Cherished things

 At church today, we had a lovely sermon given by a young woman named Steph who occasionally gives a sermon and often shares a profound message. One thing she said, which struck a chord was, I'm stuck Lord and I don't know what to do but I see you!  This is quite comforting and was comforting as I was feeling somewhat anxious and things were on my mind, even through the sermon/service. 

At the end of the service, the vicar, who leads the worship said to me, I'm not very good at encouraging people or remembering to tell people how much they are appreciated but today, as we were playing, it struck me that I should say this to you today. I wanted to say to you that when you play, not only are you talented at playing the notes but your playing is anointed, that comes from God and is pleasing to him.  I can't remember his exact words, because at that point, him saying that, brought tears to my eyes. I thanked him because it really did mean a lot to me to hear him say and I really did need to hear that today and from that moment on, the things that were filling my mind and were making me feel anxious, seemed to fade away. I wanted to record it here because I think it's important to remember moments and things people say that you cherish. I do know that when I play at church, that I am blessed and it blesses.  I always feel comforted and I am so grateful to know God. If that sounds cheesy, then I am Camenbert and proud! :-)   Even hours later, when I think of what he said, it brings tears to my eyes but these are tears of gratitude of God speaking to me.

It meant a lot to me.

Another cherished thing was this weekend sharing a friend's 40th birthday celebrations in London.  Our friend lives in Sweden and had come over to celebrate with all her friends back in the UK.  We had a lunch in a pub in Bloomsbury and then a trip another pub before heading to the Bloomsbury Lanes for Karaoke and finally having pizzas and drinks in the Lucky Pig in Soho.   We had such fun at the Karaoke. CBC and I sang A Whole New world from Aladdin together as well as What is this feeling? from Wicked and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  It was SUCH a joyous event. Everyone had such a good time at the Karaoke and I really enjoyed singing even if I felt a bit embarrassed at first (as there were lots of singers there). It was fun to do that together with CBC and to remember what it feels like to hang out with friends and just have fun!  We don't do that so much in recent times and it was lovely.

Hold the little moments!

xx

Happy Easter!

Wishing you a joyful Easter!!! 

Christ has died

Christ has risen

Christ will come again!

My Easter weekend has been one of joy and rest as well as being busy!

The school term ended on Thursday! I spent most of the day doing what is called Pupil Voice with children from each year group.  It's something one has to do nowadays as a subject leader in school.  Interview a small group of students to find out what they are learning in that subject to check it is being taught comprehensively, fully and to find out what is working for children/teachers and that the subject is going according to plan.

It's a pain to do but it's useful and interesting and also reassuring (and frustrating when they can't remember things and you have to prompt them!.  Not sure what possessed me to ask them 20 questions this time!

In between that, I took my Samba band up to the hall to perform for the Easter Bonnet parades (as it was raining and windy, we had to do separate ones inside!).  The kids were incredible at performing the Samba and everyone was gushing about how good they were! I love that 1/4 of the group have SEND and are all brilliant!

Once I'd cleared up my room and sent some essential emails (annoyingly cannot access my school email at the moment from home!), I headed home.

I dumped my massive collection of things at home and headed to the doctor's surgery to see the nurse to see if I had a water infection (as have had abnominal pain for the past 2 weeks).  Traces of blood but not infection so she managed to get me in for a Saturday afternoon appointment for the Doctor.

I headed home for a quick snack and then cycled in the dark to church.  The wind was CRAZY!!! Rocking up on my bike to church through dark fields was interesting!

Our vicar is not very well at the moment and the lovely lady who regularly plays piano and leads workshop is currently receiving treatment after surgery so I was on for most of the Easter services.

It was a wonderful calm in the church in the midst of the hurricane outside. The service was beautiful and I only made a few bad crashes on the piano.

I came home and made dinner for myself.

Good Friday, after some sleep but not as much as I'd have hoped (SOMEONE's alarm went off at 6.45am and has done for the past 3 days!!!) I got up and cycled to the other church for the 10.30am Good Friday service. The wind was very much against me and I arrived bright-red and sweaty as I climbed the hill to church...annoyingly 5minutes too late to play flute (which I was going to do to support the lovely lady who was playing the piano for the first time since her op.

