Schools Out for Summer!!
Cathedrals are offering a summer of family fun with a wide range of projects including activities, tours, outdoor theatre, dressing up, arts and crafts and cathedral challenges.
Don’t forget if you are visiting any of our cathedrals you need your passport … your Pilgrim Passport … get it stamped at each individual cathedral – why not collect them all!
Gloucester Cathedral has just launched its summer programme with a free summer challenge sheet. Challenges include find the tomb of a murdered king, hunt for a stonemason’s mark, discover 9-year-old King Henry III on his coronation day in one the stained glass windows, climb the tower, dress up as a cathedral character, or lay on the nave floor or use the mirror to see what you can discover on the ceiling. There are stickers and medals for challenges achieved.
Visitors are encouraged to share pictures of themselves completing a challenge on social media using the hashtag #GCsummerchallenge.
The Railway Children will be brought to life for a special outdoor theatre performance against the backdrop of Gloucester Cathedral on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 August 2021.
The show by Gloucestershire theatre company, Jenny Wren Productions, will take place in the Cloister Garth. Guests are encouraged to bring blankets, chairs and a picnic to enjoy before the performance.
Tickets cost £12 per adult, £8 for under-16’s and are available from the Everyman Theatre box office.
The summer programme runs until 5 September and more – including tickets for the show – can be found here.
Worcester has unveiled a summer of free family activities at the Cathedral which will run seven days a week from 4 – 31 August during visiting hours and from 1-3pm on Sundays.
There’s a new digital trail ‘The Tombs are Alive’ which brings historical figures back to life as visitors explore the Cathedral with their smartphone. There are paper trails available too that will explore the stained glass windows – including Worcester’s own pink giraffe – and younger visitors are asked to help Oswald the Mouse on his quest.
To celebrate the 400th anniversary of the City of Worcester Charter, ‘Back to the Charter’ craft and fun family activities will take place from 10.30am-3pm on selected dates exploring the Cathedral’s connections to its city. And in August children aged 8-14 can learn the moves of a civil war pike soldier with Worcester’s pike drills experience
Families can also join in events as part of the Three Choirs Festival held in Worcester Cathedral this week – to find out more and book click here.
For more information about the Cathedral’s summer activities, please visit here.
Ahead of Climate Sunday this weekend, St Edmundsbury Cathedral is inviting visitors to help build a giant earth globe, which will be used for the Cathedral’s service. And next Wednesday (4 August) there will be trails and craft activities themed around our natural world.
Sarah Friswell, Visitor Experience Manager at St Eds said:
“Cathedrals are great spaces for creativity, and we hope that our young visitors will be inspired by the beautiful surroundings.
“We are pleased to be able to offer these family fun days again. They have always been a popular part of our programme.”
Throughout the summer, families can also enjoy helping to add bricks to the Cathedral’s LEGO model. For a donation of £1, another brick is added. Volunteers, who are on duty each day from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm (Sundays 12.30 pm to 2.30 pm) have been building the model for the past five years and it is currently nearing the halfway stage, with over 86,000 bricks added … sorry the cat has already been added!!
Hereford has just opened its latest exhibition Lost and Found in the Mappa Mundi and Chained Library which features four WW2 ARP helmets discovered in the attic, the Saxon Sword and less salubrious items discovered carefully hidden away from prying eyes!
Elizabeth Semper O’Keefe, Cathedral Archivist, said:
“We are very excited to present this eclectic exhibition which is a real mix of objects, books and documents from across the cathedral’s collections. Also on display is The Saxon Sword which, after being away from Hereford for several years for study and research, will be transferring into long term storage when the exhibition closes. There are so many interesting and intriguing stories of how these objects were lost and found again and we look forward to sharing them with our visitors over the next five months.”
Lost & Found runs from Monday 26 July – Friday 31 December and is shown within the Mappa Mundi and Chained Library exhibition, during normal opening hours. The normal admission charge of £6 per person applies (family tickets are also available).
All our cathedrals have special events organised for the summer holidays. Take a look at their individual websites to find out more and remember to check ahead for the latest opening times before travelling.
Please be assured all our Church of England cathedrals have achieved the Visit Britain’s industry standard and consumer charter mark We’re Good to Go which means visitors can be confident that cathedrals are taking all the necessary steps to help ensure people’s safety. Hand sanitiser will be available, and visitors will be asked to respect the need for some social distance between households, and they are welcome to wear a facemask during their visit if they wish.
The NHS QR code will be available for visitors to scan for NHS Test and Trace purposes.
Anyone who has symptoms of Covid-19, or who has been asked to self-isolate, is asked to stay at home.
