Wells Cathedral hosted a ‘Festival of the Moon’, a programme of events based around the installation of Luke Jerram’s art installation, The Museum of the Moon. The festival opened with a talk by Helen Sharman OBE and featured music, theatre and a hire-wire extravaganza.
During the three weeks of the festival 50,000 visitors came to the Cathedral to see the installation or take part in the events programme, an increase of 35,000 on the same weeks in 2019.
Highlights included:
The first ever tightrope walk across the Nave by funambulist Chris Bullzini.
In his own words, “[Chris] occupied a space that no-one, perhaps not even during the Cathedral’s construction, has occupied before. It was a truly spiritual experience.”
Extremely popular and contrasting performances from the London Handel Players, Fairport Convention, Sanctus, The Echoes of Ellington Jazz Orchestra, and Darkside: The Pink Floyd Show – the latter being the first of its kind at Wells Cathedral.
Younger visitors enjoyed seeing Wallace and Gromit in Nick Park’s beloved A Grand Day Out, and were scurrying around happily in the daytimes beneath the Moon, exploring the fascinating self-guided astronomy tour and finding all the letters of the Star Trail.
The cathedral team was thrilled to have so many entries to the Instagram Photo Competition, and indeed to the children’s Design-a-Planet competition!
The festival was a great stepping stone in alliance with local businesses across the city, dozens of whom showed their support in sponsorship and in attendance.
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