The reverend canon Charlie Allen on Peace Doves at Durham Cathedral

Transcript

00:00Can and Charlie, can you tell us about the Peace Doves project and who's been involved in it?

00:05I certainly can. It's been an absolutely fabulous project to be part of.

00:09It's headed up by Peter Walker, who's an artist really experienced in working in cathedrals and in spaces such as this.

00:16But it's actually been part of a co-creation across the region in reality.

00:21So thousands and thousands of people have been involved in writing their own prayer,

00:26their own hope for peace on one of the doves.

00:29That includes school children, it includes communities right across the region,

00:34church communities, community groups, even some of our local prisons have got involved.

00:39Each of them writing their prayer for peace, for peace in the world around us, for peace in their own hearts and lives.

00:45It's been astounding to be part of it and to see the response.

00:49And what do you think now you've seen it in situ?

00:52It really does have the wow factor, doesn't it?

00:54I think it's stunning and it really does invite us to contemplate what it means to long for peace and to work for peace.

01:03There's something very stilling in its beauty that invites us to ponder and to seek the peace that we long for in the world around us.

01:12It really is wonderful and fantastic to have so many people part of creating it

01:16and to have that sense of belonging in relation to it as well.

01:19And artworks like this bring a whole new audience through the doors of the cathedral, don't they?

01:23They do, very much so.

01:25And I think for us that's really important because Durham Cathedral belongs to everybody.

01:29It is your cathedral and this helps us really get that message across

01:33and to help people know that this is their cathedral, that they belong, that they are welcome

01:37and they can come and enjoy it and be within it.