LiberTeas Midsummer Tea Parties to mark Magna Carta 800th anniversary

The Churches Conservation Trust today announced it will be an official supporter of LiberTeas, a national event to help celebrate the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta with tea parties on Sunday 14 June.

LiberTeas encourages people around the country to hold tea parties to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta. The event is planned as an opportunity to celebrate, debate and reflect on those rights which are easily taken for granted, but which people throughout history have campaigned for or fought to preserve.

The Churches Conservation Trust’s Midsummer Tea Parties have been running since 2010, and are the national heritage charity’s flagship fundraising event. This year, parties will be held in conjunction with LiberTeas and the Magna Carta 800th anniversary celebrations to mark an important milestone in the history of our nation.

The churches in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust have many links to Magna Carta, including the 12th century Church of St Mary the Virgin in Stansted Mountfitchet, which was once part of the manor of Magna Carta Baron Richard de Montfichet, St Peter’s Northampton, which served the castle where King John negotiated with the Barons in the months before he came to Runnymede.

Crispin Truman, Chief Executive of The Churches Conservation Trust, said: “I’m delighted to announce our churches will be taking part in LiberTeas, holding tea parties to mark the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. Many of the churches in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust have direct links with Magna Carta, so it is a particularly fitting theme for our annual fundraising Midsummer Tea Parties.”

“It’s wonderful to be joining with those great bastions of tea-drinking the Houses of Parliament, the National Trust and the Women’s Institute to run events around the country to mark a unique moment in the history of our nation. I look forward to the volunteers and friends groups in our churches giving the WI and the National Trust a real run for their money, as I know what great tea parties our churches put on every summer.”