St Cuthbert's Banner

I'm thrilled to be able to tell you that after a long delay, I will very soon be resuming work on St Cuthbert's Banner.

Anyone who has been reading my blog from the beginning (and I think there are a few of you, which I truly appreciate) will know that last year I started work on the Banner, but it had to be suspended while some behind-the-scenes stuff was sorted out.  That's all now been resolved, and today was the first meeting of the project team in almost year, where it was agreed that work can now recommence.

For those of you who haven't been reading for quite that long, this is a fantastic project commissioned by the Northumbrian Association to make a new version of a lost medieval processional banner for presentation to Durham Cathedral.  No pictures of the original, which was destroyed in the Reformation, survive, but there is a detailed description of it, and the team's artist, Fiona Raeside, has drawn a beautiful design based on that:

I'll be doing the embroidery and making up the Banner itself, and other team members include a silversmith, a wood-turner and a leather-worker - you'll be hearing a lot more about them as the project progresses.

The Newcastle Journal wrote an article on recent developments (Saintly offer helps to bring back banner), which includes the following:

"The new banner will be made from the finest materials by North craftsmen and women, and will be housed in the cathedral.

With the Lindisfarne Gospels expected to go on show at the cathedral [in 2013], it would be the first time for more than 400 years they would be grouped with the tomb and banner of St Cuthbert."

So no pressure, then!