Following on from our previous post, as part of our Refugee Week activities, members of the public were invited to ‘plant’ flags of welcome along a path symbolising the journey of a person seeking sanctuary, from the country they have had to leave, to Chester.  Volunteers made over 1000 flags  which were planted along the route with the help of a skewer as the recent sunny weather made for hard ground!

Children from St Martins Academy walked to the Cathedral with flags to plant:

As the days passed, the path lengthened,

the flags fluttered in the breeze and people began walk between the rows until, by 5pm on the Sunday, approximately 1200 individuals had added a flag.

Amongst those were Councillor Richard Beacham:

and members of Chester’s police force:

On Sunday the Cathedral held a service for Refugee Week. The guest speaker was Indergit Bhogal who is one of the 2 founding members of the National City of Sanctuary – he too added a flag.

We’d like to thank everyone who came to support the event and also all who volunteered to make the flags or run to the event and to the Cathedral. It was fantastic to see everyone and also feel the enthusiasm and solidarity towards those in need of sanctuary. Also thank you for the donations received which will be passed to the Unity Centre in Chester which offers practical help locally. Thank you.