If Walls Could Speak...

Dave Tonge, storyteller, telling medieval tales at the site.

When you enter any medieval church site, you are in a special place. Here are some of my thoughts about this:

• The church acted as a focal point and meeting place for the community for so many hundreds of years. A parish church has witnessed all of the bitter-sweetness of life. 
• It has been a marker against which wider events took place.
• In those still places, we stand in the footprints of others; physically, in that same place where their hearts raced and their tears fell. Pettiness, day-dreams, discomfort, hope... all of these and more have been felt here before we pass through. A ruin has stories to tell (see photo, above). 
• A sense of this time and connection makes me aware that we are not only time-travellers in the present; we are, simultaneously, and instantly, part of the story too. 
• In those still places, I am moved, imaginatively, to reach out for those past presences. We should, in my opinion,  all be humble in the face of this.
• A medieval church is a space where I am open to possibilities. Here, my imagination is challenged and stretched. I begin to feel for the nature of things and our place within it.   
• The movement of seasons and the natural life which passes through are part of the story too.
• I am full of wonder and inspired to creativity...

Colin