This year, the Maggs team were excited to take part in the annual Worcester Cathedral Christmas tree exhibition again.
This year, our tree is centred around our Christmas campaign and the ‘cardboard Christmas tree’, however this time we wanted to incorporate our service users as much as possible and ask them to design and construct the tree for our exhibition.
Fran confirms: “It has been a real pleasure making the tree with the service users again this year. The tree is a communal piece of art work, from the structure of the tree to the detail in the bauble. It has been wonderful watching it develop. I found during our making sessions that volunteers, staff and service users alike took to sitting on the art table, happily painting away while we chatted about what was going on.
Art has an incredible power of being meditative and can mean when you paint you can quieten the noise of the outside world. I think art can be excellent at places like Maggs as a tool for being present in the moment, working together and just having a bit of fun. I am extremely proud of what the service users have achieved.”
To lead this project, we invited back Fran Currie, who previously volunteered with us over 8 years ago, hosting the art sessions. Even now, service users have requested that Fran be brought back on board, so we were delighted that she had the availability in her busy schedule to lead this exciting project.
The message behind the campaign is echoed through our Christmas campaign video: rough sleepers or people who are experiencing homelessness should be allowed to find joy this Christmas. As an organization, we want to help bring light into what can be a difficult time for some.
Melissa, our Fundraising, Comms and Relationships Manager, explains: “We were delighted that Fran was able to come back and take the lead on this exciting project. The service users and staff have expressed how great Fran is and how much they have enjoyed the weekly sessions.
One of the highlights for me was on the setup day, our service users came to the Cathedral and helped put the exhibition together and it was getting to see how much pride they’ve taken in making this their own what made it so special.
We hope people will enjoy our tree efforts this year, and recognize the hard-hitting message that sits behind it, that ultimately even people with so little want to enjoy the festivities as much as anyone else, so please donate!”
We want to say a special thank you to Diana, one of our longtime supporters for sponsoring this event again so we can take part.
If you would like to visit our Christmas tree at the Cathedral this year, you can now visit from Thursday 5th December 2024 until Monday 6th January 2025 (excluding Christmas Eve and Christmas Day), during normal visiting hours – 10am-5pm Monday to Saturday and 12.30-3pm on Sundays.
For more information, please visit their website.
To donate to us, please visit our Justgiving page.
