Members of the United Reformed Church, from pre-schoolers to pensioners, have knitted, crocheted, and sewn hundreds of flowers for the Greenbelt festival.

The call to the denomination’s arts and craft enthusiasts, to help create a ‘garden’ and ‘path’ inside the takeaway with creatively made flowers, first went out in April and people have responded enthusiastically.

Following severe flooding across Kerala, a southern state in India, the United Reformed Church has joined the Church of South India (CSI) and global ecumenical partners in appealing for prayers and support for the region.

Since the monsoon began in June, around 400 people have died, and thousands have been displaced and rendered homeless. The figures are expected to rise as many people are still reported missing.

The CSI Synod has reported that nearly three million people from 52,856 families have been rescued from various parts of the state and are being sheltered in 5,645 camps.

Twenty Church leaders have called for an end to the hostile environment in an open letter to Sajid Javid MP, the Home Secretary.

The Revd Nigel Uden and Mr Derek Estill, United Reformed Church General Assembly Moderators, joined representatives from the Anglican, Catholic, Church of Scotland and Methodist Churches, who argue that the destitution deliberately inflicted by the government is ‘inhumane’ and leads to racial discrimination.

The hostile environment is a web of government policies designed to make life so difficult for people, who cannot prove they have the right to live in the UK, that they choose to leave.