0715 Off to visit Tewkesbury where there is an art exhibition by Ian McKillop in the Abbey. A pink dawn glow is present in the sky as I cycle through Salisbury occasionally glimpsing the slender spire of the cathedral.
0725 Someone is doing a complicated transaction at the ticket booth. I ask myself why does it take two members of staff though?
0808 The train is quiet as we pause at Westbury with people dozing or talking softly amongst themselves. A girl with the longest dreadlocks I have ever seen is reading the Guardian.
0956 Alighting at Ashchurch station I’m pleasantly surprised to find that a cycle path has been built all the way into Tewkesbury so I head straight for the medieval abbey and the exhibition. The paintings are largely based on biblical themes and scenes and I’m not taken by very many of them except one illustrating the flight into Egypt after Jesus’s birth. Mary and Joseph are shown walking away from the viewer while stones on the path behind them morph Escher-like into broken baby dolls. It sounds strange in description but, for me, has the most impact.
I’ve brought my camera so spend an hour or so photographing in the abbey - the roof bosses are especially interesting. Have to lay the camera on its back on top of my anorak to get a steady shot. Even so, not many turn out very well.
1215 Feel mentally exhausted on emerging from the Abbey so indulge in a cup of tea at the Abbey cafe called Touching Souls which is notable for having a bronze statue outside that forms the basis of a bad pun – see the photo. I still have some time before I need to start back so I wander up the street and come across the Methodist chapel where there is a notice outside advertising Creation – A Celebration. Intrigued, I go in and find it to be a travelling exhibition interpreting the Genesis creation story made up of forty-two panels of embroidery and painting by a lady called Su Symons. Now, this is one of those moments for me, I’m sure you’ve had them, where the jaw drops in amazement: of all the things I’ve seen this year this has to be one of the best – a real gem which I just stumbled across. Hundreds and hundreds of hours of work; well, well worth seeking out if it comes your way. It’s difficult to put across, but think Kit-William’s-Masquerade-crossed-with-the Lindisfarne-Gospels-and-the-Alhambra. For example one panel shows paintings of butterflies with an embroidered border, really finely drawn; and in another she’s reversed the pattern, embroidering the butterflies in just as much detail. There are probably better artists and better needleworkers but to have both of those talents...? Check out this web site for a few shots illustrating the work:
After ogling at the exhibition and feeling rather elated, I explore Tewkesbury a little. Lots of alleyways criss-cross the town because frequent flooding meant that there was little room for its burgeoning Victorian population to expand outwards. The last flooding was in 2009 and made the national news as I recall. It does give the town a compact feel, being bounded on two sides by the Severn and there is no bridge.
1810 The train back is crowded with middle-aged footie fans returning from some lower division away match or other. Still, I manage to find a seat and by the time we pass Westbury it is mostly empty. Doze off only to awake just in time to scramble off the train at Salisbury – whew that was a close one!
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