Latest news with #Canterbury
BBC News
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Migration themed portrait exhibition comes to Canterbury
A new exhibition exploring the experiences and contributions of people who moved to Britain and made it their permanent or temporary home is set to open in Kent at the start of a national in Motion features 51 stories of migration from the National Portrait Gallery's (NPG) London free display, ranging from the 11th Century through to the present day, opens at The Beaney in Canterbury on Saturday and runs until 5 October. Charlotte Cornell, cabinet member for culture and heritage at Canterbury City Council, which owns the gallery, said the stories told in this exhibition were "so inspiring". She added: "They act as an important reminder of what makes Britain such a brilliantly diverse place today."The display looks at the different reasons people move and explores how leaving home, and finding a new one, presents opportunities but also challenges around personal identity and a sense of belonging.A spokesperson said: "Spanning nearly a thousand years of history, stories are told through a range of vibrant paintings, sculptures, photography, prints, and digital art."A newly acquired bust of Mary Seacole, a British-Jamaican nurse who cared for wounded soldiers in the Crimean War, will also be on show for the first time since its acquisition by groups including St Peter's Methodist Primary School, Kent Refugee Action Network and The Beaney's Sensing Culture Group for blind and partially sighted people have also helped develop additional interpretation materials for the display.
The Sun
a day ago
- Business
- The Sun
Fury as Britain's oldest cathedral to turn iconic landmark into an AIRBNB with locals slamming ‘outrageous' plans
PLANS to turn the entrance to Britain's oldest cathedral into an Airbnb have been branded as "outrageous". The entrance gateway to Canterbury Cathedral, one of the most photographed Christian landmarks of the country, could be converted into accommodation. 3 3 Christ Church Gate, which serves as the main entrance to the cathedral, was built in 1520. What the plans for the Airbnb involve Church authorities have proposed to transform its historic tower into an Airbnb, as an apartment with one bedroom, an open-plan kitchen and living room. Other features in the plans include a biofuel fire, breakfast bar, and two toilets. A Canterbury Cathedral spokesperson said: 'The best long-term way to care for our historic buildings, and ensure that they are maintained for future generations, is for them to be used and loved by residents and visitors. 'The rooms in the Gate remain unrefurbished and, in their current condition, are of limited use. 'As we consider how these rooms could be used, the Cathedral is working closely with historic building specialists, conservation architects and planners to bring them into use. 'This will help us continue our centuries-old practice of hospitality and welcome as we seek to serve the wider community, both here in Canterbury, and across the world. We are looking to share more information as plans unfold.' Purcell Architects is the company set to be involved in the transformation of the Cathedral, and submitted documents to the council. They said: 'It is clear from the layout and fixtures, including the large fireplaces and windows originally with shutters, that they were designed for domestic use." Move branded 'outrageous' This, however, has sparked controversy among the local community and Christians and seen as "the continued commercialisation of the Church". Chair of the Canterbury Society, Hilary Brian, said it was an "outrageous" idea and told KentOnline: 'The gate is such an important piece of Canterbury's history, and it should be preserved. 'It seems such a shame to see one of the city's biggest landmarks disregarded in this way.' Historic UK city undergoing huge multi-million revamp Dr Gavin Ashenden, who was the former chaplain to late Queen Elizabeth II, and has since converted to Catholicism, thinks the conversion plans come at no surprise. He pointed out: 'As The Church of have to go to ever increasing links to raise money. Ashenden was also a choral scholar at King's Canterbury, and added: 'To give credit where it is due, at least turning this famous cathedral gateway into an Airbnb doesn't involve the degree of blasphemy and irresponsibility that some of the other money making ventures like turning the cathedral into a nightclub involved. "Perhaps local residents should be grateful. "It's just Airbnb rather than a casino.' Other church transformations It is not the first time an historic cathedral has been "commercialised". In 2019, Southwark Cathedral had its nave used as a catwalk and to sell clothes by fashion designer Julien MacDonald. It was subsequently accused of promoting the "antithesis of the Christian Gospel". Norwich Cathedral was also criticised for "treating God like a tourist attraction" when it installed a 55-ft helter skelter in its nave. Airbnb and Canterbury Council have been contacted for comment.
