CHRISTCHURCH BRAY HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED INTO THE LAND OF NARNIA, THE STORY OF THE DAWN TREADER FOR LENT

The work of artists from the Signal Art Centre over the past few months has finally come to fruition. The Dawn Treader exhibit was launched on Ash Wednesday with a great deal of ceremony.

The exhibition was launched by Douglas Gresham, stepson of CS Lewis, who had travelled from Malta with his wife, Marie, to be present. He said it had been a great honour and a pleasure to be in Bray for the event. “It is a great wonder to see what has been done in the church and a great surprise to see the Dawn Treader and Aslan recreated here,” he said.

Archbishop Michael Jackson  praised  Rector Stanley Baden and all who had helped to transform the church to give Ash Wednesday and Lent a whole new light and creativity.

Over the next six and a half weeks it is expected that thousands of children and adults will pass through the church to walk through the Dawn Treader ship and visit the islands that King Caspian, Lucy, Edmund, Eustace, Reepicheep the mouse and Aslan visited. They will also see Aslan, the icy Queen of Narnia who sits in her sleigh, a real waterfall which has been created in the chancel of the church and a menacing dragon. The festival forms part of the church’s 150th anniversary celebrations.

Here are a few more photos from the camera of Denis Dunne via Claire Flood.