Harvest on wheels

Hope Methodist Church take their harvest festival on the road each year with two specially decorated harvest trucks collecting, delivering and praying in the community.

Hope Valley is a Peak District community of farmers, tourists and commuters. Until Covid struck, the church and community would gather in the village to sit on hay bales and make paper leaves ensuring that visitors and locals witnessed that harvest is still an important celebration.

During the pandemic, the church used a decorated Landrover to go out and visit the chapels and churches locally collecting donated food, saying prayers, sharing a reading and maybe a harvest song outside of the buildings, all socially distanced of course.

The idea was such a success that it has continued. Today the now two harvest trucks create interest wherever they travel along the valley, visiting eight churches and chapels, many of them Anglican, collecting donations, singing and praying. Posters proclaim the arrival time of the van to each location so members can be ready to welcome them.

The van is decorated the day before by a willing team of volunteers who stick on leaves and arrange all the bales and bunting.

“People stop, look, take photos and smile. People’s heads turn when they realise the trucks are a Harvest Festival on wheels. We have children waving to us, we even had some walkers and students who join us in a chapel in Edale for a short worship,” says Jonathan Brook, Pioneer Minister of The HUB at Hope.

Many people offer donations along the way and, when the van returned to Hope Methodist Church this year, it was pretty full. The load is taken into the church by the children who, with some adult support, carry it to the front,” says Jonathan. "The line of donations went on forever!"

“We started by simply wanting to show we care and let people know harvest still happens. Harvest is a celebration of God’s provision and man’s hard work to put food on our plates."