H4C at Memories From My Attic

On Monday 15th April H4C Founder Rev Canon Dr Charlotte Bannister-Parker joined the Council of Christians and Jews Oxford branch (CCJ) for a special event, Memories From My Attic, showcasing the power of storytelling around family heirlooms and artefacts in an interfaith context.

Charlotte’s chosen object for this special show-and-tell was a piece of embroidery made by her supposed ancestor, Mary Ann Gilbert, who is recognised as a pioneer of allotmenteering. Gilbert made the embroidery almost 200 years ago as a testament to her good fortune in being taught embroidery. The piece, with its floral embellishments and quote from the Hebrew Bible, encapsulates much of the values at the centre of the Hope4Creation Foundation: recognising that the Earth is a shared home for people of all faiths and backgrounds that we have a responsibility to look after that, and taking a grassroots approach to communicating that message as engagingly as possible.

While showing the piece, Charlotte told the story of Gilbert’s work in establishing affordable land for the rural poor of the early 19th Century, supporting sustainable food security and an achievable route out of poverty in opposition to the stereotypes of the time about poorer people being unwilling to help themselves. Much of Gilbert’s research, techniques and observations have informed allotmenteering practices to this day, when allotments continue to provide the opportunity for community food production that offers less carbon-intensive produce than large-scale agriculture.

The event was recorded, so you can catch up on Charlotte’s presentation on Youtube, and if you would like to host us at an interfaith environmental event, please do get in touch.