Pilgrims stop off in the Leamington and Warwick area to spread their message about climate change

All Saints Church in Harbury and Matt Western MP offered the group hospitality and a chance to discuss their views
The Young Christian Climate Network at All Saints Church in Harbury.The Young Christian Climate Network at All Saints Church in Harbury.
The Young Christian Climate Network at All Saints Church in Harbury.

A group of pilgrims who are raising awareness of climate change stopped off in the Leamington and Warwick area to spread their message.

The Young Christian Climate Network walked all the way from Banbury to Warwick as part of a relay walk from Carbis Bay in Cornwall, which hosted the G7, to Glasgow, which hosts COP26 in November.

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All Saints Church in Harbury offered hospitality to a team as they reached their halfway point. And Matt Western, MP for Warwick and Leamington, offered them a place to stop and chat.

The Young Christian Climate Network with Matt Western MP.The Young Christian Climate Network with Matt Western MP.
The Young Christian Climate Network with Matt Western MP.

Mr Western said: "The group’s aims are noble and have inspired me to speak up whenever I can for climate justice – particularly for those in the global south who will suffer soonest and hardest.

"It was a pleasure to talk about their objectives and about the future. We discussed the biggest companies divesting from fossil fuels, net zero targets and HS2, among other things. We were all in agreement that COP26 must be the beginning of a new era of real climate consciousness."

The pilgrims have passed through the Midlands, from Banbury to Birmingham, in five one-day stages. The walk is a relay with different people joining the group as it progresses from Truro to Glasgow, and local churches along the way are assisting with hospitality, from lunch to overnight accommodation.

Find out more about the walk at www.yccn.uk

People dressed in yellow, calling themselves the Canary Craftivists, met in the Pump Room Gardens on Sunday (August 22) to discuss climate change.People dressed in yellow, calling themselves the Canary Craftivists, met in the Pump Room Gardens on Sunday (August 22) to discuss climate change.
People dressed in yellow, calling themselves the Canary Craftivists, met in the Pump Room Gardens on Sunday (August 22) to discuss climate change.
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People dressed in yellow, calling themselves the Canary Craftivists, met in the Pump Room Gardens on Sunday (August 22) to discuss climate change.

Ignaty Dyakov-Richmond, 37, from Leamington, and the other group members created a small handmade yellow canary each to gift to Matt Western MP to urge him to use his position to push for stronger and faster action to tackle climate change locally and nationally.

Mr Dyakov-Richmond said: “Canary in the mine is a symbol of how we all are feeling in the world at the moment as test subjects of the air quality and experiments we do to it."

The Canary Craftivists campaign is part of a nationwide initiative run by the Craftivist Collective, who use handicrafts as a tool to do a form of quiet activism that they call ‘gentle protest’.