Voyage of Our Lady of the Waters and the Wye – Hay-on-Wye to Bredwardine
Come and join this spectacular river pilgrimage to raise awareness and to call for action to stop the ongoing pollution of the River Wye. This August there will be an extraordinary voyage of a sculpture of Our Lady of the Waters and the Wye, mounted on two canoes, which will be floated 75 miles downstream from Hay-on Wye to Monmouth.
Biodiversity has crashed in the Wye due to pollution from chicken farm slurry, overflow of sewage, excessive use of fertilisers (3000 tons of phosphates a year going in the Wye, when it can only cope with 300), run off from arable land and soil erosion.
The voyage aims to raise awareness and to call for concerted action to cleanse the river.
The plan:
The voyage will leave from the Warren at Hay on 15th August and arrive in Monmouth on 19th August, via Bredwardine and Moccas (15th), Hereford (16th), Marden, Lugwardine, Holme Lacy and Hoarwithy (17th), Sellack and Ross (18th), and Goodrich and Whitchurch (19th).
15th August Itinerary:
9am: Process sculpture from Hay Church to Warren Meadow by local fire brigade.
10am: Hay Choir.
10.30am: Launch from the Warren Meadow, Hay-on-Wye, accompanied by soloist singer, Catherine Hughes.
12.30pm: Whitney Bridge.
5pm: Lyndon Eatough-Smith on trumpet, Cathy O’ Rourke on saxaphone to play Bridge over Troubled Water on trumpet on Bredwardine Bridge as the canoeists arrive and land.
6.30pm: The monks of Belmont will do a Gregorian chant in Moccas Church.
7.30pm: A feast at in Moccas Village Hall and an exhibition by local artists about the Wye in the Village Hall.
Other canoeists and wild swimmers will accompany the canoe-catamaran. Art exhibitions will be held at Moccas Village Hall and Whitchurch Church with many events en route: music in Hay, trumpet and saxophones on Bredwardine Bridge, Georgian chants by the monks of Belmont at Moccas and a feast in Moccas Village Hall (15th); evensong at Hereford Cathedral (16th); morning coffee at Marden and Lugwardine, evensong with Ross Choir at Hoarwithy Church and a picnic (17th); a lunchtime picnic with bagpipes at Sellack (18th); and evening prayer at Monmouth Church (19th).
Please click the below link for the full details and itinerary, these can also be found on our Facebook page.
