Each year on Good Friday people from across the six churches wakl silently through the village, stopping at several places en-route to pray, sing and read the Easter story..

In 2010 we undertook our first Maundy Thursday shoe shine. Leaders from all the churches in our area knelt at the feet of the general public, and instead of washing feet, shone shoes. People struggled to accept that it was free, but it was a lovely opportnuity to meet people and tell them the gospel story.

Our Christian faith leads us to care for both our local community, and our environment. On Cottingham Day, which is a day of village celebration the Churches, therefore, held a farmers market outside the Methodist Church. We sold local produce, including flour from Skidby Mill, fruit and veg from Brumby, tomatoes, cucumber and peppers grown in the Cottingham glasshouses, apples from Wilberfoss and honey from around the East Riding. In addition we sold fairly traded products, and served refreshments made from fairly traded ingredients.

The nearest Christian book shop to Cottingham, now Hull has closed is either Hessle or York. During Hope08 we setup a stall on the market, which meets on thursdays in Cottingham to sell and promote Christian books. We didnt sell all that many, but our main goal of demonstrating our unity, and having some interesting conversations was definitely achieved, and it was fun during the warm weather!

Our Hope 08 activities, in coordination with the churches in Hull resulted in two of our church leaders receiving an invitation to meet Prince Charles at his home in London. We were not alone, as there were representatives from across the UK, and it was a great privelege and joy to share news of church unity working in so many places.

Cottingham Cleanup Day

As part of our Hope 08 activities (and now continuing twice per year) Cottingham Churches Together teamed up to cleanup the village. We split into three teams, two taking on overgrown snickets, and one tackling some of the graffiti on the public buildings. We were assisted on the day by local councillors, special police officers and the Neighbourhood action team coordinator.