Cathy and Anna’s Blog
April 2025
It’s been a while since our last blog, many apologies to those that like to check in and follow our work. ACT Heritage HQ has been very busy with lots of behind the scenes work building up to our heritage and school offers. We took a well earned break for part of the Easter holidays.
As I type today I am sitting outside of the Minster (in a supposed heatwave which hasn’t quite shown up today) and I am surrounded by the tap, tap, tapping of stone carvers. Alan Micklethwaite is back for his sixth course with us and some beautiful pieces are currently underway. Alan is back in September (and also possibly for a bonus course in June…watch this space for details).
On Tuesday 13th May at 7pm we’re bringing back Steve Rial. He was Plumber/Glazier at the Minster for thirty three years and he has some superb stories to tell. The evening promises to be fun and informative, delivered directly from the horse’s mouth. It’s £15 and this includes a copy of Steve’s book so it’s a superb offering. Don’t miss out and book below…
https://beverleyminster.org.uk/product/an-evening-with-steve-rial-tuesday-13-may-19-00-20-30/
In addition to this we have a few more programmes running that are not yet sold out… Creative Crafting with Debra Rial a lovely afternoon of sewing and crafting under Debra’s watchful eye. We also have two final places on “Roses and Castles” which explores the tradition of canal art. Don’t miss out, places can be booked on the link below.
https://beverleyminster.org.uk/heritage-craft-workshops/
The popularity of our programmes has grown significantly over the last two years and it’s encouraging to see so many people wanting to attend and give heritage craft a go! If there’s something you’re desperate to try, but we don’t offer it…we’d encourage you to get in touch on the email below and we’ll endeavour to find a superb tutor! We would love to run blacksmithing, so if there’s any mobile blacksmiths reading, please drop us an email!
January 2025
Hello to all of our faithful blog followers! We hope 2025 is going well so far for you. The 2025 diary is already filling up fast for the Community Connections team. If you’re looking for your next craft challenge take a look at the programme of workshops that we have in place Heritage Craft Workshops – Beverley Minster. We’re starting with bookbinding and gilding on glass in February and we have something every few weeks from then on. Some workshops still have places available but, as we know, they get snapped up quickly.
We’ve had a busy few months since we last posted a blog. Everything has been great, from helping out at the Experience Christmas schools’ day to decorating our Community Connections tree as part of the Christmas Tree Festival. But we think our highlight might have been in November when we hosted a series of woodcarving workshops for the Beverley Branch of AndysManClub. If you’ve not heard of them, AndysManClub are a men’s suicide prevention charity, where on a Monday evening, anywhere in the country, any man over 18 can go along to a Branch meeting, be made welcome, and have a cup of tea, a few biscuits and a chat (or not) with other men. It’s a fantastic organisation.
Some of the Beverley guys came to us every Saturday for 4 weeks to carve several pieces of wood which will be constructed to form a larger display piece. This was all under the supervision of our wonderful woodcarver Allen Stichler and it was entirely funded by the Deflog Foundation. In the Spring we’ll be having an unveiling event in the Sanctuary Garden where we hope that this piece will remain. It’s a lovely way to represent a community partnership between the Minster, local artisans and Andy’sManClub and also to show the living legacy of sanctuary in all its forms.
We’ll keep you posted on what the project is up to but here’s a little teaser to intrigue you. We’re hoping to bring back one of the Minster’s finest craftsmen for an informal talk and Q&A event sometime soon. It’s sure to be fun and fascinating. Watch this space…
October 2024
If you’ve never heard of an organisation called Run With It, look them up.. Or better still check out their website https://www.runwithithull.co.uk/ and have a look at the great stuff they’re doing for young people in the area. We are fortunate to be working with them soon on a programme of education for some younger learners. We’re excited about this collaboration as not only does it offer fantastic opportunities for young people, it brings together two organisations who receive support from the Deflog Foundation. We are always really thankful to the foundation for enabling us to bring experiences to people in the local area.
Today, as I write I have a group of heritage crafters learning about canal art in our canals and waterways day course. They’ve perfected some brush strokes and are now practising their first rose under the close supervision of Lynda Brookhouse who has perfected this skill over the course of 30 years. We’re in The Minster today, it’s a beautiful place for a course. Just in the time we’ve been here the sun has moved around the windows in St Katherine’s Chapel highlighting the beauty of this area of the church. We have to wrap up a little warmer when we’re in here, but it’s always worth it. It also means we get to have lots of chats with visiting members of the public who are interested in traditional heritage crafts.
We continue to want to work with schools! If you’re a teacher and your budget is prohibitive…please do get in touch with us….we can talk to you about outreach sessions or think creatively about how we can bring Beverley Minster into your classroom.
