Hundreds attend Eco Summit at Christ Church

Several hundred people attended the festival over the course of the day, exceeding the expectations of the summit’s organisers.

With the wide range of speakers, stalls, workshops, food, music and more there was a real buzz across the site.

The aim of the event was to bring local people together to see how they can work together locally to deal with the climate and ecological crisis.

Anthony Clark, a member of Christ Church Bridlington who supported the event as a volunteer said: “Christ Church hosted Bridlington’s first Eco-Summit in partnership with Bridlington Transition Towns, thanks to the hard work of Oli Preston and a supportive team.

“Hundreds of people attended over the course of five hours, including the Mayor Liam Dealtry, Deputy Mayor Mike Heslop-Mullens and other Bridlington councillors. We enjoyed multiple showcase stalls, concise contributions from 20 speakers, and a vegan lunch served with bio-compostable utensils and plates.

“There was also outside musical entertainment and an opportunity to relax in the Christ Church Garden.

“It is not too late to make a difference to Global Heating! Thank you Christ Church and Transition Towns.”

Rev Oli Preston, in giving a welcome and opening address, highlighted that the Greek word oikos (from which we get ‘eco’ as in eco-system, economics, ecology...) means family, home or household.

He said: “At the Eco Summit we found common ground in our shared care for the earth, its people, plants and animals – especially in our local area. We recognised our connectedness – that we all breathe the same air, and have responsibility to care for one another and the rest of our town and wider eco-system.

“For those of us who have spent months imagining and preparing for this event it was very encouraging to see such a groundswell of support for gathering as a community to reimagine and rebuild our world in light of the climate and ecological crisis.

“An exciting day, and something we hope to do again next year, but in the meantime we look forward to carrying this fresh momentum through to a new season of community action across Bridlington.”

Councillor Andy Walker, who gave the last talk of the day, said: “We are pathfinding here, leading the way and showing what can happen when communities come together. Climate change is an emergency issue, we must act on this now because if we win too late we still lose.”

The next Transition Towns meeting will atke place at Christ Church (on Quay Road), on Saturday, October 9 between 3.15pm and 4.30pm. All are welcome to attend.