The Relay to COP26

What's 1,200 miles long, takes 20 weeks, and involves a couple of thousand people? ...The outworkings of a mad idea to walk from Cornwall to Glasgow to witness to COP26, the UN climate change conference, due to be held in the UK for the first time.

Now it's all said and done, everyone is home, and the evaluation report is just about written, what follows is my own personal evaluation report.

At the beginning of 2021, I and others wondered how as a group of 18-30s we could draw attention to the decisions that our government were going to be making, and we decided to organise a pilgrimage-style journey as a way of getting people to take time to prepare and notice COP26.

I can't remember now what first made us think about doing this first, but I do remember talking with Josh Evans, who would become the other co-lead organiser, and realising that we were both 'all in' on making it happen. On 23rd January 2021, we formally decided to undertake planning.

Given the context at this time, with the UK in national lockdown as a response to coronavirus, with government confirmation of COP26 only expected in April, and our own work and study commitments as a network, we decided to organise this as a Relay. The idea was that people would join in the journey locally and for periods of time which they could manage.

This idea evolved into a 1,200 mile journey, through 10 major cities in which we were to organise a programme of events. We wanted to invite others to journey with us: physically along the route, spiritually in prayer, practically in the organising and campaigning. We hoped that as a group of young people we would act as a friendly messenger for churches and people of faith who would otherwise not necessarily engage in climate activism, to take action in an easy and relevant way in the months ahead of COP26. We had a particular focus on climate finance, which we knew would be a major issue during the COP26 negotiations. We hoped this focus would help churches connect with climate change in a new way, linking it to issues of structural debt and global justice.

Just 8 weeks after deciding to organise the Relay we had defined the route, separated it into 20 route sections, and created volunteer descriptions. We needed 30 key volunteer team leaders for each route section (Route Section Team Leaders, RSTLs) and every major city (Residency Hub Team Leaders, RHTLs). We set up who they would report to internally, a sign up mechanism and corresponding data tracking spreadsheet for all the roles across the route which was GDPR compliant, email addresses for correspondence, and it was also during this time that we sought funding. Information about the Relay went live on our website in April. 

The Relay to COP26 began on June 14th 2021. The send-out service from Truro Cathedral was itself a huge achievement. The 5 YCCN members who attended constituted the largest in-person gathering of the network at that time. 

Over the following 20 weeks of walking, we built relationships, hosted events, preached at church services, gave radio interviews, convened local politicians and faith leaders, and 2,500 people carried the Relay to COP26 flag as we journeyed up the country. 

The arrival of the Relay to COP26 on October 30th 2021 was an incredibly emotional day. Many of YCCN remained present in Glasgow throughout the 2 weeks of COP26 itself. Our closing service at St George’s church will be something we all remember for a long time to come. 

I walked three sections of the Relay to COP26 (Bath to Salisbury, Sheffield to Manchester, Edinburgh to Glasgow). I walked across beautiful meadows in Wiltshire, got interviewed by school children for their magazine, learned to be a lead walker and navigate with OS maps, was given a tour of a dovecot, was made breakfast at 5am in morning because we were walking in a heatwave, enjoyed a ride in a Tesla, stood on the roof of Salisbury cathedral, met with at least 15 local councillors, 3 bishops, 2 MPs, a Baroness, a mayor, and the Deputy First Minister of Scotland, addressed 150 people at Sheffield cathedral, was invited to give impromptu speeches in a number of church halls and services, and was interviewed 8 times for radio and TV.

There are many things I have learned along the way, whether it be lost person protocols, reimbursement procedures and public liability insurance, or regional differences, banner-making, march logistics and protest songs. But beyond the practicalities, I learned some other lessons too -

At its best, the Relay captured what is made possible by people of faith acting in faith. It's been quite the journey, and there is no way that we started out with the skills or resources needed. It is the generosity of people around the country helping us with route-planning, venues, offers of accommodation, banner-making, and huge quantities of cake, that got us to Glasgow.

Along the way, we learned that parsnip wine tastes like ‘fortified straw’, we joked that this was secretly a ‘five star relay’ because of the incredible hospitality we were blessed with, and we were also deeply touched by the church in the North East who replaced the traditional lump of coal they put on the altar at Harvest with a mini solar panel.

It's been quite the journey.