Again, it was a lovely service. We laid hearts at the foot of the cross and it was beautiful to be there. I was very glad I'd attempted the cycle.

As I waffle about my weekend, here are some photos of what I wore for Easter Sunday!

I cannot quite believe I have never worn this coat on this blog before but I honestly think it is true. I actually don't think I've worn this coat for about 10 years!  I bought it about 20 years ago from Mathew Williamson at Debenhams in the sale for either £30 or £40 and it is covered in beautiful floral embroidery! My mum was SO jealous of me when I bought it, when we still lived together.  She wore it a couple of times too!

For church I wore this floral Laura Ashley dress from the 80's that my Recorder teacher, Maggie gave to my mum.  Fast forward to 2021 and mum gave it to me where I wore it for my friend's Jane Austen themed Hen day! It's the most sumptuously soft cotton lawn.

Worn with my Karen Millen (charity-shopped) cardigan and some blue boots bought in Florence 2019!

Saturday, I did washing and some cleaning (including successfully using Nancy Birtwhistle's technique to remove some limescale from the taps in the bathrooms!).

CBC took me to my Doctor's appointment.  He's referred me to see a Urologist and to get some scans and ultrasounds (within 2weeks hopefully) plus a bloodtest.  I'm hoping it's Kidney stones perhaps but not sure.

CBC and I then drove to a cycle shop to enquire about a Bike Box as he is taking part in the Mallorca 312 in 3 weeks and we went and we went and had some late lunch at a Pizza restaurant. We shared a Puttanesca pizza with a garlic butter glaze on the crust and it was amazing!!! I don't say that about Pizza very often! We went for a short walk to the seafront and then we returned home

At home, we did some bits and pieces and I read and then I made some dinner.

Easter Sunday, as my abdomen was hurting in the night, I was really tired when my alarm went off at what was (due to clocks going forward) 5am, and I was really sad to miss the 6.15am sunrise service at church.  I got up at 8.30am and was at church by 9.05am to play piano.

It was a lovely, joyful service and I didn't make any major mistakes on the piano! I love this small country church- such a lovely gentle congregation.  After the service, I got a lift to the other church (we have a 2 church parish) for the second service I was playing for. Same songs but totally different service.  Equally joyful but in such a different way! I was inspired and invigorated by the services and am grateful to have faith in a God who loves me!

After church, I cycled home (downhill this time) and ate breakfast with CBC who had STILL not left for cycling. I carried on reading and then spent quite a gentle afternoon.

CBC and I just got back from buying each other an Easter egg at Sainsbury's and we are about to eat dinner!

Wishing you the joy of Easter and fresh chances

xx

I cy

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!

 One thing I miss about church in my old home town is the Advent hymns we always sang.

My favourite was O Come, O come, Emmanuel.     It's been a couple of years since I've had the opportunity to sing this.

The song is a hymn sung for over a thousand years, originally sung in the Medieval era by nuns and monks or so I believe.

In this version here, the verses are sung in a variety of ways.

The first verse is Homophonic- meaning the melody is accompanied by block chords that mainly fit with the main melody.

The second verse is technically sung in polyphony with a few moments of monophony- the melody is sung in a sort of canon  between men and women with moments where the voices unite at the same time.

The third verse features female voices accompanied by a solo oboe in a counter melody.

The fourth verse is again a polyphonic texture with men and women in a quasi-canon and unison moments.

The final verse unites the voices, organ and oboe - voices in unison with chords and the oboe countermelody.

I love the way the final chord is a Tierce da Picadie meaning that the song was in a minor key (sounds sad) but the final chord raises the middle note of the chord a semitone (half step) higher so it becomes major, sounding happy!

TARDIS Tuesday- The Rings of Akhaten

Hello there,

Today's TARDIS Tuesday is not really an outfit as such- well it IS but it's not really one you can see much of!

It features my beloved Clara Oswald but from a flashback to when she was younger!

