YALDA DAVIS and her cello
In April 2017, I started a project to play my cello in all of Suffolk’s 500 medieval churches. The story began, really, with childhood bike rides punctuated by stops at village churches. Then it continued with my first ever concert in a Suffolk church at the age of 13, in Wattisham. When I moved to Suffolk in 2011, I started to explore the county more widely, wanting to get to know it intimately and discover all the hidden corners that no one will ever direct you to. My astonishment at the beauty and uniqueness of all the churches I stopped to visit on a journey to the coast was the next stage… accompanied by the acquisition of so many animals that I knew I would have to find new adventures close to home instead of far away. The addition of the cello was the last, entirely personal, piece of the puzzle to fall into place.
When I discovered just how many churches there are in Suffolk, I nearly abandoned the idea on the spot. It took another six weeks of mulling it over and chatting with friends to get past the feeling that it was simply too crazy to contemplate…
I will finish my project with a concert in St Bartholomew’s Church, Orford, on 4th September 2021 at 4pm, which will be my very last Suffolk church.
As well as raising money for individual village churches by giving concerts, I have been fundraising through Justgiving for three charities involved in the upkeep of Suffolk’s churches. These are:
- The Suffolk Historic Churches Trust, which provides grants towards the maintenance and repair of Suffolk’s churches;
- The Churches Conservation Trust, which cares for over 20 of Suffolk’s redundant medieval churches; and
- The Suffolk Wildlife Trust, which supports and advises churches in the management of churchyards for wildlife.
I would love to reach my target of raising £1000 for each of these three charities by the time my project finishes. If you value Suffolk’s churches and have enjoyed my blog or concerts over the last three years, please do consider making a donation.
YALDA’S FINAL CONCERT IN HER CHURCHES TOUR:
Saturday 4th September, 4pm. Concert in Orford church. My 500th Suffolk church (in theory)! Definitely my last in any case. Programme to include the Schubert String Quintet in C major with Florence Cooke and Rosie Lowdell (violins), Kurosh Davis (viola) and Sheida and Yalda Davis (cellos).
Tickets are now available (until 10pm on 3 September) for £10-£20 on https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/500suffolkchurches or Jacki Maslin on 01394 450799