"Peace Doves", created by artist Peter Walker, is an art installation which currently fills Tewkesbury Abbey's nave with thousands of paper doves. Each dove is decorated with messages of peace and love by people from local schools and community groups, as well as local residents.
This really was something to behold! Whilst Joseph ran around the nave, loving the birds themselves, I was thoroughly moved by the idea that thousands of people had each spent time thinking and writing a message of peace and hope. To stand underneath that many dreams was powerful.
My son said that, if he had to write one, it would say that he prayed for people to be "respectful. To persevere and never give up." (He then added "make sure you write 'persevere' next to 'don't give up' because they are the same"!)
We went during the day to see Peace Doves, but once the sun set another art experience is at the Abbey at the moment - a sound and light show called "Imagine Peace". This show is put together by Luxmuralis, and whilst I haven't seen it, I've heard wonderful things about their other shows elsewhere - you can see photos of them at Bristol Cathedral just before Christmas on Lisa's blog here, along with a reel on activibees' Insta.
Luxmuralis use coloured lights and projections, combined with the architecture of amazing buildings, to create really immersive experiences.
The art is at the Abbey until the 27th February, and whilst you don't need to book to visit the Peace Doves during the day, you do need to book for Imagine Peace in the evenings. You can book on the Abbey's website here. Tickets start from £6.50 although under 3s are free. You have to pick your arrival time, with the earliest option being at 5:30pm. For anyone who needs a sensory friendly time to visit, they are running special sessions with lower noise levels, quiet spaces and dimmed lighting on the next two Wednesdays of the month at 5pm.
Will you be visiting? Let me know on my Insta post here.
The thoughts and views expressed in this blog post are the author’s own and not that of Activibees.com or it's operators.
