Bats in Churches LIVE Season 3 – wildlife, heritage and Steeple Chasing with Peter Ross
Our third and final season of Bats in Churches LIVE featured experts and prestigious guests including wildlife in churchyard experts, heritage champions and award-winning writer Peter Ross, author of Steeple Chasing: Around Britain By Church.
All three sessions from our third and final season of Bats in Churches LIVE are available to watch again at our YouTube channel!
Take a deep-dive into the wonderful world of wildlife in churchyards with experts including Mariko Whyte, conservation officer at Dorset Wildlife Trust who heads up the charity's 22-year-old Living Churchyards project and Harriet Carty, director of conservation charity Caring for God's Acre.
For this fascinating session we were also joined by Revd John Saxon and Fran from our project church of All Saints in Wimbish, Essex who gave us a tour of the church's grounds which are managed for wildlife.
Next, enjoy hearing from Dr Christina Welch, reader in religious and death studies at the University of Winchester. In our Heritage Treasures in English Churches, Dr Welch unveils the secrets of the rare 15th century wooden cadaver effigy hidden in our project church of St John the Baptist, Keyston.
Also in this session, you'll learn about the treasures tucked away in our project church of All Saints, Toftrees, Norfolk. Toftrees church is home to one of the finest Norman fonts in Europe and churchwarden Colin Vogel is a wealth of knowledge and information about the church, the font and several other fascinating heritage items.
Finally you'll hear from our very own heritage officer Antia about her work with Bats in Churches, including tips and advice on caring for heritage treasures in churches, as well as a roundup of some of her favourite finds on her travels.
Our third session sees Bats in Churches comms officer Cathy in conversation with award-winning writer Peter Ross, author of A Tomb With A View and the recently-published Steeple Chasing: Around Britain By Church. Peter is an incredibly knowledgeable and engaging speaker and is full of stories and anecdotes from his time writing Steeple Chasing, during which he encountered the people, animals - and bats - that make churches such special sacred place.
You can watch all these fantastic events FREE at our YouTube channel here, or just click on the links above!