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NEWCASTLE CATHEDRAL
NEWCASTLE CATHEDRAL
A BEACON OF LIGHT
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The Story Chair
7th March 2024 - 8th March 2025
Watch this short film about the creation and development of the Story Chair.
The Story Chair was designed with women in touch with the criminal justice system in collaboration with charity Changing Lives, Northumbria University and Newcastle Cathedral, supported by the North East Probation Service and The British Academy.
As part of the project, over 50 individuals from Newcastle, Ashington, North Tyneside, and Sunderland participated in eight weeks of workshops, honing storytelling and craft skills to illustrate their experiences – many marked by domestic violence and trauma.
The Cathedral’s involvement in the development of the chair came about through the Cathedral Lantern Project (formerly the Lantern Initiative), which takes inspiration from our iconic Lantern Tower and strives to be a beacon of light for those experiencing dark or difficult times. The Revd Jon Canessa explained, “We wanted to ensure these women’s inspiring, humbling and powerful stories are celebrated and heard.”
Together, the women wrote complex, emotionally difficult, funny, and, most importantly, real-life stories. The Story Chair, crafted by Nick James from James Design, is an abstract representation of the twists and turns of the women’s lives, the need for a solid base and the lightness once stories have been shared, representing the unique realities the women experienced, while highlighting the interweaving nature of shared experience.
Find out more about the Cathedral Lantern Project.