Cannot believe I used this outfit as inspiration last in 2018!!! Whoa- 5 years ago! Exactly 5 years to the day that I am writing this blogpost (Sun 26th November!)

Image borrowed from This Pinterest

 

Image borrowed from Cathoderaytube

It features Clara at her Mother's funeral in a red duffle coat from F&F at Tescos.  Nothing else of the outfit is visible

And in a very simple photo, here I am

I bought this duffle coat around 5.5years ago and it is one of my favourite coats to wear if I KNOW it is not going to rain! I wore it to church last Sunday along with last week's TARDIS Tuesday outfit underneath!I love this beautiful duffle coat. It has a cosy tartan lining

Luckily, my church has a grave yard which seemed suitable for a quick picture! I balanced my phone on the edge of a large green wheelie bin! Easy peasy!

My busy period begins this week! I have a lot to get done this week- here's hoping I get it all done AND get some rest in between! 4 rehearsals and a concert this week.

My sister hosted a lovely party for my niece K's 14th birthday. Can you believe she is 14?  

Her dad took this picture of us (in one of those edit programmes that blocks out the background! She is a sweetie!

I hope you are well!

xx

Blockprint

Hello my little cauliflowers!

I hope you are well.

I thought I'd start off this post with 2 outfits I wore last month with the blockprint skirt I bought in Majorca. It came from a lovely shop called Zoe Del Mundo and they had a man's shop, women's shop and kids shop.  CBC and I bought something from each shop. Me, this skirt, a top and a belt plus a lizard clatterpillar instrument and CBC a nice shirt. It has shirring at the back so is nice and comfy

I liked the colours together of this first outfit but not sure whether they worked together - it emphasizes my chest a bit too much and makes it look bigger than it is! Wore it with my Lorelai LQ ombre rainbow earrings and my new Timberland suede shoes (Charity shop, Hebden Bridge)

This was last weekend's outfit instead which I think works MUCH better. I wore this short-sleeved F&F jumper (bought about 11 years ago) with Balinese moonstone earrings and a simple necklace. Same shoes.

The orange waistband makes it harder to style. What would YOU wear with this skirt?

Ta da!! My shoes!

Last weekend, CBC was away with the Art department at school in St Ives. He had a really lovely time, which I am glad about, as he really needed it.

I also had a lovely weekend. Mine was spent in various ways.

On Friday night, after school, I caught the trains (3 of them!) to my Mum's.  The timing didn't work out well, so I arrived at Rush hour, so rather than make her come out to give me a lift, I cycled the 3.5 miles or so to her house.  I had a big, full bag to carry but the cycle route was mostly quite good so it was fine and in fact, the sun was shining and I really enjoyed the cycle.  Mainly I rode on pavements or side roads (some of it marked cycle lane) as the traffic is quite aggressive there, but I met no pedestrians at all. I felt good when I arrived at hers.

When I got to Mum, she'd a cup of Lemon Balm tea awaiting me. It was really delicious.  After saying hello to her adorable kitties, we went for the customary walk around her garden. I adore her gardens (her front garden is just as interesting and well-curated as her back garden) and there is always something interesting to see.

 After we headed back in, Mum started cooking the pasta because she had made my favourite dinner, Spaghetti bolognese (with Farfalle instead).   I actually like hers more than when I have it in Italy!

It was scrumptious, accompanied by Parmesan and Blackcurrant Kefir water.  We watched some TV and then had a tasty fruit salad to finish.

We headed to bed fairly early. I read some of my Kate Shackleton book, Dying in the Wool.  I've had this series on my shelf for about 8 years so it is time I actually read more than one of them.

Annoyingly, I awoke around 6.00am. Mum's room is quite light and I am one who needs darkness, plus, I ALWAYS awake early on Saturday morning. Not sure why I can't do this on a school day when getting up at 6am would be really useful!

We read in bed for a while, accompanied by a cup of tea and after showers, we walked to the Sandwich bar near her house to buy Bacon Baguettes for Breakfast.  Mum likes to support this place as she has said that some days, the lady barely breaks even and it saved her cooking. I also bought myself a Tuna Mayonnaise with cucumber and lettuce baguette for later, plus crisps.

