A piece of interactive artwork has been put in place on the hoardings surrounding a major multi-million pound regeneration project at St Peter's Church in Sudbury.
The artwork, installed by The Churches Conservation Trust (CCT) and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, is the work of local artist and signwriter, Wayne Tanswell.
The artwork depicts two large angel wings, designed to encourage public participation.
Mr Tanswell said: “It has been a great experience working collaboratively on this piece with Alli (Burke, CCT development officer).
"Her enthusiasm for St Peter’s and community engagement is contagious, and I hope that people will really enjoy what we’ve created together”.
The wings are covered in a sonnet written by the late Peter Ainsworth, a former chair of trustees at the CCT, which was a response to the lockdowns of 2020, which shut churches for the first time since World War II.
Sudbury Mayor, Sue Ayres, was the first person to get involved with the artwork, with people encouraged to take a snap with the wings and use the hashtag '#SudburyAngels' in order to create an online exhibition in the future.
Following the completion of the first phase of work to the building, the CCT has announced that following a tender process, Universal Stone Limited has been appointed to undertake the second phase of the work to turn St Peter’s on Market Hill into a cultural venue.
While the CCT has been busy delivering schools learning sessions and community engagement work over the past month or so, very shortly people will see external activity on-site really pick up.
Universal Stone said: "As building conservation specialists, we are proud to be part of this exciting restoration project which will see not only vital repairs to the historic fabric as well as transforming the interior spaces through a range of physical improvements, ensuring a new dynamic historical interpretation and widened audience reach for a sustainable future.
"Our dedicated team of craftspeople and construction specialists are looking forward to sharing the restoration journey with the local community through hands-on heritage craft skills workshops, hard hat tours of the works-in-progress, social engagements, and apprenticeship programme."
St Peter's is scheduled to re-open in 2023.
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