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
Former Archbishop of Canterbury challenges key finding of report that led to his resignation
Justin Welby, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, publicly disputed the findings of an independent review that led to his resignation, asserting it was wrong. Mr Welby claimed he did not learn the full extent of prolific abuser John Smyth's actions until 2017, despite the review stating he could have reported Smyth sooner. John Smyth, who died in 2018, was responsible for abusing as many as 130 boys and young men over five decades in the UK and Africa. Mr Welby said that in 2013, he was aware of only one allegation against Smyth and was preoccupied with other major abuse cases within the Church. He admitted to being 'insufficiently persistent' in pursuing Smyth's case, which he cited as a reason for his resignation, describing it as a profoundly lonely experience. Justin Welby says review that led to resignation as archbishop was partly wrong
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
Justin Welby says review that led to resignation as archbishop was partly wrong
Justin Welby, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has publicly challenged the findings of an independent review that led to his resignation, asserting it was "wrong" in its conclusion that he could have reported prolific abuser John Smyth sooner. Mr Welby, who officially stepped down in early January after resigning in November last year, faced scrutiny from a review led by Keith Makin. This independent inquiry concluded that he "had not done enough to deal with allegations of abuse by Christian camp leader Smyth". The report said Smyth 'could and should have been formally reported to the police in the UK, and to authorities in South Africa (church authorities and potentially the police) by church officers, including a diocesan bishop and Justin Welby in 2013'. During an interview which took place at the Cambridge Union in May, Mr Welby denied having learned the full extent of Smyth's abuse until 2017. 'Makin is wrong in that,' Mr Welby said during the event. 'Not deliberately, but he didn't see a bit of evidence that subsequently came out after his report and after my resignation. 'The bit of evidence was his emails from Lambeth to Ely and from Ely letters to South Africa, where Smyth was living, and letters to the police in which the reporting was fully given to the police, and the police asked the church not to carry out its own investigations because it would interfere with theirs. 'Now I had checked, and I was told the police had been informed.' Over five decades between the 1970s until his death, John Smyth is said to have subjected as many as 130 boys and young men in the UK and Africa to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks, permanently marking their lives. Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police, and was 'never brought to justice for the abuse', the Makin Review said. Asked at the event why he did not report John Smyth in 2013 when he first heard of allegations made against him, Mr Welby said: 'First of all, I first knew of John Smyth's abuse in 2013 at the beginning of August, when one person in Cambridge disclosed to the diocesan safeguarding advisor that they had been abused. 'A few days later, I had a report through my chaplain who had been rung up from the Diocese of Ely, which Cambridge is in, saying … there was an allegation of abuse by one person. 'I didn't know the full details of the abuse until 2017 – that is clearly in the report … 'And it wasn't until about 2021, in a meeting with Keith Makin, that I discovered there were more than 100 people who had been physically abused. 'I disagree with the report on that … it's not truth. 'Secondly, I certainly didn't know about anything in Zimbabwe for the same period, and that emerged steadily as well.' Mr Welby added that, in 2013, he only knew of one person alleging they had been abused by Smyth, and that he was in the midst of dealing with other prominent cases of sexual abuse within the Church. Mr Welby said: 'I was dealing at the time with Peter Ball, the bishop of Gloucester, where we knew there were at least 30 victims, and he was going to prison, obviously, and one of those victims had committed suicide. 'That was among many cases that were coming out, and they were obviously getting my attention. 'I was focusing my attention on making sure it didn't happen again. 'I don't apologise for that. 'The worst of all possible things would have been to say, we're not going to change the system sufficiently to reduce the chances of such appalling events with such lifelong damage to survivors happening again.' The former archbishop, however, acknowledged he was 'insufficiently persistent' in bringing Smyth to justice while he was still alive – which ultimately compelled him to step down from his role as archbishop of Canterbury. Mr Welby also said he was seeing a psychotherapist with whom he has been discussing the time of his resignation, which he described as 'one of the loneliest moments I've ever had'. Asked about what he would have done differently, Mr Welby replied: 'I have thought a great deal about that. 'One must be very careful about making it sound as though it was all about me. It's really not. 'There will be people here who've been abused, who are the victims of abuse, sexual abuse, or physical abuse, emotional abuse, and I've been very open that I'm one of them, so I'm aware of what it means. 'There were two reasons it was right to resign. 'One was, although I thought I had done at the time everything I should have done, I hadn't. 'It had been reported to the police, the first signs of the abuse … and it was reported to Cambridgeshire Police and then to Hampshire Police, where he (Smyth) lived at the time. 'But I was insufficiently persistent and curious to follow up and check and check and check that action was being taken. 'And I felt that that had re-traumatised the survivors.' Mr Welby added: 'The other point was shame, because in my role, it wasn't only the Smyth case (in) the whole time I've been in post as archbishop for 12 years. 'There were more and more cases (that) emerged, very few from the present day, but going right back to the 60s and the 70s – 50, 60 years. 'And I'm sure we have not uncovered all of them, and I'm sure it goes further back than that. 'And there's one area the psychotherapist I have been seeing has helped me understand better, is: one develops an idealisation of an organisation, particularly the Church, and the sense of its failure made me feel that the only proper thing to do was to take responsibility as the current head of that organisation. 'It's one of the loneliest moments I've ever had, the reverberations of that I still feel. 'But I can persuade myself I could have done other things. I could have taken on the interviewers more strongly.' The process to replace Mr Welby is under way. It is expected there could be an announcement on a nomination for the 106th archbishop of Canterbury by autumn – a year after Mr Welby announced he was standing down.
New York Times
a day ago
- New York Times
Like Chaucer's Pilgrims, but With a Sports Car
'The Canterbury Tales' — the collection of poems that every English major has to read — is the ultimate travel story. Winter's over, spring has sprung, 'thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages' — as Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in Middle English in the 14th century. People are still tramping the same general path from points around London, eastward toward the spired vision that is Canterbury Cathedral and sometimes beyond along the Pilgrims' Way. M25 10 miles Greater LONDON England Rochester M4 Trottiscliffe Canterbury M2 M3 Caterham Aylesford Chartham A2 Kemsing . St. Martha-on-the-Hill Church Titsey M20 A31 A24 A21 Winchester A23 A3 10 miles Greater LONDON England Rochester Trottiscliffe Canterbury Caterham St. Martha-on- the-Hill Church Chartham Aylesford Titsey Kemsing Winchester By The New York Times Today, the Pilgrims' Way is a series of public footpaths, bridle ways and paved lanes that parallels and sometimes coincides with a national trail, the North Downs Way, created in a post-World War II effort to get urban people into the countryside. The precise route of the medieval Catholic pilgrims is not certain, but human feet have walked the same route along a chalk escarpment that runs between the English Channel and the British heartland for millenniums, since long before Christianity. Druidic standing stones along the way attest to lost traditions and meaning that even prehistoric peoples attached to the route. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
