The Stroud Good Friday March of Witness

Every Good Friday, members of Churches Together in Stroud put on a March of Witness around the town. There is a short open air service, attended by members of all ages, with musical accompaniment and hand made banners. Then the march, led by a man carrying a gigantic cross, proceeds around town, with various stops for reading and hymn singing, before ending up outside the Subscription Rooms for a final act of worship, which includes singing and circle dancing.

I'd never attended or really known much about this before, but my sister TML, who is a blipper in NZ, had mentioned children's Christian camps for Easter, so it reminded me. I decided to go and blip. That was ok, there were several press photographers there too. I've tried to get some candid shots, but in truth the whole event was relaxed, with only the teenage children and younger ones showing signs of restlessness at times. The bitter weather didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits, though as you can see, everyone's feeling the cold. I think I'd expected it to be more like a Catholic Stations of the Cross event and to last for several hours. Good Friday was tremendously solemn when I was a child in Dublin. I really did used to feel guilty about everything.

Afterwards, we went to an exhibition of prints by Cuban printmakers, and there we had a most interesting conversation with another printmaker, Maxine Relton. I noticed she had a folder of information about Riga, Latvia, and asked her about that. It turns out that not only did she exhibit there last year, but that her partner is Latvian, and accompanied her there. They attempted to trace his Latvian roots (his mother having managed to leave the country during, or just before, the Second World War. She showed us some of her exquisite sketches and notes that she is compiling about their search for his family of origin. I've also been to Latvia (before the revolution, when it was still part of the USSR) so found this fascinating. See here.

Then we went to another exhibition of prints. The Impress festival of printmaking festival finishes soon, hence the hurry, but to be honest, after the March of Witness and chatting to Maxine, I could not take in any more. I tend to find art exhibitions quite overwhelming unless I have a guide, preferably of the human sort. CleanSteve says he'll go back tomorrow. I might join him.

As for the rest of this freezing (but sunny) day, I intend to snuggle up with a hottie and a jigsaw and an audiobook! Or I could finish an actual paper book and keep an eye on the ever-dwindling seed supplies in the bird feeders.