The Church at the East of England Show

The East of England Showground lies in the City of Peterborough but in the Diocese of Ely and the Church's presence at the Show has, for many years, been achieved by the Dioceses of Peterborough and Ely working together to ensure that the Church, as one of the largest and most wide spread organisations in rural England, was represented.

The 1999 planning group made up of members of both Dioceses and also of the "Free" Church, responded to a challenge from Rt Rev Ian Cundy, the Bishop of Peterborough to provide "the best cup of tea on the Showground." We beleive that it was indeed the best tea because:

• it was in china cups
• it was free
• it was fairly traded, providing a proper return for the workers overseas who had produced it

As well as providing tea for weary showgoers, we had a range of fairly traded goods for sale provided by Traidcraft.

USPG, working together with Jubilee 2000 produced a display about the issue of fair trading and focused on third world debt and the lobby of the meeting of the G8 nations taking place at Cologne. At the same time as concern about the chains that bind the life of many in the Third World was being formed in Cologne, a smaller chain was formed at the Showground, though with smaller numbers and some strange participants!.

The concern for overseas farmers was not to neglect the current difficulties of U.K farmers. There were displays about the

• work of the Rural Support Information Network (RSIN) providing support to those living in Rural areas and run from the Arthur Rank Centre an ecumenical chaplaincy.
• The Agricultural Christian Fellowship
• Country Way

The Worship area of the Tent had, as its focus, a hanging kindly loaned by the firm "Revelations" (01926 815791) which encompassed many of the hopes and concerns expressed in the displays in the tent. All the resources need to deal with the problems of debt, pollution, stress, war, disease are available to mankind from the hand of God who holds all creation.

To draw people into the tent we used the services of a Christian clown, Clown JAM (Just A Minute), who entertained both children and adults alike!

We were concerned also to make sure that it was not just those people who braved the Church Tent that had a chance to encounter the Church. We had a number of people (clergy and laity) acting as Show Chaplains, meeting with traders, exhibitors and showgoers over the three days of the Show.

The Chaplains came in all sorts of shapes and sizes and met a wide variety of people.

We were also glad that there was an opportunity for an act of worship on the Sunday afternoon in the Main Showground Arena, led by the two bishops of the Dioceses and the local vicar of Alwalton in whose parish the Showground lies..

Send mail to robert.barlow@zetnet.co.uk with questions or comments about this web site.