A new community resource at St John’s Doddington

Our songwriter in residence Sid Peacock has been busy with local groups for the Song of the Hill project. He has been working with Piece of String Media and young people from the local area to make field recordings on the hill which will be woven into the final pieces of music. They have captured the sound of babbling springs, thrumming cattle grids, the calls of birds and even passing quad bikes. This and all the new pieces will be showcased at the finale performance in May at St Laurences Ludlow.

Inspired by the local myth of the Clee hill giants, Clee Hill born illustrator Gordon Yapp has created an animation to accompany Sid’s music. We plan to turn these drawings into flip books for participants in the project. Pupils at Clee Hill Village Academy have also been inspired by Gordon’s giants to write a song celebrating the epic battle which in myth created the Clee hills. 

There has been good progress with repairs and improvements to the church building with the new floor going down and the toilet created. The old wall panelling proved to be too riddled with wood worm to put back in place so timber was found to match the original. Our builder even used a Victorian moulding plane to shape each panel as the original carpenters would have done. We will be offering guided tours of the site as we approach completion. If you want to see inside while the work is underway, please get in touch.

To find out more and keep up to date the project follow us on Facebook and Instagram @stjohn’sdoddington or visit our website stjohnsdoddington.org