One Day - at St Mary's: August 10th

A Fringe Day at St Mary's Cathedral: August 10th
VENUE 91 ....

The debt of gratitude the Battle Trust owes to St Mary's will be hard to repay. Its staff are angels, it's an ideal venue and, like we found at Bayeux and Dunblane, its cathedral aisles are the perfect gallery. St Mary's has also brought focussed lights to the artwork for the first time which gives an already fine cathdral an extra glow as you enter.

'Visitors begin arriving at 10 am; during the day we count 500 or more. They look with the now familiar amazement at the colour of it all, the skill of it all, the impossibility of it being created in the way it was in just 9 months. Everyone expresses their admiration, buying books and making much appreciated charitable donations.




Midday concert from the Duo Concertante

'During The Fringe, the Tapestry is but one of the many excellent attractions offered at the cathedral. The Anna Frank Touring Exhibition hangs in the southern trancept. And every day of the week throughout August a concert is given. On Augst 10th it is played at lunchtime by Sharon Dowsett flute and Adele Neilson guitar. It is beautifully presented.





Choral Evensong is sung at 5.30 pm

'Visitors continue to stream through the cathedral all afternoon, supplemented at 5.30 pm by worshippers attending Evensong. The visiting choir is from St Luke's Episcopalian Cathedral in Sault Ste. Marie, at the head of Lake Superior in Northern Ontario. They sing Mallinger; Sumsion in A; and Harris' Fear not, O land as the anthem.



'The opportunity of a future cathedral venue for the Tapestry is too good to miss! Immediate discussions with Organist and Choir Master Stephen Mallinger agree the Tapestry shall visit Sault Ste. Marie in July during its 2012 tour to Canada and New York.

Evensong over, talk turns to our future home ...

'The cathedral's wee library/ reading area is an excellent spot at the end of the day to relax and review progress, looking forward to the forthcoming visit of the Deputy Maire of Bayeux! And to talk of the Tapestry's eventual home in Prestonpans. Raising £2 million sounds a tall order but the spontaneous generosity of so many visitors to the Tapestry since July 2010 and most lately at St Mary's has already seen the first £40,000 safely into trust. And that's before the Trust's Appeal team moves into formal action mode. Trust Patron Sir Patrick Grant of Dalvey [Representer of Sir John Cope but very much a Highlander and a Jacobite!] joins in the discussions as does his son and other new found friends. Wise thoughts and grand ideas flow into the night, latterly at Brown's on George Street!'