This year at my church’s youth discussion group (called Sparklers), we’ve been studying Christianity through art. I’m no Brian Sewell, but it’s been a fascinating topic to cover all the same, not least because of the variation in each picture. There’s a hundred-thousand illustrations of Christ’s nativity in the world, but all of them are very different. Depending on the time they were made depends on the clothes of the subjects; depending on the artist depends on the medium; and depending on the country they were created depends on the scenery of the surrounding area.
For a long time, we’ve been planning a trip to the National Gallery in the capital to see the real things. Today was the first time that all of us Sparklers were free, so at 9:30am we met at Maidenhead Station ahead of ‘a day of discovery’.
Once we arrived at Paddington, we changed for a bus. This gave us great views of Marble Arch, Hyde Park, and the early birds at Oxford Street. It was then a short walk to Trafalgar Square, which, remarkably, all three of the other children had never been to. I was amazed. This concept was alien to me. How can someone living 40 miles away (or an hour on the train) have never visited the centrepiece of their own capital city? After pointing out the Fourth Plinth, Nelson’s column, and even the graffiti left from Wednesday’s student protests, we went up the steps of the splendid National Gallery.
Suddenly, as we looked from the top of the steps out over the square, a score of men approached the Christmas Tree (given annually since 1947 as a gift from Norway for our help during the war). They then proceeded to undress, revealing pairs of fluorescent briefs (much to the delight of the young-female leader), and marched around beneath the gallery. It was very funny though, and added an extra smile to our trip.
As our visit to the Gallery drew to a close, I started getting ideas for the church’s youth Christmas production, based on the theme ‘Christmas through Art’. I’m planning to use footage from today in a video to be shown at the start of the service, introducing the theme.
After we’d cleared the bill and sorted out the money, at 16:30 they left for home. I, on the other hand, waved goodbye and let the fun begin. I had decided to take both my still camera and my video camera in order to make a film for the Santa’s Grotto room at our Christmas Lights of Christmas coming to London. With my new-found independence, I rode the London Eye, filmed Piccadilly Circus, and photographed Regent Street and Oxford Street.