Alan Rickman, Mark Rylance, Lindsay Duncan & More Lend Voices toSt Mary's Church Audio-Guide Tour

The windows in St Mary's Church, Fairford, represent the most complete set of medieval stained glass windows in any parish church in England. They were described by the Chair of the National Trust Sir Simon Jenkins as: "One of England's out-standing galleries of Church art" and the late Poet Laureate, Sir John Betjeman, chose the lower half of the Great West Window as the luxury he wished to take to his desert island when he appeared on BBC radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

The audio-guide features the voices of many well-known actors, celebrities and local people including: Keith Barley (the main restorer of the windows) Marcel Berlins, Chipo Chung, Ron Cook, Jeremy Clyde, Michael Cochrane, Frances de la Tour, Lindsay Duncan, Nabil Elouahabi, Lynn Farleigh, Diane Fletcher, Nicholas Ford (Chief Executive of the Ernest Cook Trust) Paul Freeman, Geoff Hawkes (local historian and Chair of the Friends of St Mary's Church), Jenny Jules, Maurice Jones (ex- Fairford Town Crier ) Celia Imrie, Belinda Lang, Martin Lee- Browne, Joanna Lumley, David Mallinson, Hayley Mills, Bill Nighy, Tim Piggott-Smith, Alan Rickman, Anne Robinson, Mark Rylance, Jon Snow, Zoe Wanamaker & Richard Wilson, all of whom have given their services for free to record this guide to the church and its 28 stained glass windows

The audio-guide was written by Denys Hodson with additional material by Geoff Hawkes & Nicolas Kent. It was recorded and produced by Nicolas Kent, and the installation is by Accoustiguide who are the leading installer of digital public audio-guides worldwide.

Denys Hodson (who, as Chair of the Friends of St Mary's Church - Fairford, was responsible for overseeing the completion in 2010 of the 25 year long programme of conservation and restoration of the stained glass windows in St Mary's Church) sadly died in January 2013 before the audio-guide was completed, however it is now dedicated to his memory.

The audio-guide has been funded by the Friends of St Mary's Church. It is installed by kind consent of the Vicar of St Mary's and the Church wardens, and it is operated by the volunteer stewards who welcome visitors to the church on a daily basis.

Nicolas Kent is currently directing The Nightmares of Carlos Fuentes, running at the Arcola Theatre from 23 July - 16 August 2014, based on a short story by award winning writer Hassan Blasim, and adapted by Rashid Razaq.

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