YORKSHIRE NEWS
On the Yorkshire Life radar: events, openings and happenings across Yorkshire
PRECIOUS PIECES
Thriving York church St Michael le Belfrey (known as The Belfrey) is offering its congregation and the public the chance to obtain a slice of its history, with the reuse of the wood that’s been reclaimed from the Grade I listed church and made into quality furniture. All the wooden pews, screen and gallery have been repurposed into furniture including small to large pew seats, benches, footstools, tables, bookcases and bespoke furniture.
See the furniture at belfrey.org/ furniture
WALKS FOR ALL
Heritage funding will encourage more ethnically and culturally diverse communities to enjoy Yorkshire’s peaks and moors. Funding from Championing National Parks for Ever yone to the tune of £557,955 will enable Peak District Mosaic to continue to raise awareness of and improve accessibility to the Peak District, North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks.
This is part of the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s £15.6m to promote the benefits of getting outside and connecting with nature.
Seasons in the spotlight
Thorp Perrow Arboretum welcomes British landscape painter Rebecca Styles as their very first Artist in Residence. Throughout the year, Rebecca will be sketching and painting en plein air in Thorp Perrow’s 100 acres of parkland, making works inspired by its spectacular variety of trees as the seasons change.
In July, Rebecca’s spring and summer sketches will be on show at Thorp Perrow’s Summer House, and following her residency the entire collection of drawings and paintings will be exhibited to the public.
Landscape is at the heart of Rebecca’s practice, which uses natural materials such as local earth pigments, grit, charcoal and other found materials to create her oil paints. As her year at Thorp Perrow progresses, she will be hosting talks and workshops on plein air painting and the creation of foraged earth paints.
Rebecca says: ‘During my visits to Thorp Perrow this year I will be out and about with my paints making notes and sketches, and I very much hope that visitors will come and say hello if they see me, to chat about nature and learn more about its influence on my work.
‘I feel honoured to be given the chance to spend time exploring and painting these beautiful gardens, with their stunning trails and glades, important plant collections and champion trees. I will be busy all year in the park, and back at my studio I will be creating an arboretum collection of oil paintings for exhibition.’
Lady Ropner of Thorp Perrow says: ‘This is our first art residency at Thorp Perrow, and we are delighted to be working with an artist with such an intimate connection
