45Days
A daily collaboration
Weds 22nd Feb - Fri 7th Apr 2023
A pop-up gallery and creative space.
Running all the way through Lent.
From Ash Wednesday to Good Friday.
A collective, a collaboration, a gathering of talents.
Friends, friends of friends and friends still to meet.
The Irrepressible Pilgrimage
Liverpool Cathedral to Hull Minster
Sat 28th May - Sat11th June 2022
A follow on from 2021’s Heart Walks (see below). Inspired by a Trans Pennine Trail sign on the penultimate walk which said: Liverpool – 179 miles, sparking the thought of just carrying on from where we left off.
“Irrepressible” because that was my word for 2022. An antidote to the word “resilience” and its overuse during the pandemic. The onus being purely on us to be strong/keep going etc. in the midst of the ongoing unknown. Irrepressible took the pressure off somehow. Something to do with acknowledging limitations and embracing the life of the Spirit.
“Pilgrimage” because that’s what it became. A rising need/longing just to get out and walk. And be. Think, pray, write. Keep it simple. Keep it quiet. Keep it off Facebook. Keep it between friends. Those journeying with us in spirit and in prayer.
Bit by bit a plan took shape. And instead of going from Hull to Liverpool, the route got flipped, seeing as we had to be in Liverpool anyway at the end of May for an event at the Anglican Cathedral. Which seemed as good a place as any to start.
Driving there from Hull the night before, I sensed the God-whisper: “Well done!” Before we’d even started. Before one foot was put in front of the other. Before the days of sore legs, stiff ankles, sudden tumbles, sodden leggings. Before we’d even started there was grace. It wasn’t about performing or proving anything or pushing an agenda. It was just about grace and dwelling with God. From Liverpool Cathedral to Hull Minster. In the church of the great outdoors.
And it was fabulous!! Most days it didn’t rain. And the sore legs grew less sore and the stiff ankles less stiff. And the tumbles only happened once or twice. Most of the time it was ace. An ace grace space. With Willoughby Wendy coming into her own as the support van and Gav being the wingman of wonderfulness. Plus friends walking in solidarity at the start and the end (big thanks Shirley, Christine and Liane).
Fiona xx
The Heart Walks
Around Hull and East Yorkshire
Sun 21st Feb - Sun 31st Oct 2021
These were fortnightly walks that started during Lockdown #3. When churches were shut and most went online. So we gathered outside instead. A small group of friends. A fellowship on foot. Walking out a prayer for the love of Hull and East Yorkshire.
Roslyn bringing stories and some history of the local areas. Christine pitching up with communion and theological insights. Liz enacting the Breastplate of St Patrick. All of us chatting along the way. Most of us finding moments of solitude and silence. Processing the pandemic and all its effects. On us, our families, friends, communities, the places we walked through.
Covering 70 miles over 14 walks, so about 5 miles a walk. Starting and finishing at Hessle Foreshore, part of the Trans Pennine Trail which stretches from Hornsea to Southport via Liverpool and Hull.
Fiona and Gav xx
Fifty Fun Things
A playful pilgrimage towards the big 5 0
Mon14th Sept - Mon 2nd Nov 2020
The plan was to do a fun thing everyday and post it on Facebook. And to write my overflow of thoughts in a blog. To share the joy and mark the journey. Especially at a time when friends couldn't gather and parties weren't happening. So instead, the party went online.
It was also a FUNdraiser for The Flying Seagull Project. A troupe of clowns, magicians, circus performers and musicians who work and play tirelessly around the world to bring smiles to those in need. Like street kids in Cambodia, youngsters in care in the UK and children living in refugee camps in Greece. So a seriously fun thing and a cause close to my heart.
Here's what occurred anyway. Fun things everyday. In all their randomness and wonder:
https://fiftyfunthings.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/FiftyFunThings
Fiona xx
Cycle for Care4Calais
with Hull Help for Refugees
April - Aug 2020
I was lucky enough to be invited by the charity, Hull Help for Refugees, to cycle to Calais from Hull with a group of wonderful, fit, energetic and hardcore distance cyclists to help raise funds to purchase tents for refugees in Northern France. We normally reclaim these items at festivals but due to Covid and festivals not operating we couldn’t salvage.
It had been a while since I’d pushed peddles and in all honesty, I genuinely thought I was fitter than I was. The first few sessions were tough. One near exhausting, when I collapsed with utter confusion and had to be rescued by my lovely woman. Towards the end of my cycling adventures, my lovely woman had to rescue me again after a 70+ miles day when I was proper banjaxed and my racing bike was starting to grind itself to destruction.
Due to the first lockdown, we weren’t able to cycle to Calais in 5 days but as a collective we decided to do a 5 week challenge instead to get our equivalent miles in. Plus it gave others the ability to join in and support the charity Care4Calais in any means they could. This was an international effort with participants in Greece as well as all over the UK.
Everybody involved really did challenge themselves good and proper! Pushing mental and physical boundaries. Getting out there and putting the miles in over and over, whatever the weather. People tried new things, discovered new places, went further than they thought they would ever do, did things that frightened them and got sunburnt, drenched and thoroughly exhausted.
Between us all, we accumulated over 5600 miles - the equivalent of the overland distance from London to Damascus and back - and raised £6,247 which is enough for FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY TENTS!!
It was an honour and an absolute total privilege to be involved and raise some much needed funds.
🕊❤️ Gav