A huge immersive artwork which is the centrepiece of Lancashire’s jubilee celebrations has been unveiled at Blackburn Cathedral.
The 19 metre long tapestry by artist Jamie Holman features images of the Queen from the last 70 years and stories and anecdotes from people who have lived in the county during her reign.
Lord Shuttleworth and his deputy lieutenants commissioned Blackburn-based Jamie after a rigorous selection process.
Speaking at the exhibition launch, Lord Shuttleworth said: ‘We had no idea when we started this journey where it would take us, but the end result is just remarkable.
‘Seeing those smiling faces from throughout the last 70 years demonstrates the great affection Lancastrians have for the Queen and I am absolutely thrilled with the finished piece.’
Jamie originally planned a tapestry from each decade of Her Majesty’s reign but the work evolved into one long piece which will be displayed on a horseshoe-shaped frame in the cathedral for six months.
The images in the artwork are based on photographs from the Talbot Archive, a remarkable collection of pictures taken in and around Blackburn over six decades by father and son photographers Wally and Howard Talbot.
The tapestry will be exhibited on a horseshoe-shaped frame so the viewer will feel surrounded, with history all around them. The tapestry, its velvet backdrop and the frame it is exhibited on were all made in Lancashire.
The soundtrack to the tapestry is a montage of 70 interviews conducted by Jamie and Alex Zawadski, the creative director of the Festival of Making.
‘We had more than 50 hours of material from those interviews and all of it was wonderful,’ said Jamie. ‘It was such a shame that we had to cut it down to 70 minutes.
‘We make contemporary art but we look at heritage to inform what we do and without that we would lose so much. There are memories in this piece that are close to passing out of living memory.’
Among those interviewed was former Scots Guard Colin Richardson who now lives at Morecambe with his wife Nora.
Colin said: ‘It was a huge honour to be asked to be involved. I tend not to talk about my time in the military but they got me talking and they gleaned a lot of information.’
Colin apprehended the shooter who fired a gun as the Queen rode down The Mall in the Trooping the Colour ceremony in 1981, and was also on patrol to guard a young prince.
‘When he was a boy, Prince Andrew used to like to camp out in the grounds of Windsor Castle and he threatened to tell his mum about me because I didn’t salute him. In the end he was dragged away by the collar by a butler!’
