4th October 2024

Harvest Heptathlon

On 29th October The Bishop of Blackburn, The Rt Rev’d Philip North, will lead a Harvest Heptathlon in which he will take part in seven activities related to how the food that is produced across Lancashire makes it to our tables.

Bishop Philip plans to move around the county bringing attention to the amazing work the often goes unseen in our county and meet the people who do it.

As he does this he hopes to draw attention to two things:

First Bishop Philip wishes to use this as an opportunity to highlight some of the many issues which affect the people who produce our food. This includes the loss of financial support through subsidies, the loss of farming land for other uses and pressure from the people they supply to keep costs of production as low as possible.  He also wants to hear about the farmers’ own wellbeing and draw attention to the mental health struggles that they often face such as rural isolation, and understand how the Church can better support our food producers.

Second, Bishop Philip hopes to use this as an opportunity to obtain sponsorship for this year’s Bishop’s Harvest Appeal. This year the funds raised by the Harvest Appeal will go to the Link Diocese of Multan in Pakistan and specifically be used for education projects in this part of the world. You can read more about the Harvest appeal here.

The Heptathlon  starts at 6am milking cows at a dairy in Mellor and will run as follows:

• Mellor – milking cows at a dairy, 6am
• Dunsop Bridge– Visiting an alpaca farm, 7.30am 
• Inglewhite – a visit to Butlers Farmhouse cheese to see how it is produced and packaged, 8.30am 
• Brock Cattle auction (including breakfast with farmers to discuss issues which impact them) 9.45am
• Cockerham Sands – a visit to Salt marsh Lamb, 11.15am 
• Dolphinholme – assisting in robotic milking, plus working lunch with farmers 12.30pm 
• Tatham Fells – a visit to a sheep farm on the moors - 2.15pm

*Programme subject to change

Bishop Philip will also visit a pumpkin farm in Cockerham to pick a pumpkin for Bishop’s House and end the day with a visit to Dolphinholme Church of England Primary School who often take part in Forrest Church to learn what this style of worship looks like.

Bishop Philip said of the day:

“I am extremely excited about spending the day taking part in 7 activities which I hope will draw attention to our farmers and rural workers; hard working people whose efforts often go unseen but who are essential to put food on our tables. The produce Lancashire has to offer is second to none, but I want to see how it is produced and how the farmers themselves cope in what is an extremely high pressure environment at the moment. Whilst doing this I also want to draw attention to my Harvest Appeal this year which seeks to raise funds for education projects in a similarly rural part of Pakistan. I hope you can support me in both of these endeavours by following the heptathlon, listening to the stories of our rural communities and giving financially if you are able.”

To make a donation click here.

Here is a video made by Bishop Philip about the Harest Heptathlon:

You can catch all the action on the day by following along on our social media accounts:

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To read more about this year's Harvest Appeal please visit this page and to make a donation click here.