile route. Leo and Lorraine Panitzke, from Cooden Beach near Bexhill, told me that they have also recruited Leo’s 77-year-old mother to act as their support driver on the long and gruelling stretch from London to Glasgow.
Once the first patch had been hand-sewn securely to the coat, the group moved off over the shingle banks of the beach, singing as they walked, led by Barbara. We spectators stood beside the sea to wave them off. As we stood there, the sound of their voices singing the “Coat Song” drifted back to us, a brave and poignant reminder of the long journey they face ahead.
Barbara Keal has written in detail about the project: “The community created patchwork coat will carry peoples’ hopes on pilgrimage from Newhaven to Glasgow, a coat made by all for all. It will be worn by many and varied “coat pilgrims” and the initially blank “undercoat” will gather patches made of blanket embellished by local people along its route. Patches will be added to the coat at regular “stitching stop” events along the way.
“The walk from Newhaven to Glasgow will take 60 days, departing Newhaven on the 30 August and arriving in Glasgow on the 28 of October. From Newhaven to Parliament Square in London, the coat will make its journey alone, but from Parliament Square (5 September) it will join as a pilgrim on the Camino to COP26, a group pilgrimage organised by the Faith Bridge group of Extinction Rebellion.
“This is an entirely inclusive pilgrimage for all people of good will to join in walking to COP 26, to express their dedication to the need for urgent action to care for our home planet. The coat will maintain its distinct identity throughout as a single pilgrim carrying many voices.
Each patch unique
“Each patch will be unique and carry its makers’ remembrances, griefs, prayers, and hopes for their local landscape in the face of climate and ecological breakdown to the delegates at COP26, where we will invite them to try on the coat and feel the weight and the warmth of our hopes. Patch makers include a wide range of people, including: young mothers, men in prison, school children, refugees – every person is invited to make a patch.
“The first patch will be sewn to the coat on Newhaven beach before the start of its journey and on arrival in Lewes at around 5pm it will make a lap of the Dripping Pan – on the back of midfielder Bradley Pritchard – at the end of Lewes FC’s match against Horsham. Then at 6.30pm, the Depot in Lewes will host the first “stitching stop” event, at which “The Coat Song” will be sung and patches from the Lewes area will be sewn on to the coat.
“The coat will carry some voices that are rarely raised. It is not making a demand, but living a story. Its work is to share stories, build connections, start conversations and, by its beauty, born of the energy committed to its creation and journey, maybe make that little space in which hearts can be changed.”
Wish upon a square…
If you are interested in becoming a pilgrim and walking part of the route (any distance from 5 miles to 50), or would like to help by being a “patch maker” or a “patch gatherer” or in any other way, please visit Coat of Hopes. There is a lot of information on the website, including a route map and detailed schedule, a volunteer form to complete online, and a viewable spreadsheet of the journey that will be regularly updated throughout. And if you do volunteer, your name will be entered into the spreadsheet as one of the pilgrims carrying the group’s hopes to Glasgow.
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