Once again this year, Craft & Chat worked with members of our church and local groups including Ashbourne WI to put on the yarn-bombing and the displays inside church.

We put out over 100 plant pots each filled with knitted or crocheted flowers, together with a watering can which was sustaining a large pot of allium. (As it turned out, the rain made any need for a watering can rather superfluous!!) We attached a guard of honour of bunnies up the railings on the steps, together with bees, birdies and lots of added extras.

New for this year was the Tree of Hopes and Dreams. We wanted to be more interactive, to invite people into our space and to be part of something which they could find meaningful. Not quite a prayer station but as near as you can get without it! So young and old, visitors and locals tied a ribbon over the course of the summer. And with each ribbon, a person remembered and offered something which was on their heart – a hope or a dream, but also a symbol of their ongoing concerns for the world and its people.

Similarly inside the church we offered displays which included an interactive element. After a display of woodland and pond creatures in the foyer – reminding us of our Creator God - three boards interpreted each person of the Trinity, with a prayer station and also a space to write a note about how the Holy Spirit works in the world. Comments included:
•‘Every time an open hand is held out in love’
•‘In the kindness of strangers’
•‘In the encouragement of friends’.

And we were encouraged too by the comments in the visitors’ book. It was clear that people had felt able to accept the invitation to come into our church and find space to encounter not just our displays but also their own thoughts. It was great to read that one visitor had taken photos to use back in their own church.

So we would like to thank everyone involved – those who contributed, those who encouraged, those who helped set it all up on two busy days, those who prayed that it would meet people in their lives. And especially thanks to all the knitters and crocheters at our church and at the WI; to Mustard who found fantastic images of crosses around the town, and to Kids @ Cornerstone who made lovely flowers.