By Angela Youngman
A patchwork coat with a long train, carrying prayers and hopes for the environment, is on a pilgrimage though the UK, resting overnight in churches and religious centres.
To date it has travelled more than 1,500 miles, borne on the shoulders of hundreds of people. This month, it is journeying through Suffolk. Nobody knows just how many people have worn the coat, simply because there have been so many that the organisers have lost count.
The organisation behind the initiative is Wayfinder, a Christian group that formulates creative ways to pass on its faith message.
Helen Locke of Wayfinder said: “On the original walk from Newhaven to Glasgow, we documented and photographed many of the people who wore the coat and there were more than 1,000. Between 50 and 100 new people wear the coat on each walk.” Add to that the number of people who try it on when it goes on display.
The pilgrimage of the Coat of Hopes began in 2021, when an artist, Barbara Keal, sought a way of highlighting environmental issues.
She says: “It began as a pilgrimage to Cop26 in Glasgow. I developed the coat as a way of working with other people exploring issues and concepts. Today the coat walks on, ever sharing its invitation to everyone it meets. We share with each other, and all life, and accept on our shoulders the responsibility to be the change that our world needs.”
The loose-fitting robe started its pilgrimage at Newhaven on the south coast, heading north with Cop26 pilgrims to Glasgow. All the pilgrims, plus many people along the route, tried on the coat and wore it for varying lengths of time — sometimes just a few minutes, sometimes for several miles.
Each day during Cop26, the Coat of Hopes was worn to the conference centre where delegates and other attendees tried it on. When Cop26 ended, the coat continued its travels, visiting communities the length and breadth of Scotland before heading southwards down the eastern side of England.
Each time a new person puts on the coat, there is a song to accompany it:
“Ask me where I’m going.
Ask me what is my purpose.
Ask me what my name is.
They call me the Coat of Hopes.
Come mark your hopes on blanket and I’ll sew them into me.
A coat that’s made by everyone
For everyone to wear,
To feel my warmth and the weight
of responsibility we share.”
Other verses highlight the latest route stressing: “In truth my destination is each person that I meet. The turning of our future is on all our backs and feet.”
Cathedrals, churches and community groups provided overnight resting places as well as opportunities for people to see and wear the coat, take part in discussions as well as creating the badges that make this coat so very individualistic, encapsulating people’s hopes. The coat began as a blank canvas. More than 700 badges now adorn the coat, all added during the pilgrimage.
Blank patches are provided to churches and groups who encourage people to create their own designs, reflecting personal hopes and concerns. There are flowers, patchwork animals, birds in a nest, a child’s bike amid countryside, and messages such as Love, unity, safe planet, Act Justly, Love Mercy, and one bearing the simple word Hope.
The time spent in each location varies from overnight to several days or even weeks. Such longer stays provide time for the coat’s accompanying walkers to rest, for more badges to be added and for any essential repairs to the coat.
There are now four coat guardians who take it in turns to accompany the coat from place to place, leading the walkers who have chosen to join it on its travels and wear the coat for varying periods.
Whatever the location, attempts are always made to create opportunities for as many people as possible to see and wear it. During its stay in Bradford Cathedral last year, it was present for a concert by Emma Johnson and her Orchestra for the Environment.
All who see the coat seem moved by it. The Rev Ned Lunn, a canon at Bradford Cathedral, said: “The coat raised some fascinating realisations from those who have dared to put it on. People from all ages have spoken about their own feelings about the conversation of climate change.”
In early February, during its stay in King’s Lynn Minster, Norfolk, the team rector, Canon Mark Dimond, said: “This is an exciting, relevant and impactful initiative, which helps to raise awareness about the state of our God-given, precious planet and our responsibility to look after it.”
Vivien Thomas, the lord mayor of Norwich, and Sirajul Islam, the sheriff of Norwich, welcomed the coat’s arrival in the city at an interfaith event involving a talk from one of the coat walkers organised by the Rev Annie Blyth at St Giles church. Norwich Quakers were the custodians of the Coat of Hopes throughout its stay in the city.
In late March, it headed out for the 21st section of its pilgrimage via Lowestoft before moving southwards through East Anglia. This week it is on its way to Ipswich, then Felixstowe and then Colchester, where it will stay during Easter week, on display at Red Lion Books until 7 May. The full itinerary is here.
This is a pilgrimage with no end in sight. Barbara Keal says: “The coat will continue to walk, even after reaching Newhaven where it started. The coat will head to the West Country and then over to Wales and onwards. After each rest, a group of pilgrims walks it on again. We are committed to keep the coat walking while the climate and ecological situation remains an emergency.”
