"They call me The Coat of Hopes"

"The Coat of Hopes is a patchwork coat on an ongoing walking pilgrimage through the UK towards the end of the climate and ecological emergency"

The Coat of Hopes is a coat featuring hundreds of blanket patches made by groups and individuals who have encountered it on its journey.

“It has been made by and worn and walked by many hundreds of people on a journey on foot of around 1500 miles so far. It carries people's hopes for the places they live, sewn into the blanket patches of which it is made.”

The big thing about the Coat of Hopes is that anyone who wants to can wear it, and when they are wearing it (it takes three people to carry the train), they get sung at. And it's a beautiful song they sing.

I was lucky enough to wear the coat, and hold the staff, while standing on the Ness Point Euroscope. Initially, I felt a little bit like a magician, like Merlin, say. But as I felt the weight of the coat, and heard the words flow into my heart, and watched the grey North Sea, I very unexpectedly found that tears appeared. I was the coat, for a moment.

It's partly that the coat is a metaphor, and wearing a metaphor does things to you, when that metaphor is sharing, responsibility, trepidation, and ultimately hope.

In August 2021 - the Coat of Hopes set off from Newhaven on the south coast for COP 26 (Conference of Parties) in Glasgow. It's been on the road ever since.

Use Your Voice , a local Climate change group, were amongst the people who met and walked with the Coat of Hopes. Three members wore it at different times, and they all said they felt moved and privileged to do so. 

It's on the way to Ipswich, via Chediston (arriving this evening, 8th April), Dennington (9th), Grundisburgh (10th) and Ipswich (11th). You can find the routes from the link below.

John Ellerby