We went to the hardware store near Mum and I picked up some bird seed then we walked down the street to try and track down an errant parcel....to no avail.

The baguettes were the perfect start to the day! I suggested, since the weather was so nice, we head down to the sea front (estuary but still nice). Mum thought we should cycle so we got the bikes out and cycled to the sea wall where we cycled from one end to the other, stopping for a little walk on the beach
 that she and my sister call 'Shelly beach' due to all the Oyster shells that are there.

I was rather appropriately dressed!

The sea wall has some beautiful murals all along,charting the history of the area but also, some fun photo bits!

I was so grateful to be spending Mother Daughter time with her.

We had a 99 ice-cream. It was very blustery but warm.

CBC sent me a lovely picture of Tree Echiums from Cornwall! I reminded him what they were called and he told all his colleagues. Thanks to Lulu who taught me about these!

It was soon time to bid Mum goodbye as I had to head up to London for my concert with Kensington Chamber orchestra.

The 3 or so trains were fine but carrying my bike plus a very heavy pannier, full of clothes, school work and now birdseed was a little cumbersome.

When I arrived in Nottinghill, I was early and the church was locked so I carried on cycling down to Portobello Road to the market.  Despite my already loaded bag, I could not resist the lure of the plastic free vegetable market (plus a MASSIVE strawberry donut!) so I bought...

• Peas in the pod
• Eschalion Shallots
• 3 enormous Chichory/Endives
• British Asparagus
• Organic carrots with tops
• Watercress
• Mini cucumbers
• French beans
• 1 enormous yellow courgette

I had to empty my tote bag of clothing into the pannier to house all my veg (to avoid the dreaded carrier bag) and had to precariously cycle back up the hill to the church with dangling tote bag and arrived back at the church to start the rehearsal.

We began our rehearsal of Brahms Serenade no.1 and Mendelssohn Scottish Symphony.  Thankfully things were sounding a bit better than Tuesday's rehearsal where our 1st clarinettist (not the regular one) had turned up for the FIRST time in 4 rehearsals and was not so hot at counting or sight-reading, rendering the rehearsal super irritating.   They still had some counting issues but at least not in as many places.    It's been a bit of a strange rehearsal series (not even taking into account the total Clarinet debacle!) as it was the first one with our new leader after over 13 years of the previous leader. In addition, the conductor, the absolutely wonderful Mark Biggins (current chorus master at ENO but moving to Geneva) hasn't conducted me in this particular orchestra before (he is fab!) but also, our regular 1st and 2nd clarinets, 1st and 2nd bassoons, 2nd clarinettist, 1st and 2nd trumpets and 2nd horn were not able to play so it was all deps PLUS a horn player went sick on the day!)

After the rehearsal, I wasn't feeling like a big meal (and I hadn't eaten my tuna Baguette yet!) so I decided to walk back down to Portobello to soak up the sun and ended up buying a bargain box of veg including Pak Choi, turnips, Cos Lettuce, Tenderstem broccoli. Of course, I had no idea how I was going to carry it all home!

Back at the church, after the delicious baguette, I got ready for the concert.

It went pretty well, barring a couple of rogue clarinet moments and for the first time in an absolute age,I did not get nervous and get the horrible feeling where I can't get my flute sound right (apparently I am imagining this but I FEEL it though) and felt like I really did a good job on the prolific amount of very big flute solos I had to play!

Our previous leader came to watch, as she hasn't moved yet, and she very kindly said that when she heard me play a particular solo, that was the moment she felt like this was the orchestra and how much she missed it already and it almost made her cry!  She's never said anything like that to me before so that really meant a lot!  After the concert, everyone had a lovely social and then it was time for me to head back to Essex.  I tried to rearrange my bag to accommodate at least part of the veg....I still ended up with a shoulder bag and a bulging pannier.

The walk into Nottinghill station and down the 3 escalators and corridors to the central line (plus the walk along the platform to avoid the vexing Liverpool Street getting stuck behind people who walk slower than a person holding a folded bike, a pannier and a tote of veg) was tiring but I was SO lucky at Liverpool street to make the train with 2 minutes to spare (thus avoiding 30mins wait)

I arrived home around 12.30am after the interesting dark cycle with the veg.

