Bury St Edmunds Friends launch nature and climate talks
In November Bury St Edmunds Friends launched a series of public discussions
Bury St Edmunds Friends launched a series of public discussions about climate and nature at their Meeting house last month.
The first talk by Sophie Flux, from Risby Wildlife Friendly Village and Suffolk Wildlife Trust, explored ‘The Nature Crisis’ and ‘her journey to do her bit to tackle it, by encouraging others to do the same’. The event was organised by Bury St Edmunds’ Climate Cafe, an informal group of Quakers and non-Quakers, who started meeting every month last year at a community cafe.
Peter Hilditch, a member of the Climate Cafe and warden of the Meeting house, told the Friend that the launch of the new talks on 23 November was ‘the latest in a chain of initiatives’. These include hosting the Loving Earth Project in September 2020, and, two months later, starting a monthly Silent Witness during COP26 in Glasgow, which is still being held now. ‘Numbers have fluctuated but sometimes over half of participants are non-Quakers,’ he said. The public response has been ‘generally positive and we have been out in all weathers which may impress people’.
Earlier in 2024, the Friends also organised a climate hustings at the Meeting house during this year’s general election campaign, which was attended by all the candidates.
Bury St Edmunds Quakers also recently initiated improvements to a section of the Lark Valley Long Distance Pathway. The initiative was partly funded by a legacy from the late John Hill, from the Meeting, who, according to Network Suffolk, ‘had a deep concern for the natural environment and its role in human wellbeing’.
Jenny Chantler, from Bury St Edmunds Meeting, said at the launch on 9 September: ‘We are all very excited about this as it has been a long time from start to completion.’
New posts and signage have also been commissioned, with new trees and shrubs planted.
