Summer in Salisbury

Interviews

Salisbury Cathedral Flower Festival:

Michael Bowyer is an internationally renowned floral judge, demonstrator, speaker, teacher and Chelsea Gold Medalist. As the Creative Flower Director at Salisbury Cathedral he heads up the volunteer flower team and is one of the masterminds behind the flower festival.

Susan Branch is one of the regular Cathedral flower team and is heavily involved in the flower festival, coordinating the flower teams from across the diocese.

God Unlimited:

Established by 4 families, God Unlimited is a Celtic community and Christian charity that runs an outdoor therapy centre based in the beautiful village of Shrewton, near Salisbury. They offer various activities including supervised riding at the Riding Centre, cycling, climbing, walking, camping and Equine Assisted Therapy. God Unlimited is passionate about enabling people to get out of their comfort zone, learn more about themselves and enjoy the outdoors. Stephanie Grummitt is a key part of the team and spoke to Pam Rhodes about the work of God Unlimited.

Imber Village and St Giles’ Church:

The residents of Imber were evicted during the second world war and never returned, Ken Mitchell was born in Imber and he revisits every day it’s open to the public. His maternal grandfather, Albert, was the blacksmith at Imber and died of broken heart when made to leave his home. Albert was the first person to be buried in St Giles’ churchyard after the village was evacuated.

Since 1943 the empty village of Imber has been part of the military training area on Salisbury Plain with strictly limited public access. Neil Skelton first visited Imber as a teenager and later, through his work with The Churches Conservation Trust, worked hard to restore and preserve St Giles’ church, the only building in the village still intact. Now retired, Neil is voluntary custodian of St Giles and working with the Ministry of Defence to open the church to the public whenever access is granted.