The next morning, I got up at 8am and dressed for church as Sue, who plays piano was supposed to be giving me a lift.

Alas, she forgot so I made a quick dangerous dash on my bike with 2 tote bags (pannier was still loaded) and the long skirt (wasn't expecting to cycle) to church. Sue suddenly remembered as I arrived.

It's the first time I've played flute at church. It was the curate's last service so I offered to play. It was a lovely service. After a quick cup of tea, I folded Delphi and Sue drove us to the other church for the 2nd service where we repeated the service.

People were really kind and appreciative of my flute playing.  It was very lovely to be part of the bigger worship team at the other church too!

After the service, there was a barbecue bring and share which was really nice. I chatted to some new people I hadn't met before.

After, I cycled home (I don't mind the cycle home as it is downhill.... it's a nightmare on the way there- sooo much uphill).

Back home, I did some gardening and did some other chores and later ate left-over Thai food from Thursday.

It had been a great, busy weekend.

xx

Antwerp Day 3- Chocolate, churches and charity shops!

It's been a while since my last post on our Antwerp holiday!  I finally managed to get some photos copied across.

On our Monday in Antwerp, we woke up fairly late and after a lazy breakfast, had to hotfoot it across town on the Velo hire bikes to near the railway station. We had booked to go to Antwerp's Chocolate Museum. Having been to, and loved the Bruges Chocolate museum in 2019, I was excited for this one.

We arrived and put our bags in lockers.  They told us that the whole exhibit was Covid safe with nothing we needed to touch and was timed with all doors to sections so that people in groups didn't have to have any contact with other people. It was very clever.

The whole museum was really interesting with a detailed history of chocolate from bean to processing, to wrapping to all the different types and important Chocolatiers. It was hugely informative and fun to see.

One part of the exhibition showed you a vintage Belgium chocolatier and you got to hear from the woman who ran it (a reenaction)

One part showed some of the most iconic individual chocolates and their shapes in massive form

and introduced you to the great innovators in chocolate.  Here above is the Guylian shell.  Apparently, the most recent innovation was a truly new type of chocolate- Ruby Chocolate!

There were a few sections where you could see chocolatiers decorating and making chocolates.  There are opportunities to join demonstrations but sadly there were none when we were there which was sad as I ADORED this part of the Bruge chocolate museum!

This section here was where they introduced us to the ethical side of chocolate making and how the Chocolate Line is trying to support the communities who harvest and grow cocoa for them.

There were many 'instagram photo' type locations for you to take your picture.

As we progressed through, I became more and more disappointed at the lack of opportunities to TRY any chocolate.  At the Bruges one, there were chocolate button dispensers in various places.

 

It was only in the last room (before the shop), that we FINALLY got to try some chocolate. We were met by a lady who handed us a spoon each and showed us how to operate these melted chocolate machines.  They would dispense a sample of melted chocolate of all the different blends and combinations onto your spoon.  We started with those blends with a really large cocoa content and progressed to lots of different ones including the aforementioned ruby chocolate.

The warm liquid chocolate was delicious!!  We even managed a couple of samples of a few of them as the lady just left you to it!

We went into the shop where CBC chose some presents and some treats.

We then made a hasty stampede towards St Charles Borromeo church where I would be meeting one of my favourite Belgium blogger, the wonderful Ann!

We were pretty hungry and went into a nearby cafe where we ordered some food, hoping it would arrive quickly (which it didn't!).  Luckily, Ann was lovely enough to come and join us whilst we ate out lunch!

It was SOOOOO exciting to see Ann in real life after seeing her in beautiful pictures for so long! She is just as beautiful and stylish  in real life as she is in her photos!  She's also so incredibly kind and friendly! I've often been incredulous over Ann's writing- there is no way I could write in a language other than my native one in such an idiomatic way than Ann does and she is JUST the perfect person to chat to! It's so nice to be able to be able to natter and talk about those things you can't when typing.