Finally, and most importantly for this month. We would like to pay tribute to a wonderful woman. Someone who believed in our capabilities and worked tirelessly to find funding to assist us in our school’s work. The amazing Jane Chipperton, her passing has left a huge void in the learning and education team at The Minster.
Jane had such enthusiasm for schools and education, and a wealth of knowledge that was unsurpassable following years of experience in education. We learned from her, and harvested ideas she planted. Meeting with her was always exciting and always a joy. She worked with us to produce programmes and experiences for local school children and we will endeavour to continue this legacy.
Condolences to her lovely husband Chris, their children and the wider family, she will be very sadly missed.
September 2024
A glance out of the window today is telling me that autumn is definitely approaching. The transitions and changes make for a beautiful time of year. When you closely follow an academic calendar, it also feels like the start of a new year. We always run our heritage offers September through to July with a break in the summer, commencing on Heritage Open Weekend! So we very much hit the ground running last week launching with Stone Carving. This was Alan’s fourth session at Beverley Minster, and…fear not…he will be back for a fifth.
Here’s a lovely piece of feedback we received by email, which cements our opinion that we work with the very best people in their craft.
“Many thanks for organising the fabulous Stone carving workshop last Friday. We were so fortunate to be able to work outside in front of the amazing and inspiring West doors of the Minster. Having never done any stone carving before Alan our teacher was a great communicator and his relaxed approach despite his obvious amazing skills brought the best out of us.
It was a treat to be able to take home a piece of stone carving to be proud of.”
On Saturday we worked with Sal Heron, a local artist who joined us to explore people’s journeys in a large scale map. It was a day of people sitting, talking, sharing. Including children’s experiences of disliking the dentist through to a beautiful life story beginning in Ireland. The outcome, although beautiful, was unimportant! The process and the discussion…that was what mattered. At least two people thanked Cathy and I “For just listening”. Of course, we were riveted in people’s life stories… our job is never a chore.
Today, as I type I am seated in St Katherine’s Chapel and to my left are a group of stained glass workshoppers. Lin Fletcher has joined us today to support people through this craft and I’ve handed over the organisational baton and am just joyously watching her expertly support her willing participants. One of our participants has just told me “I am loving this…I can’t believe it…I can’t believe I am making something like that to take away.”
Lin will be back… we’re hoping in November to create some beautiful hanging Christmas decorations. Look out for the date and book early to avoid disappointment.
Going forward we have a wood carving programme taking place, Alan Stichler is returning to work with some of the members of Andy’s Man Club to create a large carving. We will be sure to post pictures when it’s complete!
We are hoping for lots of schools this academic year, we had a superb day with Lockington at the end of the last academic year. What a super set of students and teachers. We can tailor visits to fit with the needs of the programme of study, curriculum and pupils. We can also come out to do outreach work (we know that currently coach prices are prohibitive). Please let all of your friends in education know and get in touch – details at the bottom of the page.
June 2024
We’re wondering if it might possibly be starting to get a bit warmer. We’ve still got jumpers on at the moment but a week or so ago it was jumpers and coats so we sense summertime is round the corner.
We hope so because we love being outdoors. We see the benefits, both physical and mental, that time in nature and fresh air brings. We’ve held a couple of sessions with the Children’s Centre in the last few weeks where we’ve been able to make the most of the outdoors settings that the Minster provides.
For one session we were in the Secret Garden. We are so very grateful to Judy and the Garden team for all their hard work to provide the most beautiful and serene space, but also because they are happy to let their space be used by the families, children and babies who come to our sessions. They understand that there’s little point in having a beautiful space if no one uses it. We had over 60 people attend our last Secret Garden day. The lawn was a buggy park, there was a treasure trail around the garden, the parents sat on rugs relaxing, chatting and connecting with each other. The children were amazed at the hiding places, the running around space, the fish in the pond and the fact that a (whisper it quietly…) secret garden that no one else can come to is really very very special.
We used the Minster grounds by the West Door for another session where we made leaf rubbings and built Boggarts. If you don’t know what a Boggart is, it’s a mischievous tree sprite, usually up to tricks but kind of friendly if treated right. We made them out of clay and sticks or other bits that we could find lying around. The children then placed them in the trees around the grounds. If you look carefully you might even spot a few that are still there. It was a bit of a chilly day so the bigger children were outside with us and the babies were on rugs with their parents at the back of the church. Anyone visiting the Minster would have seen a community that welcomes families, babies and children into its building and doesn’t mind if it’s a little bit noisier than usual. These families will build memories of these days and forever associate the Minster with welcoming them in and making them feel that the Minster is as much theirs as it is anyone else’s.
We’ve got more outdoor days planned over the summer so lets hope the sun stays out.
