Children from 264 churches in Southwark Diocese have made panels for a giant Millennium Quilt which will be hung in Southwark Cathedral for several months, starting with a Children's Festival "Around the World in a Day" on Saturday 15 July.

The Quilt, which measures a huge 44 feet long and 12 feet high, is made up of 350 panels, naming every church in the Diocese. The Rev Kevin Parkes, Diocesan Children's Officer, who thought up the idea, says "It is difficult for children in the Church to appreciate fully the diversity and breadth of cultures and traditions we have in the Diocese. The Millennium Quilt will help make visible our unity in diversity, and will be a lasting record of the churches of the Diocese in the millennium year."

The project is sponsored by the Cloth Workers Foundation, and the panels for the Quilt have been sewn together by Stephen Miles, a costumier in the film industry who is a churchgoer in Battersea.

On 15 July children from around the Diocese are invited to "come and touch, taste, smell, hear & see how Christians live around the world" as they are taken on a multi-sensory 'flight' through many regions. There will be music, food tasting, national dress, games and craft activities to give a flavour of other countries and cultures.

Groups helping to make the day possible will include CMS (the Church Missionary Society), SAMS (the South American Mission Society), USPG (the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), and Christian Aid.

Further information: Rev Kevin Parkes, 020-8392 3587 / 020-8685 0772.

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