Sapling signs of hope

Published on: 24 February 2022

Ecology student Ben Knights first set eyes on the hazel saplings while on placement in the Bishop’s Garden.

“I was asked to water them, but didn’t know what they were for,” he remembers ruefully. To his surprise, he found himself being given one soon after!

“For me, the pandemic revealed what’s really important,” he explains. “I attended lots of virtual services at my church in Taverham and then in-person ones, all of which strengthened my faith and its place in my life. Supported by the clergy there and my friend Rowan, I journeyed towards baptism and confirmation.”

It was after Bishop Graham (also an ecologist) had confirmed Ben last November that he gave him the hazel sapling. All confirmands across our diocese are now given this carbon-capturing gift, a powerful symbol of the relationship between our faith in the Creator and our care of creation. “There’s such hope in a young tree,” Ben reflects.


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