In August, Herefordshire churches supported a river pilgrimage to raise awareness and call for action to stop the pollution of the River Wye. A 4ft wooden sculpture of Our Lady of the Waters and the Wye was mounted on two canoes made into a canoe-catamaran and floated downstream from Hay to Hoarwithy (with help from two canoeists!).
The pilgrimage was the brainchild of Fr Richard Williams of the Anglican church of St Mary’s in Hay on Wye and sculptor Philip Chatfield who has carved beautiful stone sculptures for Tintern Abbey and locally St Mary’s, Monmouth. You may have seen coverage of the first pilgrimage in the national press and on television!
This year the pilgrimage started with a service at St Mary’s Hay, followed by a procession through town to a launch point near Hay on Wye on 15 August. Over the next five days the pilgrimage included stops for Evensong at St Peter & Paul, Whitney-on-Wye and Evensong at St Michael & All Angels, Moccas with Gregorian Chant from the monks of Belmont Abbey as well as Evensong at Hereford Cathedral.
On 16 August the pilgrims made a diversion by car and brought the sculpture to the Catholic Church of St Thomas’s, Weobley, for a service of Vespers followed by tea and cake. All denominations were invited to join in this service through Churches Together in Weobley.
The pilgrimage finished with Evensong at St Catherine’s Hoarwithy before continuing to Scotland to take Our Lady down the River Spey.
Jane Keating, Churches Together in Weobley
