As part the grant awarded by the Cultural Recovery Fund, the Abbey received funding to enable us to host a reopening event. We have decided to coincide this with the town wide event of the reopening of Hexham on the 26th June. The event will be an aerial installation of origami angels placed above the Choirstalls. The angels will symbolise those whose lives have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This may involve remembering lives lost in the last year or celebrating those who have helped others. This could be an NHS professional who has stood out to you, a key worker or any individual or group who has helped in any way during difficult times. 

We would love to involve members of the community in this project; local schools and groups will be contacted to make angels and write names of those they wish to remember on the wings. The angels will then be elevated in the Abbey and the installation will be available to view during Abbey opening hours.

We will need a number of volunteers to assist with making origami angels. The paper for these angels has been carefully chosen after much trial and error! This can be collected from the Parish Office and Cath can provide you with the YouTube link to the folding tutorial! If this is something you would like to help with, please get in touch with Cath. Further updates will follow in the weeks ahead!