Coat of Hopes: Climate message travels through Derbyshire

A patchwork coat, which is travelling the country on its citizens’ shoulders to highlight green issues, has been donned by Derbyshire residents.

The Coat of Hopes was worn by members of the Hope Valley Climate Action Group as they walked about 6.2 miles (10km) from Hope to Edale on Tuesday.

Barbara Cunningham, one of the pilgrims, said: “I think bringing the climate crisis to as wide a disparity of people is vital.

“When I heard that the coat was coming I thought this would be a way of talking to people and engaging people’s interest in a new and different way.

“People are excited, we’ve read about the coat – to be with it and wear it is really exciting. There is something empowering about it.

“It’s a real mixture of messages, it’s got to be hopeful and optimistic but also aware of how concerned and afraid people are.”

Organisers of the campaign have described the walk as a “potentially perpetual pilgrimage”.

It is currently being taken by on foot to Sheffield and further legs are planned over the summer to Lincolnshire and Nottingham.

The coat was created in 2021, to be carried from the south coast of England to Glasgow for the COP26 climate conference.

It is made from 600 colourful patches, which were sewn on by different communities as it journeyed around the UK.

Barbara Keal, the artist behind the project, said her intention was to focus people’s minds on “the climate and ecological emergency”.

Margaret Roberts, from Hayfield, took part in the Derbyshire walk to Edale and also joined the first journey three years ago.

“It started off at the sea and as it walked through the whole of the country it gained as it went the various patches along the way,” she said.

“Many, many people wore it. I really love the coat. When you put it on you feel its weight and the weight of the responsibility that you’re carrying.

“Each of the patches represents somebody’s hopes and dreams and thoughts and love for the place they come from, and their concern about what will happen in our future climate catastrophe.”

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