April 2024
We’re writing this to a background sound of hammer and chisel on wood. It’s Saturday afternoon and Allen Stichler is leading a group of novice wood carvers through the skills that they need to turn a rectangle of plain wood into a beautiful carving. We’ve got fish, owls and Yorkshire roses all emerging and after a couple more hours everyone will be leaving with a finished piece that they should be proud of. It’s not easy work; there’s sleeves rolled up, brows wiped and arms that will really feel it tomorrow but there is a palpable sense of concentration and satisfaction coming from the Parish Hall.
It has become clear that these Heritage Craft workshops offer so much more than the opportunity to learn a new skill. They provide a few hours of intense concentration where what’s going on in our lives and in the rest of the world is forgotten for a while, all we can focus on is what we’re creating in front of us. It is the very definition of “Mindfulness”. And we all need a bit of that occasionally. A time to calm our minds and still the frantic and sometimes chaotic thoughts that compete for our attention; a time to strip away everything but the methodical chipping and tapping of wood or stone, the brushing of gold leaf, the stitching of the spine of a book.
We’re so very pleased with how popular and successful these Heritage Craft workshops have been, how word about them spreads and how the students that come to us come back again and again. If you’ve not tried one out for yourself please do take a look at our page where all the upcoming workshops are listed. They’re all suitable for beginners and everyone is made to feel very welcome, we’d love to see you there.
February 2024
What a busy late January and February we’ve had! Our heritage craft workshops are just flying and we’re currently in talks with more tutors to further expand our offering.
January saw us trying our hand at book binding, it was a truly superb day. So much history in the craft and much skill and concentration required. Emma Lloyd-Jones was so knowledgeable and we will be looking to bring her back for another beginners course and….due to demand…an extension course for those who attended in January! You ask and we will deliver (or at the very least we will try our hardest to).
On Saturday we welcomed back the fantastic Rob Oldfield, who facilitated a sketching workshop in the Minster. The results were truly fantastic and this session brought together such a range of ages including a teenager with his Grandad. The group members chose a subject within the Minster and Rob moved around, individually supporting and guiding. There were some superb skills on show. We will be looking to bring this back in summer with Rob focusing on the exterior of the building.
Would you like to attend a regular art group at the Minster? If so, get in touch annaandcathy.act@gmail.com
We are sensing there could be a demand for this and we are happy to look to facilitate it and bring a group together.
We met some lovely half term visitors to Beverley during our holiday drop in session! Everyone has a story of what brought them to the town and into the Minster. We love to hear it. We made some pretty craft activities which coincided with the illuminating arts display. If you were lucky enough to catch that, it was such a beautiful display of colour and image. We are so lucky to have our amazing Minster as a backdrop to showcase wonderful things.
Keep visiting, keep donating when you do (every penny counts to look after our beautiful building) and keep telling us your stories about what brought you to our town and our church.
See you in March!
January 2024
The aim of the Community Connections Project is to bring together people from Beverley’s diverse communities, explore what we have in common, work together to share knowledge and experience, connect with the history of the town and build networks of support.
We’d like to tell you about part of this project that reflects these aims perfectly.
After we saw the beautiful tree that was decorated by Beverley Lace Society for the Minster’s Christmas Tree Festival in 2022, we thought that lace making would fit perfectly into our programme of Heritage Craft Workshops. There was plenty of local enthusiasm from all kinds of people who were keen to try their hand and their bobbins and Frances offered to run a few classes. Fast forward a few months and the initial classes have come to an end but…the lace makers were loving their new craft far too much to stop. So, they got together to form their own group, still led by Frances and still based at the Minster, but organised by the members. Maybe you saw this group demonstrating their craft in the Minster during this year’s Christmas Tree Festival. Community Connections in action!
The journey of the lace makers makes us so proud. A group of strangers come together to learn a heritage craft – old to society but completely new to them – and they connect with both the craft and each other so well that that project takes on a life of its own, continues to grow, and continues to feed their creative souls.
There’s a lot of feeding of creative souls going on in our other Heritage Craft workshops. Always supplemented by a ready supply of biscuits for more corporeal feeding. We’ve already run sold-out workshops in stone carving, gold leaf gilding, quilling and wood carving, with plenty more on the agenda for the next few months. Take a look at what’s coming up here Heritage Craft Workshops We have such amazing feedback from the participants on these workshops, usually a combination of the satisfaction of having learned a new skill, and the sense of calm and wellbeing that a day of mindful concentration and working with your hands can bring.
Keep an eye on our webpage – new workshops are being added all the time. And we would very much welcome suggestions for ideas for other workshops, especially if you are a teacher of a heritage craft!
Whatever you’re doing to connect with your creativity, whether that’s coming to one of our workshops, writing your first novel or simply doodling on your shopping list, enjoy it and know that it’s doing you the world of good.
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.