By Jill Stocks
There was a full house at the Grove Centre in Horsforth for a special showing of the film Ocean, introduced by local MP and UK climate minister Katie White.
The showing was hosted by Grove Methodist Church at the Grove Centre as part of its monthly Grove Cinema events. The screening happened after Horsforth Climate Action were approached by Leeds Greenpeace who were keen for people in Horsforth to have the opportunity to see the film.
Ocean, a film by Sir David Attenborough who celebrated his 100th birthday this week, sees the natural historian explore the oceans, highlighting their importance for the world’s ecosystems and looking at marine habitats and how they can be protected.
Jane Harnett is a co-coordinator for Leeds Greenpeace, which is run by volunteers and campaigns on nature and the environment and peace as part of the Greenpeace ethos.
She said: “Leeds Greenpeace has been showing Ocean at various venues around Leeds to raise awareness of the critical condition of our oceans.
“I know it’s not local to Leeds and Leeds is a long way from the sea but the oceans sustain our life really. The film is about that and Greenpeace has been campaigning for many many years to get thirty per cent of the high seas protected by 2030.”
Katie White MP with Leeds Greenpeace volunteers
“Our UK government, the Labour government, said they were going to do it before they actually won the election but they still haven’t ratified the treaty. We’ve been pushing them; Greenpeace and other organisations, marine organisations, conservation organisations, are really keen to get this treaty in place. Because it will make a big difference.
“In the film it shows that if a section of the ocean is protected from deep sea mining, drag line fishing, the way they churn up the ocean floor, if it’s protected then it has this spillover effect to the seas around and fish stocks come back and it benefits so many other creatures and people and communities that depend on fishing and the ocean for their livelihood rather than exploiting it.”
Katie White, MP for Leeds North West, is also the Climate Minister and has been campaigning to ban destructive bottom trawling in the world’s oceans, a cause which she holds dear.
Ms White said: “I am really pleased that Horsforth Climate Action and Greenpeace have invited me tonight to this screening of Ocean because it’s something that I’ve actually been working on in parliament myself.
“I introduced a ten-minute rule bill last year in Parliament to ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas and we did that because we knew this film was coming out and we knew that there’d be some momentum, and whilst people are horrified I want to turn that horror into action.
“And so that’s what we did, we got the ten minute rule down. I did it as a cross party bill. We then thought how can we really make this land so we invited David Attenborough to parliament, got him to come to a private screening with the Prime Minister, to watch this, and after that the Prime Minister and the secretary of state announced that we would ban bottom trawling in those marine protected areas.
“So we are going through a consultation at the moment, they’re looking at how that will happen but it’s a privilege to be back here tonight knowing this an issue that my constituents care about which is always what I thought but it’s great to see it and to see it happen and to have that opportunity to come back round and show that actually we do listen and we’re acting.”
The Grove Cinema in Horsforth is held weekly at the Grove Centre, off Town Street, and first started in 2018. Films are shown on a big screen and there is an interval with refreshments. The screenings are free but donations are welcomed.
Next month’s screening is in association with Dementia Action, with a showing of Lost For Words; the film starring Pete Postlethwaite and Thora Hird, tells the experience of a son and his wife dealing with his mother Annie’s dementia.
You can find out more about the work of Leeds Greenpeace and how you could get involved on instagram.
Horsforth Climate Action hosts the Move It Horsforth Active Travel week later this month, with a number of events in the community from the 18 to 22 May promoting sustainable travel. As part of this they held a bike fix with Matt Kovrlija from Kovrlija and co mobile bicycle service and repairs at last weekend’s farmers market inviting people to have their bikes check and repaired ready.
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