All Saints Parish Church, Ilkley

Sub Navigation

• • News
  • Sermon Series
  • Articles
    • Article Archive
    • Appreciations
    • Licensing Album
  • Calendar
  • Links
  • Oasis Cafe

The first Green Fair for Ilkley was successfully held on November 7^th, at Christchurch.  This was supported by Churches Together in Ilkley, the idea for the fair initially being suggested by the cti Mission/Outreach group.  The main aims of the fair were to provide more information for people on what we can do about climate change and other environmental problems, and to provide some Christian perspective on environmental issues. It was felt important to schedule the event in the run up to the Copenhagen summit on climate change.

Ann Cryer MP was scheduled to open the event but had to cancel due to illness, and Cllr Alan Morell of Ilkley Parish Council kindly stepped in at short notice.  He highlighted the role of voluntary organisations and young people in dealing with the environmental challenges we face.

Riddings Hall was occupied by 16 stalls from various environmental and voluntary organisations, including conservation organisations like Friends of Ilkley Moor and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, campaigning groups like Friends of the Earth, Tear Fund and Christian Aid, and energy efficiency advisors Energy Saving Trust and SURE Wharfedale.   Yorkshire Water, Metro and Bradford Council provided freebies for us to give out.   Brochures from local businesses covering organic food and renewable energy were available for people to browse.

We had a chance to calculate our personal carbon emissions, using a quick calculator obtained from Centre for Alternative Technology.   This can be accessed on their website, does not require a calculator and gives an answer in around 2 minutes. Around 45 people added their “carbon footprints” to a chart, ranging from 4 to 25 tonnes per year!   We also had postcards from Christian Aid for people to sign in support of a strong agreement on climate change at Copenhagen.

We had three speakers during the day.   Colin Robertson from NG Bailey talked about sustainable solutions for reducing carbon emissions from buildings, David Beattie from Christian environmental charity AROCHA spoke about their work, and Keith Thompson, a local environmental campaigner, gave a challenging talk about what is needed to be done about climate change.

We had a good range of children’s craft activities and a quiz with answers to be found at each of the stalls.  Christchurch Coffee Centre was also opened in the afternoon and this generated income that more than covered the costs.

Thanks must go to all the volunteers from Ilkley churches, including All Saints who helped out on the day.   We estimate around 200-300 people visited during the day, and there were many interesting conversations.   Generally the feedback from stallholders was very positive and they would attend a similar event in the future.   The Ilkley Gazette showed a strong interest in the event, with good coverage both before and after.

We enjoyed working together with other churches on this and it was a good experience in combining the resources of different churches to run a successful event.   The organising group will continue to meet to exchange tips on how to make our churches more environmentally friendly, and there are various ideas for what the churches can do together in the future.