Coventry Cathedral

I spent Monday morning this week hanging the panels in Coventry Cathedral on a specially made 12ft supporting screen just inside the main entrance. Each panel is lit by a spotlight and I'm very pleased with the result. You can also see the ruins of the old Cathedral through the glass screen which is quite poignent given that my centre panel commemorates the Coventry blitz of seventy years ago. Maybe as a result of their presence I will get to meet some survivors of that terrible night in November 1940. The panels will remain on show until the 3rd of April ie. for the six weeks of Lent.

Many of you will have received a Newsletter and invitation to the informal reception there at 1pm. on Saturday 27th. I will be giving a short introduction to the panels and look forward to meeting up with a few friends from the Midlands.

If you need an invitation card ( otherwise there is a Cathedral entrance fee) e-mail me at roy.beryl@virgin.net and I will send you one.

Last Post at the Menin Gate

I recently made a second visit to Ypres in Belgium to attend the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate. The bugles sound at 6pm every day of every year in memory of the many thousands of British and Commonwealth soldiers who gave their lives there in World War One. The sixty thousand names inscribed on the walls are the ones they never found A very moving experience. I also visited Tyne Cot Cemetery and some preserved trenches. The short film I made is now on the website and youtube.

Coventry

The installation of the panels in Coventry Cathedral will be part of the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the blitzing of the city in November 1940 which destroyed St Michaels Cathedral and most of the medieval city centre.

In the 1950's Coventry was twinned with Dresden as an act of reconciliation. One of the panels to be exhibited is dedicated to Dresden