A year ago, at a time when the Covid vaccine rollout was still in its early stages you may have been one of those Barrow residents who became aware of multi-coloured ribbons streaming out from the fl agpole on the top of Holy Trinity Church tower.
A bit of research on social media or later, an article in the summer edition of Barrow Voice, would have revealed that they were there as a highly original celebration of Mothering Sunday (or Mothers’ Day) called ‘Raise a Ribbon for Her’. The sixteen three-metre-long ribbons were covered with the names of over 400 women, people’s mothers, grandmothers, carers or others who had played a significant part in people’s lives, all the names having been submitted by members of the church and others who our Facebook and other advertising had reached. The ribbons, which continued to fl ap and fl utter for a week after Mothering Sunday, were visible from both the Millennium Park and the ‘old’ A6 between Quorn and Mountsorrel and caused quite a stir. The comments we received were universally positive, many people feeling the ribbons provided a splash of brightness and positivity amid the Covid-induced gloom.
This year’s Mothering Sunday is on March 27th and we hope many more names and ribbons will be fl uttering. If you receive and read your Barrow Voice in time, you can submit names on the Holy Trinity Facebook page, by contacting the church offi ce through enquiries@barrowandwoldsgroup.com or by calling into Holy Trinity between 10am and 12 noon on Saturday 19th March. You can, at the same time, make a contribution to Holy Trinity’s work, although there is no obligation to do so. The ladies’ names you provide (not just of your mother) could be of someone you’ll be having lunch with on Mothers’ Day or one no longer with us but about whom you retain special memories. From last year’s experience we know that for people to know that their mother’s name is up there seems to make them feel happy. To enable us to get all the names written on the ribbons we’d like to receive all names by March 22nd.
On Mothering Sunday, itself (March 27th), weather permitting, the ribbons will be released at 10.15am after the bells have been rung for fifteen minutes. Come and join us outside the church for the ‘launch’ and then, if you’d like to, come inside for our 10.30am service at which there will be special prayers for Mothers and a small bunch of daffodils will be given to all the women present. Following the service and until 1pm coffee and light refreshments will be available; so if you’re passing Holy Trinity that lunchtime look up at the ribbons and come in and join us (enter through the main church door). If all goes well, you’ll also be able to watch a live stream of the ribbons from a camera on the tower roof.
If you missed the whole event last year don’t let it happen again. When Mothering Sunday (Mothers’ Day) comes round make a point, between March 27th and April 3rd, of walking past Holy Trinity or finding a spot from which you can see the tower. And, floodlit at night, some people
think they look even better!
Richard Hudson and the RARFH Committee