Once we'd eaten our lunch, we headed to St Charles Borromeo- a well known Baroque church. It was built in the 1600's.  Sadly, the original 39 ceiling paintings by Rubens and lots of other works were destroyed, around about 100 years after it was built, in a fire.

It looks fairly undecorative from the outside, but the inside is WONDERFUL!

There is a wonderful Rubens altar painting.

The church is crammed full of things to look at- marblework, wood carvings, paintings and decorative floors. The organ is pretty exciting too!

There were confession booths here- so intricate!

After this, We headed off to......yes.....THINK TWICE!  For anyone who does not read Ann's blog, Think Twice is the most incredible Secondhand clothing chain in Belgium who have a very vast array of vintage clothes at reasonable prices.  They then have sale days where items get progressively cheaper until the final day where EVERYTHING is 1Euro! Ann is the Think Twice queen!

I was fortunate enough to be there with Ann on the penultimate 2 Euro day!  Because of Covid measures, we had to queue outside. At which point, CBC took himself off to go and seek a loo, which gave Ann and I an opportunity to have a proper chat which wouldn't bore him through not knowing all the things we were talking about!  Her we are in the T2 queue! You can see the T2 poster advertising the sale on the window!

We finally made it into the shop!   We walked around and realised we were very compatible shopping partners, showing each other things we though the other would like and giggling about things!  The selection was really good! 

We both ended up making purchases- Ann one skirt and me, a couple of items to add to my previous purchases from an alternative T2 I'd visited the previous day (there are FOUR in Antwerp!)

I was really sad when we had to leave so I walked with Ann to meet Jos, her husband, who was coming to pick her up in the car.  It was really lovely to meet him too!

We'd had SUCH  a jolly, easy time and I felt SO privileged to be able to meet someone who has become a good friend via blogland over the past few years! The nice thing was that we ended up texting each other all through my visit (and beyond) and it made my holiday that bit extra special that I had a friend who I could share my adventures with, who knew exactly what and where I was talking about! Ann had already given me lots of brilliant suggestions for places to visit!

That evening, CBC and I headed out to dinner to a bistro near Volkstraat which served some traditional Belgian dishes and I took the opportunity to choose the dish Ann had mentioned to be earlier when we asked about traditional Belgian dishes. I THINK it was called Endives au Jambon. Apparently endives or chicory was dicovered by a Belgian farmer in 1830.

CBC and I are HUGE Chicory fans so I was gleeful to try it.

As you can see, I was served the most ENORMOUS portion- that's my hand right next to it! It was IMMENSE.

A thick layer of bechamel cheese sauce with ham rolls and lots of endives plus mashed potato.

I discovered, after wadingt through one half, that all the MASHED potato was on the side I left till last and I'd eaten all the endives and ham on the left so my meal ended up being rather heavy-going on the mash at the end but it was a GREAT choice.  CBC had the beef stew. Yes, he forgo his veggie ways to try it. When in Belgium....

It had been a rather wonderful day and I wondered what would be next?

Oh...you want to see my T2 purchases????

Well, as well as the two skirts I showed in previous posts (the red daisy one and the blue/purple stripy glittery one, plus a woven leather belt), I bought the above.

Most useful were the navy camisole and the corduroy rose skirt which I wore whilst there. I've now worn everything except the rainbow dress and the teal top!

Oh...and here's an unheard of photo of me trying CBC's cherry beer. I think it was a La Chouffe beer.

I LOATHE and DETEST beer.  Watch me drink it and see what true horror and abject disgust looks like (apparently it's hilarious) but CBC insisted I try this and it was pleasant! I even took an extra sip when he went to the loo!

Hope you are having a lovely day!

xx

Hope for the world's despair

This beautiful video was shared as part of our Remembrance Sunday service today at church and I thought it was beautiful.

Back in 2018, ten new hymns were written to mark the centenary of Armistice Day and the end of World War 1. One of these was Hope for the World's despair which was the winner of Jubilate's Hymns of Peace competition. The writer was Ally Barrett.  More information can be found here and the songs can be downloaded.

The lyrics are beautiful and very appropriate for today and for our world as it is and the singer is wonderful!

