Sanctuary, by Caprilicious

Hello, people, how are you today? I've been a bit late with this weeks post, but in my defence I've been a bit snowed under at work and with other things happening  around me that have eaten away at my days, one bite at a time. I did have a bit of time to play with my beads, but the week was crowned by what I am going to tell you about in a minute - Sanctuary.

Sanctuary is a beautiful and ornate wooden structure, 22m high, constructed by internationally-known American artist David Best, working with local communities, and is meant to be the nation's Covid memorial. The Sanctuary project was designed to mark the recovery and regeneration of the whole community, with Bedworth having been chosen for its reputation as the ‘town that never forgets.’ The project was supported by Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council, Warwickshire County Council and the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Culture Recovery Fund. Students from North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College helped to install it - I can't imagine how exciting that must have been for the kids who took part in putting it up.

I lived in Bedworth for over 5 years, and drove past Bedworth Miners Park on a number of occasions - however, I never went into it and didn't know how huge and how beautiful it was. We read about 'Sanctuary' in the local press and decided that we ought to make the effort to go and take a look at it, seeing that they were planning to burn it on Saturday. When it is burned, it is meant to release all the pent up grief and pain into the cosmos and help people to heal from the wounds Covid has inflicted on us.

We strolled through the park, and walked for what seemed like ages till we came to an artifically built hillock with the most beautiful wooden pagoda built on the top. 
The students had cut a lacy pattern into what appeared to be MDF with a jigsaw and assembled the tower with a central stalactite/stalagmite formation inside it. Volunteers were offering felt tipped pens and people were writing the names of their loved ones with heart rending messages. I don't cry easily, but looking at the sheer numbers of messages brought a lump to my throat. As someone who works in the NHS, I think we treat people who come to us as 'patients' - and as a defence mechanism to keep ourselves sane, we have to forget that these 'patients' are actually someones parents, grandparents and children, or we wouldn't be able to do the job.

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I can't believe that such a thing of beauty is going to be burned down tomorrow, but I guess it's like our own bodies - things of beauty, but just as ephemeral. I hope it helps to heal all the people who have been bereaved by Covid in the last couple of years.

I had a number of small cabochons, and with my propensity for statement pieces, thought I'd put them together in some way and convert them into one large piece. I have been beading around them, piece by piece over the last few weeks and I finally put them together, ready to finish and embellish into the beauty it will inevitably become (I hope!!). Apologies for the poor photograph - it was taken with my phone, in a hurry. I will have it finished by next week most likely, and you can see it in all it's glory.

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That's me for today, folks. Have a wonderful week and I'll catch you next weekend, same time, same place.
Until then,
​xx