Rising Tides festival - Round Up — Ascension Church Hulme

Credit: Rachel Bywater

On 22-29 September we celebrated Climate Justice Week with a feast of activities as part of our Rising Tides festival. Over 300 people attended.

The festival was pioneered by the InSolidarity Network in collaboration with a number of partners including Manchester Cathedral and Christian Aid.

On Sunday we held a launch and commissioning event at Manchester Cathedral which included music and verse as well as a reflection on climate justice from representatives of Friends of the Earth and Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Sikh faith traditions. There were stalls from Friends of the Earth and Fairtrade as well as an opportunity to chat over refreshments.

On Tuesday, youth arts organisation Young Identity worked with a drama and English class from Trinity High School to produce some wonderful climate-themed poetry. The students recited their poetry to the audience at the Thursday morning event.

On Tuesday and Wednesday three primary schools, Lewis Street, Lark Hill and Christ Church in Salford, each sent 15 pupils, their climate champions, for a musical theatre workshop called “Earth Dreams” around the themes of the arctic, the rainforest and oceans. This was led by Curious Voice and Goofus Puppet Theatre. During the sessions the children participated in songwriting workshops, made their own puppets and voiced their opinions on climate change.

The children said:

"I loved being able to write my own song, it was like I was in a musical!"

"The puppets were cool, and they were easier to make than I thought."

"They were the best days, and learning about how to protect the environment is so important."

On Thursday morning Christian Aid development agency held a workshop on climate justice with a group of local secondary school children. After that we had a panel called “If you can’t change the system, change the system” where each of the five speakers told their story, discussed how they had achieved change and what they had learnt for the future. This was followed by creative workshops on non-violence civil resistance training with JSO, XR Samba drumming workshop and a creative poetry workshop.

Later in the afternoon human rights organisation, Amos Trust, teamed up with Christian Aid to introduce their charities and their work on gender-based violence and climate justice. There were reflections from leaders and discussions with the audience.

At 7pm we enjoyed a performance by the Home theatre team of “A Citizens Assembly”, an interactive play on climate justice written by Andy Smith where we all got to take a part and have our say.

Rising Tides finished at Hulme Park with ‘Cathedral of Nature’ by Small Disasters Theatre Company. There was singing, music and theatre as we listened to the voices of the Earth and the people who live on it. Together, we reflected on the hope that things can change, and that we have the power to make it happen. There were stalls for food and drink and an atmosphere of celebration. We finished by planting seeds together.

A huge thank you to all our partners and sponsors who helped to make Rising Tides possible.

Rising Tides festival - Round Up

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