I hope you enjoy it!

The Centenary Stained Glass Window

I recently went back to my old church for my friend M's wedding.  It was SUCH a joy to be back there and to be a part of something special in a place that meant and still means so much to me with so many happy memories and also to think of my own wedding there.

It was also special to see something I'd not seen completed too.  The church celebrated its Centenary in  2013 and the congregation were asked if they wished to contribute towards a centenary project of replacing the plain windows above the altar with stained glass designed by Henry Shelton, our resident artist.  I was delighted to contribute to this project, to be part of something beautiful, made for the glory of God and for the joy of visitors and members of the church, however, it was a few years after I left the church (because of moving), that the window was fitted. I wasn't able to attend the inauguration of the window, and the times I visited the church were for the Carol service so I never saw it in daylight so the wedding was the first time I saw it!

Ah, it was SUCH a joy to be bathed in its radiant hues and to see the glorious reflections onto the walls.  It reminded me of how beautifully the modern stained glass made me feel when I visited Liverpool's Catholic cathedral.

I really like old stained glass but I really love Henry's vision and it works for me with the Arts and Crafts decor of the church.

There are various beautiful features to the church including over modern projects but this one will be the one which means a lot to me because I am part of it. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing the beauty of the window.

On Angel Wings- Hexham Abbey art installation

 In Hexham, there is a wonderful, ancient Abbey that I realise I have never posted about in all the times I've been going to Hexham.

At the moment, there is a wonderful art installation there that has been created in response to the pandemic. 

Since they put the reason for it so much more eloquently than I can, here's the info from the Hexham abbey website about it:

On Angel Wings is an installation that came into being following discussion on how we could offer the community a space to commemorate those who had been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As we slowly reopen following a turbulent 2020 and start to 2021, we realised people had been affected by this in more ways than we ever could have originally anticipated. What we wanted, was to provide people with the opportunity to be awed and provoke thought as well as allowing people an outlet; somewhere to palpably show their appreciation and respect.

Inspired by the installation in 2020 by our friends at Ripon Cathedral 'On a Wing and a Prayer', angels seemed like the perfect way to honour those who had served relentlessly throughout, those who had lost their lives, those whose lives had been disrupted and those who had fought to get through one of the toughest times they had known. An idea was devised to hang origami angels, each with dedications to loved ones, in the Abbey; therefore each angel representing someone or a group of people precious and cared about by someone else. 

We contacted the Verger at Ripon Cathedral to help with the logistics of how we could go about hanging multiple thousands of origami angels in a 1,300 year old building, which had not had ease of access to the rafters built into planning and design! After much deliberation and consultation of architects, conservation engineers, rigging teams and planning committees, we realised this was a real possibility and the plan was put into action!

The resulting project is 'On Angel Wings'; 4,500 origami angels, made by local schools, volunteers, Abbey staff and members of the public, suspended 45ft high in the Chancel of the Abbey. The angels stretch right to the High Altar from the start of the Old Choir Stalls and are lit from the sides. The angels are high enough that dedications can't be read from the ground; keeping those memories and thoughts private but still present; much like a prayer. 

I thought this was such a beautiful idea and I was keen to see it in person.

This was our first glimpse of it as we came round the organ to the choir stalls.  The effect was instantly calming and awe-inspiring.  The lights shining on the angels and the soothing music made for a beautiful meditative atmosphere.

As we walked along, we saw some examples of the angels made and some of the messages.

You can see some of the ancient stones in the background.

Here was another take on the angels from children too.

When you came into the chancel by the choir stalls, the spectacle of the angels with the majesty and gravitas of Hexham Abbey was breathtaking.  The music was just right and I was amazed by the scale of this project.

The colours change slowly with the lighting.

Unfortunately, just as I was hoping to sit and contemplate the angels, a guided tour came in and sat in the chancel and somewhat ruined the atmosphere for me (and also made it difficult to go and sit as they were spread throughout the choir stalls).  However, it was still amazing to see all the angels and soak in the atmosphere.

If you are in the north and are able to go and see it, it is well worth a visit.  It also gave me ideas for an art project at school!