Local church hosts festival inspired by its restored stained glass

Festival opened by the Lord Mayor and Mayoress of York

All Saint’s Church, North Street in York is inviting the public to drop by during its flower festival 5-8 May.  The church was awarded a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant to restore and preserve its historic stained glass.  Restoration work began in 2020 and the newly restored glass has been used as inspiration for the festival’s floral creations currently on display by Askham Bryan College’s Floristry students.

Sue Lee, Course Manager of Floristry at Askham Bryan College says, “We are absolutely thrilled to have contributed to this wonderful city event.  Karen Longbottom, lecturer in Floristry at the college, and I were given direction using the windows’ stained glass narrative. Our students ran with the ideas we put forward and made the creations.  They’ve done a stunning job interpreting the stained class using a range of flowers, bringing an additional dimension of the restoration work to life.”

The festival was opened by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress. The public is welcome to join the festivities and view the floral displays. Once the festival closes, the creations will be turned into ‘lonely bouquets’ from May 9th,  and left across the city for the public to find and take home – or give to someone to brighten their day.

Davis Titchener, Chair of The Friends of All Saints, said: “After the recent renovation and restoration of some All Saint’s incredible historic stained glass windows, we are thrilled to be hosting a festival inspired by their design. The glass is not only of great quality, but is also of exceptional interest, with windows depicting rare, and in one instance unique, subjects in stained glass. We can’t wait to welcome everyone to the church to join in on the celebrations.”

All Saints North Street contains a collection of stained glass dating from the second quarter of the 14th century and the first half of the 15th century, distributed across thirteen windows. All Saints North Street is open daily 10am – 4pm. Services are held weekly on Thursdays at 12:45 and on Sundays at 7:30pm, and at 10:30am on the first Sunday of the month.