tracks is our annual festival where we take a moment to think about creation and our place within it. Today, in a world marred with division and environmental crisis, tracks helps us tell a different story, a story of the world where there is hope and inspiration amidst the challenge. Through music, arts, film and storytelling, tracks aims to celebrate our common home, to challenge and inspire us to act for creation and the environment, and to consider how we can live well in and with the natural world.
This year tracks will take place between October 17th and 25th. As always, it will be a time of learning, celebration, challenge and hope. Everyone in our communities is welcome. All events are FREE.
2026 tracks Programme:
- Saturday October 17th 7.30pm
- Norton Village Hall, GL2 9LJ
- People’s Emergency Briefing
This is one of over 2700 screenings across the country of a remarkable and ground-breaking film which is a prompt for us to come together and act. The UK faces a growing climate and nature emergency. Yet most of us have never been fully briefed on what it means for our lives, our economy and our future. This is your chance! (Please note that this film is rated 16.) BOOK YOUR FREE TICKETS HERE.
- Monday October 19th 7.30pm
- Down Hatherley Church, GL2 9QB
- Going for Gold!
An illustrated talk by Elaine Bailey and Peter Boait telling us about the amazing journey to Gold Ecochurch status for their Cheltenham church. There’ll be inspiration and top tips for us as a community and as individuals to take away with us, all based on their real world experience. No booking required – just come!
- Wednesday October 21st 7.30pm
- Sandhurst Church, GL2 9NP
- Short Film Night
Join us to experience some wonderful short films bringing new perspectives on nature. From watching an artist painting elephants in the wilds of Africa, to migration journeys and weather watching in Scandinavia, this will be a gentle, inspiring evening for all. No booking required – just come!
- Friday October 23rd 7.30pm
- Nature in Art Twigworth, GL2 9PG
- Words and Wonders
An evening of wonderful images and words. See a special selection of paintings by Meg Stevens, displayed exclusively for tracks and then settle down to listen to some nature poems with a backdrop of artworks from Nature in Art’s collection on the screen. Don’t worry if you think paintings or poems are not for you – this is the night you might change your mind! No booking required – just come!
(Meg Stevens paintings on show 23rd – 25th Oct 10am – 5pm)
- ALL WEEK 10am – 4pm
- Down Hatherley Church, GL2 9QB
- Churchyard Trail
Follow the churchyard trail! Discover what’s amazing about this place that we share with the natural world and the tracks of people before us. No booking required – just come!
Look out for extra events in the coming weeks!
We look forward to seeing you!
More about tracks …
The world is etched with the tracks of pilgrims. From the tiny thread-like tracks of beetles between blades of grass, to footprints of deer and badger, launched and hunched through hedgerow and over common. Think too of the paths of river and canyon, and of course, those earth engravings made by human toil in the form of tunnel, railway and road.
These way-markers are the guides, reminders, and the consequence of life shaped by journeys, physical, spiritual, and cultural. The way we want to live is paced out every day, leaving the tracks of our hopes and endeavours upon the earth. Through them we trace stories back through generations, and in them we find suggestions of where we are going.
Our ‘way of life’ is one of the most prized, sought-after, and protected mysteries in the public sphere. It is a notion that underpins society. Our values, our pursuits, and the things we hold dear are woven together, creating the complex tapestry we call culture – a word, notably, which has its roots in tilling the earth, in making tracks.
Take a moment to ponder, what tracks are you making in your life? Have you thought about what marks your habits and choices make upon the world not just today and in your time, but for future generations too?
The early Christians were first known as people of ‘the Way’, people responding to the radical invitation of Jesus to ‘follow me’, people who wanted to leave a different mark upon the world – tracks of blessing, wholeness, of heaven on earth.