Chichester novelist Kate Mosse is delighted to be the patron for the 2024 Festival of Flowers in Chichester Cathedral, a four-day spectacular in the nearly 950-year-old building taking place from June 5-8.
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Always a
00:07 massive pleasure to speak to Kate. Whilst now speaking to Kate this time in a slightly
00:11 different capacity to usual, Kate, you are the patron this year for the Festival of Flowers
00:16 in the Cathedral and it's an event you've always loved, isn't it, going back a long
00:21 time?
00:22 Yes, thank you, Phil. Always a pleasure to see you. I have always gone to the Festival
00:27 of Flowers, which happens every other year, as a punter because I just love the complete
00:32 joyousness of it, the beauty of the artistry, the way that the incredible makers who are
00:39 artists in their own right create tabloid, extraordinary stories out of flowers and the
00:45 way that they are, they transform every part of the cathedral, every pillar, every post,
00:51 every tomb. And I have always gone in and just snuck in as an ordinary member of the
00:57 public and walked around and been very inspired by it. So when I was asked to be the patron,
01:03 I jumped at the chance because I wanted to learn more about it. I very much admire the
01:07 way that the cathedral has organised this, the committee are incredible, the fact that
01:12 they've gone phone free this year, so it's a very green festival. And the theme is creation.
01:18 And I just can't wait to see.
01:19 And that's open-ended.
01:20 Open-ended. So it could be anything really, couldn't it? And I'm just, I can't wait to
01:26 see what they're going to produce. So I'm not going to get a sneak peek until the evening
01:30 before it opens. But it's been as a red letter day in my calendar ever since. And I hope
01:35 that lots of people listening to this will come, buy tickets. It is, I promise you, in
01:40 these very challenging times, it is something that will lift your hearts and your spirits.
01:44 Absolutely. And it's such a combination, isn't it? It's not just what it is, it's where it
01:48 is, isn't it? To do it together.
01:51 Yes. I mean, the cathedral is and has been for hundreds and hundreds of years at the
01:58 centre of Chichester. But it's, you know, and obviously it's the religious centre, but
02:01 it is also the cultural centre in many ways of the town. And it's where a lot of us who
02:06 grew up in Chichester did our orchestra rehearsals, we did school concerts, we've been there to
02:12 do, you know, plays, all sorts of things. So they've had a great number of really beautiful
02:19 art exhibitions that have been touring around the country that have come in recently. So
02:23 for me, this is, the Flower Festival is a piece of art, it's a piece of living art.
02:28 And I feel very strongly about the makers as artists. And just because their work is
02:32 transitory, it doesn't make it any less magical and inspirational. And when you see some of
02:38 those tableaux against the setting of the cathedral, if you're there, you know, at the
02:43 end of the day when the sun is slightly dipping behind the stained glass windows, and it sends
02:47 out that beautiful light, you know, from the west door into the nave, it's going to be
02:53 a real treat.
02:54 One of the lovely things is it's not art at a distance, it's almost immersive, isn't it?
02:58 You feel you're in it, don't you?
03:00 Well, yes, you are. Because of course, what most art does not have is smell. And that
03:06 is the thing that is really extraordinary about this. Of course, you go in and you are
03:11 hit by this incredible wall of beautiful, fragrant smells and scents, which of course,
03:18 you don't normally get. I mean, you don't normally want it in most works of art, obviously.
03:22 Although I think once, just the Festival Theatre, they did have somebody making real Ragu sauce
03:27 on the stage, which made everybody hungry. But I think it's really, you know, it's just,
03:32 it is, you immerse yourself in place, in the artistry of the makers, in the sense of the
03:38 light and the colour. And there's this wonderful moment as everybody is walking around and
03:44 everybody's reading the information, the interpretation about each of the pieces, and trying to decide
03:50 what they feel about it and their reactions. You know, I would say don't buy just one ticket,
03:54 go several times, it's on for several days, buy lots of tickets, because you will see
03:58 something new every time you go.
04:00 Fantastic. Spoken like a true patron. Lovely to speak to you.
04:03 Lovely to speak to you, Phil.
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