Bradford Cathedral – Gets Weaving – City of Culture

Bradford Cathedral is inviting visitors to stitch themselves into a new tapestry to celebrate the city’s unique heritage for the UK City of Culture year.

Bradford Cathedral – Gets Weaving – City of Culture

A loom will be installed in Bradford Cathedral from Monday May 5th, part of the “Weaving Stories” project, a UK City of Culture 2025 initiative.

Introducing the Weaving Stories Project.

This project invites the public to contribute to a large tapestry that will be displayed in the cathedral next February.

The tapestry will showcase the shared stories of Bradford’s wool trade and its global communities and there is a special soundscape telling the unique stories of the people and the trade that made the city today.

The loom is located in the West End of Bradford Cathedral. Anyone can contribute, regardless of skill or experience, during the cathedral’s opening hours and help is available in different languages.

The project also includes educational tours, live weaving demonstrations, and community gatherings.

The Dean of Bradford, the Very Revd Andy Bowerman, said:

‘As part of our major project for City of Culture 2025, we will be helping people explore the rich heritage of Bradford through the historic threads of the wool trade that go back to our foundations 1,400 years ago and bind our global city together. 

‘We will host demonstrations, offer tours around our many links with the wool trade and present art exhibitions on the theme of our woollen history. 

‘To accompany this we will be placing a large loom in the Cathedral and inviting everyone to add a piece of wool to a large tapestry that will hang in the Cathedral after 2025. 

’This legacy tapestry will represent the countless stories of people’s connection to Bradford,’ he added.

Other events in the Weaving Stories programme include:

• Airedale Stitchers – Our Bradford (12th May – 20th June) – Images of what Bradford means to members of the group, with the images represented in a variety of textile techniques
• Knit the Stripes (1st July – 28th August) – A 15-metre-long warming stripe display that charts our changing temperature from the 1850s to the present
• Woven Lives (8th July – 1st September) – A powerful artwork using woven coloured glass and symbols, lit from within, telling the lives and stories of the people of Bradford.
• The Knitting Pilgrim – ( 7 May) –  A one man show with three huge-knitted tapestries and a fifteen year search for answers. Kirk Dunn, churchgoer, actor and knitter, will knit in front of three large projection screens and explain, how, prompted by the tragedy of 9/11, he found himself knitting a triptych of tapestries, designed in the style of stained-glass windows, which explore the commonalities and conflicts of the Abrahamic faiths and his 15-year journey exploring interfaith issues and peace. On stage there will be baskets of yarn and knitting needles, and he will invite the audience to knit along if they wish.  There will be discussion time at the end of the show too and Kirk plans to use all of the pieces made into a new piece of art to represent people knitted together. Doors open at 6:30pm. Refreshments available.

Tickets for the Knitting Pilgrim can be found here.