Scotland gets its first bike blessing

Cyclists in Glasgow are being invited to bring their bikes to St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral for Scotland’s first ever bike blessing.

The ‘Blessing of the Bikes’ has already been taking place annually in New York for the last 12 years and the cathedral staff see it as a way of getting the church involved with the Glasgow Cycling Festival, which kicks off tomorrow.

The blessing will be given by the Provost of St Mary’s Cathedral, the Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, at 11am on Saturday.

Cyclists will line up with their bikes to receive the blessing, before a service that will include a moment to remember cyclists who have died on the roads. The service will end with a ring of bicycle bells.

Rev Holdsworth said: “The bicycle is one of the most efficient machines ever invented by human beings.

“We will be celebrating the delight that cycling gives people and remembering the fragility of the world which needs ecological means of transport.”
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