Tower and Town, February 2021

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A Thousand Christmas Angels

We all know that 2020 was a year like no other; many of us have had to learn new skills and work creatively within compromise. Christmas celebrations? A meaningful experience of Christmas within the limitations of the pandemic?

How could St Mary’s Church celebrate with the community at a time when social interaction is the very thing COVID has denied us?

A heavenly whisper planted a seed that grew into a vision that blossomed into an extraordinary and uplifting experience involving hundreds of Marlborough folk of all ages.

A Thousand Christmas Angels was born.

A paper angel, based upon a stained glass window in the church, was created and made available for decoration using: paint; collage; words; glitter; prayers ...

Schools took part, pre-schools, the elderly and housebound, church members and many, many more.

Decorated angel shapes were collected, threaded and suspended across the nave of the church in a glorious heavenly throng! This became the angelic and star-lit centrepiece of a journey through the stripped-out church telling the Christmas story. Angels floated aloft in their hundreds. Baby Jesus lay in a manger that was as simple and sparse as on the first Christmas Day, but surrounded by colour, richness and the explosive worship of life-size painted figures, bursting with joy! “The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light!” Christ is born!

Beautiful lighting and a specially created soundtrack were woven through the space to create an immersive experience; some visitors were brought to tears.

So many people made angels, hung angels; so many helped bend hooks or thread or paint or cut out figures or nailed up boards or were stewards ... And it was the very participation of individuals that added up to so much, much, more.

We weren’t certain that we would get a thousand angels. We had close to two thousand. We hoped that people would visit. There were more than 500 visitors in the first week alone.

One little girl was so enthralled that she made a Christmas card to tell the church that “I love your thing.” Some more of the many responses: “This is the most wonderful thing I have seen in a church” ... ”Speechless - this is truly amazing” ... “Very much needed bit of connection with the good side of life” ... “Well done to our community” ... “What a beautiful idea in troubled times – such a feeling of peace, serenity and hope” ...

Helen Stokes