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Bill Turnbull takes the ancient pilgrims' path to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne where one of the world's most beautiful books was created over 1200 years ago. St Mary's Parish Church is the setting for congregational hymns including Lord Of Beauty, Thine The Splendour, There Is A Gospel To Proclaim and O Splendour Of God's Glory Bright.

Professor Richard Gameson - Professor Of The History Of The Book, Durham University.

Professor Gameson specializes in ancient medieval and early modern books.听听 He talks to Songs of Praise about the creation of the Lindisfarne Gospels, how long it took to complete the work, the conditions in which Eadfrith, the monk who created the Lindisfarne Gospels, would have been working, and how it didn鈥檛 matter to the monks how long it took to complete the work - the important thing was that it was an act of faith on the part of the whole Lindisfarne community.听听听 Richard also talked about his own personal emotional connection with the ancient manuscripts with which he works.

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Mary Fleeson - Lindisfarne Scriptorium

Mary is an artist who is originally from Shropshire.听听 Her first visit to Holy Island was such a profoundly moving and spiritual experience that she ended up relocating to the island in the 1990s.听听 She now runs a small business which aims to offer art intended to draw the viewer into an experience of prayer or meditation.听听 She has a great interest in Celtic knots inspired by the Lindisfarne Gospels, and regards Celtic knots as being conducive to prayer and meditation because they are so thoroughly absorbing to create.

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Dr Fenwick Lawson - Sculptor

Fenwick is a North East Sculptor based in Durham, and he is the creator of a work called 鈥楾he Journey鈥�, carved from wood, which depicts the monks carrying St Cuthbert鈥檚 body from Lindisfarne to Durham.听听 Fenwick talked to Songs of Praise about the metaphors which emerged as he worked on 鈥楾he Journey鈥� 鈥� he began to see the work as a metaphor for human community and interdependence, and coming from a mining community, Fenwick realized the sculpture could equally be 6 miners carrying a dead colleague.听听 Much of Fenwick鈥檚 work is of a religious nature, but Fenwick believes the work transcends religion and is fundamentally about humanity and the human condition.听听

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Professor Martin Ward - Lindisfarne Gospels Community Choir

Martin was first encouraged to try singing when he was a student at Oxford, and has been in choirs ever since.听听听 When he heard about the Lindisfarne Gospels Community Choir, a choir set up to celebrate the Lindisfarne Gospels鈥� visit to Durham this summer, Martin jumped at the chance of joining.听听 One of the attractions of the choir for Martin was the fact that there is no audition to join, and therefore the choir is not exclusive, there is no 鈥榬equired standard鈥� to join.听 Martin believes that a choir, at its best, offers the kind of cooperation and mutual support that represents the Christian community.听听 He is opposed to the kind of 鈥榗ompetition鈥� that he sees as endemic in our culture and only serves to create winners and losers.听 He believes that cooperation is a much more Biblical way of living, and the choir is a great example of this.

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Sandy Duff听 - Graffiti artist

Sandy is one of the two founding members of听 鈥淕hetto Method Collective鈥� 鈥� a loose affiliation of about 40 (primarily North-East-based) artists and musicians.听 They are more commonly called 鈥淭he Crew鈥�.听听

Sandy has a particular interest in graffiti as an art form and when watching a film about the Book of Kells, was struck by the similarity between the monks who did that artwork, and modern-day graffiti artists.听听 Realising the Lindisfarne Gospels were coming to Durham in 2013, he came up with an idea to do a graffiti version of the Lindisfarne Gospels.听听听听 One of Sandy鈥檚 colleagues, Toby Heaps, spray painted 鈥淟uke鈥� from The Crew鈥檚 鈥淕rafitti Gospels鈥� project.

Sandy works with young people trying to engage them in arts and music.听听 He is based at The Sage in Gateshead, where he established the largest legal graffiti wall in England.听听

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The Parish Church of St Mary The Virgin

Dr Fenwick Lawason's Sculptures:听

A Cry for Freedom (hostage) 鈥� Durham University

Prisoner of Conscience 鈥� Northumbria University Law School

The Journey 鈥� in wood at The Parish Church of St Mary The Virgin, Holy Island and in bronze is in Millenium Square Durham City.

A Cry for Justice 鈥� (The Running girl/children)

The Pieta 鈥� Durham Cathedral

Hidden Life (baby going into woman鈥檚 heart/body) at St Wilfred鈥檚 Church in Preston.

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Richard Gameson听Book details:

听From Holy Island to Durham the contexts and meanings of the Lindisfarne Gospels - Richard Gameson

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Lindisfarne Gospels Exhibition details:

Lindisfarne Gospels Durham 鈥� One Amazing Book One Incredible Journey

1 July -30 Sept 2013 / Palace Green Library, Durham听