An orphan choirboy’s plea to be remembered has echoed down the decades and is the inspiration behind a new arts project in Sunderland.
In a letter unearthed during the redevelopment of 300-year-old Holy Trinity Church at the city’s East End into the Seventeen Nineteen event space, 13-year-old William Elliott asked whoever found it to ‘keep it in remembrance of me.’
And not only is his letter – written in 1897 on the back of an order of service sheet – framed and displayed in the building for all to see, but it has inspired Remember Me, a project to create a memory quilt created, fittingly, out of paper.
Remember Me will be led by Sunderland paper artist, Ellie Clewlow, Seventeen Nineteen’s artist-in-residence this autumn.
She will be inviting visitors to share their memories of friendship and to join with her in folding them into a paper origami memory quilt, drawing on traditions of communal making.
When finished the quilt will be displayed in the library of Seventeen Nineteen in late November and Participation and Engagement Officer, Lily Daniels, said it will be “a modern take on old traditions.
“Individual pieces of origami and memories of friendship will be brought together through communal making into a greater whole,” she said.
“And the resulting work will reflect on the history of a church like Holy Trinity, not just as a building but a place of fellowship and community.”
Throughout September and October, Seventeen Nineteen is asking the public to get involved by sharing their memories of friendship in person at the venue and online and to fold their contribution to compile the quilt. Packs will also be on sale for those wishing to make a Friendship Memories Book at home
For more information including details of how to be involved, visit Artist in residence-Ellie Clewlow | Seventeen Nineteen (visitchurches.org.uk)
For more information about Seventeen Nineteen – which is cared for by national charity, Churches Conservation Trust (CCT) – visit https://www.visitchurches.org.uk/1719/