Diocese of Portsmouth
The Church of England

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    Special coat visits cathedral and island

    Category
    Environment
    Date
    3 Feb. 2026
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    THIS coat is designed to carry people's hopes for the future of our planet - and it's coming to our cathedral and to the Isle of Wight.

    Known as the 'Coat of Hopes', it is made up of 700 patches, including one created on the island. The coat has already walked 2,000 miles around the mainland.

    It will come to our cathedral on Sunday 8th February before heading to the Isle of Wight the next day for a five-week tour. Among other places, it will go to Newport, Carisbrooke, East Cowes, Ventnor, Freshwater and Yarmouth.

    Created by Barbara Keal, an artist from Lewes in Sussex, it started out patch-less, but along the way it gathered pieces of blanket into which people had sewn their hopes for the places that they live. Its first trip was in 2021, when it was taken on a nine-week walk from Newhaven in Sussex to the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.

    Since COP26, it has continued to walk across Britain, collecting patches and inviting all who encounter it to wear it on the understanding that ‘the future of the planet is on all our backs’. The patch from the Island was submitted by St Helen’s Eco Church. It contains an image of the Island and a white-tailed eagle.

    The Coat will be welcomed at the wet end of Ryde pier at 10.30am on Monday 9th February. All are welcome to this event, and to accompany it down the pier and up Union Street, where it will be installed in ‘Department’, the cultural centre in Cross Street.

    ‘Department’ will host it for the week – which is its ‘For the love of stitch’ week. On Saturday, 14th, it will be walked to St Helens. It will then be walked in stages to Yarmouth, with visits en route to Newport (for Ash Wednesday services at St John’s Church at 11am and Newport Minster at 6.30pm, then Independent Arts); Carisbrooke Priory; Brighstone (Wilberforce Hall and St Mary’s Church); East Cowes (St James’ Church); The Pearl; Ventnor (Exchange, Better Days Café, and St Catherine’s Church); Freshwater (Sports Centre); and Yarmouth (The Green Barn and CHOYD). It will leave the Island on 16th March.

    The Isle of Wight patch on the coat, sewn by Helen Bradstock from St Helens Eco-Church

    Helen Bradstock of St Helen’s Eco Church, who helped make the Island’s patch, says: "We’re really excited that the Coat is finally coming to the Island. It’s amazing how so many different groups have pulled together to make this visit possible in a short time span. We hope that many Islanders will want to meet with, walk with, and stitch their hopes for our Island into this Coat while it is here."

    She had heard about the Coat and sent off an Isle of Wight patch to be sewn onto the coat om its way to the COP26 in Glasgow.

    Anyone wanting to help walk the Coat across the Island should contact coatofhopesiow@hotmail.com. More information about the Coat can be found at www.coatofhopes.uk – click on the ‘NOW’ page for up-to-date information about events on the Island.

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