Great+Yarmouth

The concept of there being thin places where individuals can become one with the planet is important in harnessing people’s spiritual feelings, whether or not they stem from a religious belief, to conserve nature. The Duke of Edinburgh explaining why he set up the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) was starting from where most people in the world are; they subscribe to a particular belief in a god.

He said that there were three reasons why people became interested in the conservation of nature:
 * The first was a simple love of nature. People just liked it; they liked to go out there; and they had an emotional concern with the apparent destruction.
 * The second was a scientific interest in natural history and a concern about species becoming extinct.
 * And thirdly there was a concern that if you believe that God created the world you are under an obligation to look after it.

The aim of the ARC is to activate those who were holding religious beliefs and living in areas where the need for conservation projects was particularly urgent. He put the issue and its solution this way:

// “why don't we involve the religions through their religious leaders because all these people however remote are probably part of a religious group. So if we can persuade their religious leaders that one of the things they have to do if they want to be good Buddhists, Christians, Jews, whatever, is that they have to look after the natural environment - then we can be more effective”. //

Their thin places for members of a faith are the temple, mosque, synagogue or church. Mine is this small spot in an Anglican churchyard where my great grandmother and her sons are buried. My mindset results from research into my Kemp lineage that led to my birth. This passed through Great Yarmouth and is summarised in the following pdf document.



The full story of Kemps may be found at:

http://www.suffolkkemps.info

[|Go to Kemp's Graves]