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Prof David Bellamy Gives Fundraising Lecture

Over 100 people attended a great lecture by Prof David Bellamy in aid of Caring for God's Acre.  For those of you who missed it Reverend Nick Read has kindly written this summary.

He has been a campaigner for plants, animals and people for over 70 years with a string of honours to his name from the world of science, politics and the media, yet he still has the capacity to enthral and enthuse.

Professor David Bellamy was the speaker at this year’s Caring for God’s Acre fundraising event, held by kind permission of Anthony and Kathy Priddis in a marquee on their lawn at the Bishop’s Palace.  David gave an overview of “Caring for God’s Acre” that encompassed the earth in all its richness. With slides taken from his travels across the world we were treated to a spectacular visual, and oral, feast. 

His thesis is that the landscape as we know it has always been the result of the interaction between humanity and the natural world, from the days in which Neolithic farmers cleared the vast tree cover of Britain to the present. This interaction continues, sometimes with disastrous results, but there have also been a great many success stories where humanity has been able to conserve and enhance. At times this may be controversial, such as using herbicides to clear field margins before sowing with wild flower mixes; but always David works on the principle of involving communities, and especially children, in his work. Examples ranged from school children in the Pacific watering palm trees to ensure survival from drought to Australian farmers using redundant wind pumps to lower the water table and restore salt poisoned fields. Never a stranger to controversy David oozed hope that people across the world were responding to the ecological crises that beset us, and those who attended enjoyed a thoroughly entertaining evening.