Cathy and Anna’s Blog
September 2023
Well we’re into Autumn and we’re honestly not sure where the summer went! Cathy and I kept ourselves busy running workshops for the holiday club, working with the children’s centre and facilitating craft drop ins! It was a great summer, despite the weather. Cathy and I work on the principal that there is no such thing as bad weather…only poor clothing!
We kicked off September with the heritage open weekend where we hosted Stone Carving with the amazing Alan Micklethwaite. The course sold out really quickly and we had some disappointed potential carvers, but fear not…we are working with Alan to bring you some more dates!
The Lace Makers are two week’s into their six week programme and they’ve made such good progress. It’s so impressive to witness lots of bobbins moving around to create something beautiful. What strikes us the most about all of the workshops is how much people can achieve in such a short time frame. We work with craftspeople who really are at the top of their game and their tuition and support enables participants to really develop their skills. It’s also so lovely to see new friendships forming and witness the comradery that takes place when people are learning a skill together. As I write this I am in The Peter Harrison Room with our Quillers who are supporting one another and laughing and joking as they create! It’s so lovely to hear!
We have several other dates coming up for those of you who want to have a go at learning a new skill! Heritage Craft Workshops – Beverley Minster. New workshops are being added all the time so keep looking! Calligraphy is our October workshop…just in time for Christmas. This will be run by Jane Jenkins, a published author and highly skilled tutor! Last year’s calligraphers achieved so much in a short afternoon! Get booked on as places do book up quickly!
It’s been wonderful to witness The Minster full of visitors to the Gaia exhibition, the volunteers have worked so hard to bring this to the public and it’s been amazing to see Luke Jerram’s work in the beautiful surroundings of Beverley Minster. We will join the team at the Eco Fair on Saturday between 10 and 4 for eco crafting! We’re looking forward to it.
If you want to contact us, make a suggestion about what you’d like to see or would like to hear more about what we’re doing with schools….please drop us an email.
annanadcathy.act@gmail.com
In the meantime…enjoy the beautiful colour change that the autumn brings, we’ll be embracing scarf and snuggle season here and enjoying the lead up to the ever popular Christmas Tree Festival!
August 2023
You might not necessarily know it if you look out the window but summer is well and truly here. And you know what? We don’t need sunshine and 25 degrees to have a good time. In fact, the blistering temperatures around the rest of the world at the moment simply terrifies us. So we’re really keen to be taking part in a whole month of activities to raise awareness of how fragile our environment is and what we can do to protect it. “Gaia” GAIA – Beverley Minster is an art installation created by Luke Jerram – it’s a 3D illuminated globe with a massive 7m diameter and it will be suspended in the Minster for the month of September. Check the Minster website for various events but it’s free to come in and see when you’re passing by. We welcome schools and other community groups to come along but please make sure you book first. A date for your diaries is Saturday 30th September when the exhibition will culminate in the Eco Fair where there’ll be lots of stuff going on for families. Come and visit Anna and me on our recycled materials craft station. Eco Fair ’23 – Beverley Minster
We have several other dates coming up for those of you who want to have a go at learning a new skill (or adding to an old one) at one of our Heritage Craft Workshops. We had amazing feedback from these workshops last year and we’ve asked the same expert teachers to return again this year – plus we have even more crafts added to the programme. We’ve got stone carving, wood carving, gold leaf gilding, quilling, calligraphy, bookbinding and more. You can see the programme and book here Heritage Craft Workshops – Beverley Minster. New workshops are being added all the time so keep looking!
In the meantime, the Community Connections Project has been busy running workshops for children from St Mary’s Summer Club. Last week we made our own Boggarts from clay and natural materials. Boggarts are cheeky little creatures, always up to mischief and can be found hiding away in woods and forests. Be sure to look out for them! Then this week, we investigated the graffiti in the Minster and created our own graffiti art. If you don’t know about the Minster graffiti then just pop in and ask – it is a reminder of the people who designed, built, visited and sought sanctuary in the building and each mark tells its own story in the history of the Minster. But please don’t add to it, we have a visitors’ book for that now!
So enjoy the rest of your summer whatever you’re doing, please do get in touch with us if you’d like us to tell you more about Gaia, the Eco Fair, the Heritage Craft workshops or any other part of the Community Connections project and we’ll be happy to chat.
annanadcathy.act@gmail.com
1.7.23
June was a busy month of preparation and meetings! We are just about ready to launch our programme of heritage craft workshops which will see us working again with the amazing craftspeople we hosted last year! Keep an eye out for details and booking information to be announced in the next few weeks!
We’ve been asked many times about when these workshops would return. They were so popular and we found people were so eager to practise or learn a skill under the watchful eye of someone in the know! We’ll be providing a short bio for each of the course leaders and trust us when we say, there’s some impressive credentials. We’ve chosen to work with local people, with excellent skills! You won’t be disappointed.
The summer will also, hopefully, provide a chance for us to work in the Secret Garden! This is a space at The Minster that holds a special place in our hearts. Judy and her team work tirelessly to keep it looking immaculate all year round and we’re just so grateful they allow us in to enjoy the surroundings. It’s a beautiful hidden gem and one that provides solace and calm for lots of groups we work with.
We’re also hoping to welcome lots of families to The Minster this summer! We’ll have some fun activities and a little bit of learning…so keep your eyes peeled for details!
As always, if you want to join us…or know anything more…contact us…
annaandcathy.act@gmail.com or find us at @ACT_HERITAGE_
June 2023
We’re back! And we’re very pleased to be working with Beverley Minster again.
So, the Minster’s Heritage Lottery funded Sanctuary Project was completed in December 2022 and with it, our roles as Learning & Engagement Officers. You all know how sad we were to leave the Minster and the connections we’d made with so many wonderful people and community organisations. There was still so much good the Project could do, but, as with everything, we needed to find funds to continue the work.
So the fantastic news is that the Minster has received a grant from the Deflog Foundation* to fund a very similar project and have asked us (under our new guise of ACT Heritage & Engagement Facilitators) to run it. The key aim of the project is to build connections within the Beverley community with the people who maybe at the moment feel a bit unconnected. We all of us need as many life opportunities, creative outlets and friends as possible. We all want to feel a sense of security and belonging. This project will, through workshops, events and learning opportunities at the Minster, engage with anyone who will benefit from what we will be offering. We would love you all to be part of the project – keep an eye on our social media and the Minster newsletters for how you can get involved.
And the really good news is that, as part of the project, we will be offering the heritage craft workshops again. So for everyone who was disappointed not to get a place on last year’s workshops or anyone who had so much fun that they want to do it all again, the opportunity is yours! There’ll be stone carving, wood working, gold leaf gilding, calligraphy, quilling, glass work, needle felting and much more. As soon as the programme of events is finalised we’ll be spreading the word through social media and Minster outlets.
One date already fixed is Heritage Open Days on Friday 8 and Saturday 9 September. The wonderful Alan Micklethwaite will be running a stone carving day on the Friday and we will be having a day of storytelling, storymaking, crafts and trails for all ages on the Saturday. Plus tours of the Minster and rare access to the magical Secret Garden. We’re very excited about both of these days and will let you have more information soon.
So, it is brilliant to be back, please get in touch with us if you’d like to be part of the project or have connections to people who would benefit from the project.
Cathy & Anna
annaandcathy.act@gmail.com or find us at @ACT_HERITAGE_
* The DEFLOG Foundation
An organisation providing grants to voluntary and charitable organisations to transform and make a significant difference to their local communities primarily, but not exclusively, in Beverley and Driffield.