Eric Pickles joins Apple Day celebrations at Borough Market

Sunday's event was part of A Year of Service, a Government-supported programme organised by nine faith groups to highlight their shared values of compassion and justice.

The Dean of Southwark, Very Revd Andrew Nunn, led a short act of worship at Borough Market and blessed gifts which have been collected for the Manna Centre and the Robes Project, two local organisations which work with homeless people.

Members of the Borough Market Choir led the congregation in the harvest hymn We plough the fields and scatter.

Mr Pickles said: "Just as an ancient cathedral and an ancient marketplace can peaceably coexist – sharing the same community and drawing the same sense of service to the mutual benefit of all – our faiths, our communities, are stronger by far when we work together."

Borough Market's Apple Day celebrations coincided with the annual October Plenty revels organised by the Lions part theatre company.

Earlier this year, as part of A Year of Service, the Kagyu Samye Dzong Tibetan Buddhist centre in Bermondsey hosted a discussion of different faith approaches to care of the environment followed by a tree-planting ceremony in Spa Gardens.