New FREE Audio Guides for St. Mary’s Church, Fairford

Fairford

New state of the art FREE audio guides are now installed in St Mary’s Church Fairford.

Stained Glass windows come to life in descriptions read by well-known actors and personalities including Dame JOANNA LUMLEY, BILL NIGHY and Sir MARK RYLANCE.

The early 16th century stained glass windows in Fairford’s
St Mary’s Church are the only complete set to have survived the Reformation intact in any Parish church in England. They are so impressive that the poet John Betjeman even chose ‘The Last Judgement’ west window as his “luxury” on the BBC’s Desert Island Discs.

 

 

Theatre Director Nicolas Kent, who lives in the area, was so taken by the beauty of the windows that he had no trouble persuading a good number of well-known actors and personalities to record descriptions of each of the 28 windows.

They include Ron Cook, Lindsay Duncan, Frances de la Tour, Joanna Lumley, Hayley Mills, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Tim Piggott-Smith, Jon Snow, Zoe Wanamaker, and Richard Wilson.

Many of the other voices belong to actors and personalities who live or have lived in the area including David Mallinson, Dearbhla Molloy and Anne Robinson.

The new technology was funded by a local appeal which raised generous donations from Chris Peachey and Michael & Alison Godsal who hosted an Advent party at which Mark Rylance made an audio appeal which raised £2,264 from local people.

 

Incidentally, by happy coincidence, Mark, who can be heard on the audio guide, played Cromwell - Cardinal Wolsey’s successor in the acclaimed BBC series ‘Wolf Hall’.

The Cardinal is thought to have commissioned the Fairford windows.

The new audio guides are FREE to use, no bigger than a mobile phone, and much easier than the old ones, which were originally installed in 2014.
Each window description lasts approximately four minutes, and apart from the windows, there is information about St. Mary’s Church, its founder John Tame, the making of stained glass, and a quiz for children.

The audio tour was co-written by the late Denys Hodson with Nicolas Kent. Denys was an expert on the windows and the guiding spirit behind their restoration in the 1990s.

The church is open every day and is staffed by many knowledgeable and generous volunteer stewards.

For further information: Nicola Russell 07701392364

 

 

St Mary’s Church

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