A TWO-WEEK festival of culture, heritage and architecture is being planned next month in Barnard Castle.
Workshops, tours, performances and other activities will be on offer at St Mary’s Church from Monday, July 12, to Friday, July 23, as part of a celebration of a £400,000 repair to the Grade-I listed building last year.
The Windows To The World Festival is being organised in conjunction with community archaeology group Digventures and is part of a community involvement project which was interrupted by Covid-19 lockdowns.
Before the pandemic the group had arranged talks on a variety of subjects as well as workshops, including one on photogrammetry, which produced 3D images of historic objects in and around the church.
Community archaeologist Johanna Ungemach said: “Everything came to a halt in March last year and then it picked up again in January with online talks about the church, folklore, railways and other topics. Unfortunately, we have not been able to do many things in person.”
Despite the easing of restrictions to allow people to attend the festival in person, all of the events will be streamed live to allow as many people as possible to join in.
Ms Ungemash said: “Everything will have a virtual component so if all else fails we can still have a virtual festival. We are hoping to get as many people physically involved in some way – historically, culturally or architecturally.”
Among the things people can look forward to is an exhibition of stained glass, three evening concerts and talks on such things Women of the Durham Coalfield. There will also be guided tours and drop-ins by schools.
A unique part of the festival will be versions of the church in 1500s and 1800s developed in Minecraft by students from Teesdale School and Barnard Castle School. Ms Ungemach said: “We talked on Zoom and they were really excited to get to play Minecraft at school, but I don’t think they knew what they were in for.”
More information about the festival can be found on the church website at stmarysbarnardcastle.org.uk.
