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Eco Church Award
WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL GOES GREEN FOR HARVEST
Winchester Cathedral has been awarded an Eco Church Silver Award, recognising the steps that the Cathedral is taking to encourage an environmentally friendly approach in its ministry and operations.
The award was presented to The Very Reverend Catherine Ogle, Dean of Winchester, by Rev’d Rosie Ward from A Rocha on the morning of Saturday 5 October. The award presentation coincided with the launch of the first Green Hampshire Harvest Weekend hosted by Winchester Cathedral from 5 – 6 October 2019.
As well as the traditional stalls from agricultural representatives from around the region, the newly styled Green Hampshire Harvest Weekend invited visitors to reflect upon the impact of climate change, how it is affecting us daily and what we are doing within the local community to address it.
New for 2019, a Big Top marquee, sponsored by Winchester University, hosted talks and displays from Winchester University, Sparsholt College, WinACC (Winchester Action on Climate Change), Winchester Green Week and many others.
Bees were a key focus for the whole event and Winchester School of Art created a giant bee from recycled products, funded by Winchester City Council, to hang on the front of the Cathedral. The bee reflects the potential for human creativity to overcome the ugliness of plastic waste.
The weekend was supported by a number of partners, notably the University of Winchester, NFU, Country Landowners’ Association, Sparsholt College, WinACC,Winchester College of Art, Winchester Green Week and Hampshire Fare.
“We are delighted to be working again with the agricultural community of the county,” says the Very Rev’d Catherine Ogle, Dean of the Winchester. “Harvest Festival is an ancient tradition in the church that is completely contemporary celebrating agricultural and farming life and food-production in our county today. We want to thank God and celebrate the harvest and also raise awareness of what is sustainable and just.”