ARTWORKS by pupils from four Loughborough schools were displayed in All Saints’ with Holy Trinity, Loughborough, last weekend, as part of festivities celebrating “the rich cultural diversity of the area”.
Over three days, 900 people saw the exhibition, We’re All Saints. Around 40 per cent of visitors were under 16.
The church, which became an Intercultural Worshipping Community in 2019, began its We’re All Saints project in September, and commissioned artist Eddy Aigbe to create four paintings of “saints, inspirational people, both ancient and modern, from the Christian faith around the world”.
One of the paintings depicts St Martha of Bethany, which Mr Aigbe described as containing “bits of Martha, bits of us, bits of Loughborough”.
As part of the church’s broader initiative to explore interfaith and interculturalism, a collaborative project with 550 school pupils was then developed.
Children from Loughborough C of E Primary School created triptychs of inspirational people including Martin Luther King and the founder of Islamic Relief, Dr Hany El-Bana, and members from their own families.
Students aged eight and nine from Rendell Primary School made a 30-piece “stained-glass” installation featuring inspirational people including Rosa Parks and David Attenborough.
At Cobden Primary School, pupils of the same age built an installation of more than 90 lightbulbs, answering the question “who lights up my life?” Visitors were able to design their own lightbulbs as part of the artwork.
One of the 240 students at Rawlins Academy who contributed to the exhibition, based their work on the fairtrade movement, drawing a chocolate bar and the Earth. In total, 240 students from the academy contributed.
Under the direction of Dr Karen Sung, Masters’ students from Loughborough University designed medieval-style “murals for the 21st century”.
The weekend also included a concert of classical Indian music featuring Bhindarjit Neer (tabla), Daljit Neer (voice and harmonium), and Kretthika Parthiban (veena), and string players from the Loughborough Schools Foundation. Mr Neer also spoke about the plane crash in Ahmedabad that killed 242 passengers (see separate story).
A national RE Adviser, Lat Blaylock (Interview, 24 May 2024), who worked on the We’re All Saints project told the Church Times that he was “moved” by Mr Neer’s words. “It was a chance to remember and pray for those caught up in the Indian air disaster, tragically close to many in Leicester diocese.”
The Bishop of Loughborough, the Rt Revd Saju Muthalaly, presided at the Sunday eucharist. The project manager, Kate Burns, who led the initiative, said that his sermon “summed up and communicated the heart of the project, that God invites us all to be saints, in all our diversity and to come together around the heavenly throne in worship”.