Gillian Lever - Pilgrim Cello at Coventry Cathedral

Pilgrim Cello is nearing the end of its journey. On Friday 4th July Kenneth will complete his bicycle pilgrimage around the 42 Anglican Cathedrals arriving at Carlisle Cathedral where he will perform a Meditation on the Seven Last Words of Jesus at 2pm that day. The Meditation consists of JS Bach’s beautiful solo cello music, interspersed with poems of reflection by Kenneth on Jesus’s last words from the cross.

The performance also incorporates seven of my abstract paintings that have been carried around the country in a specially designed reliquary gilded by Jake. The artworks are exhibited as an integral part of the experience of the Meditation.

The story of the Pilgrimage is recorded in Kenneth Wilson’s Blog here.

Last Friday Pilgrim Cello was at Coventry Cathedral. The current Coventry Cathedral, built to replace the former cathedral bombed in the Second World War, was designed by Basil Spence. The selection of Spence for the work resulted from a competition held in 1950 to find a new architect for the Cathedral; his design was chosen from over two hundred submitted. The new St Michael’s Cathedral, a Grade 1 listed building, was built immediately adjacent to the ruins and tower of the former cathedral. It forms both a symbol of war-time destruction and barbarity, and also of peace and reconciliation. The interior is a treasure trove of modernist artwork and includes a vast tapestry of Christ designed by Graham Sutherland that is thought to be the world’s largest tapestry, made in a single piece. The Baptistery Window, where Pilgrim Cello was performed, was designed by John Piper and made by Patrick Reyntiens occupying the full height of the bowed Baptistery and comprising 195 panes of glass and measures 26 metres high.

Basil Spence said of John Piper’s window that it was ‘a staggering design and to my mind a masterpiece.’ 

Following the bombing of the cathedral in 1940, Provost Richard Howard had the words “Father Forgive” inscribed on the wall behind the altar of the old ruined cathedral. ”Father, forgive  them, for they do not know what they are doing” is the first of Jesus’s sayings from the cross and the words that open the Pilgrim Cello Meditation. It was humbling to attend the Meditation at Coventry, listen to the poetry and music and to see my artwork exhibited in that context. 

The Pilgrim Cello paintings never stay in one place for long. Packed into their golden reliquary they soon continued their journey on Kenneth’s bicycle. Following Coventry their next stop was in Shropshire where some of Kenneth’s old friends were hosting him. The paintings were unpacked and viewed on a garden table - a context that felt equally fitting. When Kenneth and I originally devised the collaboration we enjoyed the resonance with the medieval tradition of ‘relics’ being touched and touching people in unpredictable ways.

Jake Lever - Green Space 

Around 5 years ago I started having conversations with my colleagues at Warwick University around the need to prepare the PGCE trainees to integrate education about climate and sustainability into their teaching, whatever the subject.  I am Subject Lead for Art and Design on the course, but my role extends beyond this to wider aspects of the curriculum. So, they encouraged me to get going and Green Space was born, an online climate education conference and resource for all UK and international Early Years, Primary and Secondary PGCE trainees.  This has continued every year and I recently organised the fourth conference for around 300 trainees from across the world, including the Far East, the Middle East and Europe. Our keynote speakers were 7 incredibly informed and articulate school students from Barr’s Hill School in Coventry who were interviewed about a video they made exploring intergenerational perspectives on climate change. Research in recent years has shown that young people in schools feel strongly that more climate literacy needs to be developed in schools to adequately prepare them for the future.  The school students spoke about the need for this generation of teachers to step up to this task and their message to PGCE trainees was incredibly powerful, reflected in some of the comments by trainees; 

Really enjoyed hearing such passionate and inspiring young people. It’s great to see a school engaging with climate change so well.  

It would be impossible not to want to get involved after hearing the students speak with such passion. 

The conference was an excellent experience and the students did an incredible job!

Gillian Lever - Pilgrim Cello

In recent months Gillian has been creating artwork for Pilgrim Cello a bicycle pilgrimage around the 42 cathedrals of England. The seven paintings that she has created reflect on the seven last words of Jesus and will form part of a meditation by  Kenneth Wilson.  The meditation offered by Kenneth will include readings of his own poetry inspired by the last words of Jesus and performances of cello suites by J.S. Bach. Kenneth is cycling the route with his cello on a cargo bike (1,825 miles in total). Starting in Newcastle on Monday 19 May the pilgrimage will end 7 weeks later on Friday 4th July in Carlisle. Gillian’s small abstract paintings will be exhibited at each destination.

The project’s overall aim is to inspire new visitors to discover the devotional practice of ‘pilgrimage’ for themselves and to experience the value of taking time out of busy lives for personal reflection.

Pilgrim Cello is endorsed by  The Association of English Cathedrals and there will be impact across the whole of England with concerts and exhibitions taking place all over the country. The Association of English Cathedrals, which exists to help raise the profile of the cathedrals by networking, storytelling, reflection, advocacy, training and research, are behind the project. In 2021 a unique partnership between Sustrans – The National Cycling Network, Cycling UK, the British Pilgrimage Trust, and the Association of English Cathedrals was created to promote a cycle route which links all 42 Church of England was launched. The Pilgrim Cello vision fits well with this exciting initiative. Pilgrim Cello will help to promote and animate the cathedral cycle route and open up ‘pilgrimage’ opportunities, offering new perspectives on the world that we inhabit to new audiences.

Westhill Endowment funding has enabled portable artworks to be created that will complement and dialogue with Kenneth Wilson’s music and poetry providing multiple access points. The opportunity for visitors and pilgrims to experience the visual arts as part of this project is integral to the project’s overall aim to inspire new visitors to discover the devotional practice of ‘pilgrimage’ for themselves, encouraging them to take time out, be present to the ‘multi-sensory’ moment and to journey, in individual ways from head to heart.

The artworks are being carefully transported in a specially commissioned gilded ‘reliquary’ also funded by Westhill Endowment. The reliquary is a lightweight and strong casket protecting the artwork as it is carried around the country on the bicycle. Reliquaries were an important part of religious and artistic life in Europe and Byzantium during the Middle Ages. The Pilgrim Cello contemporary reliquary is being exhibited alongside the newly created artwork at each cathedral and is providing an additional educational talking point.

*These performances happened out of sequence. The cathedral diaries were too busy to accommodate the Meditation within the pilgrimage schedule, so special visits were made in Lent 2025.

Kenneth Wilson is writing a blog about the pilgrimage. See here.