Flintspiration

The first thing most visitors to Norwich say, after they’ve made the obligatory Alan Partridge reference and taken the piss out of it being a ‘fine, OK, alright, yeah’ city is ask ‘What’s with all the bloody old churches everywhere?’ Because it’s true. We have a stupid number of surviving medieval churches. 31 in fact, the highest number of anywhere north of the Alps. And just to be contrary, because this is Norwich, we are also officially the most godless place in the UK, according to the 2011 census (42% of us have ‘no religion’ although I dunno if that includes Jedis).

So what to do with the churches, then? If we’re not happy clappy godbotherers, what exactly do you do with these places? Answer: you get inventive and use them for other things. Like Flintspiration, that’s taking place over the last weekend of this month, with over 50 events that are mostly free and don’t need booking in advance. There are all sorts going on – the usual family events, talks, walks, and trails, but also a few things that you wouldn’t automatically think of as being churchy. NUA are taking over St Martin at Palace Plain (that one that’s near the Adam & Eve) with performances & installations, Dandifest exhibition at St Margaret, there are fairs and cakes at both St Giles and All Saints, theatre and music going on all over the place including at the Arts Centre, which will feature specially commissioned artists over the whole weekend. If none of that leaves you swinging from the rafters, then I’d advise you to pop in to St Michael Coslany, where you can watch performances by The Oak Circus and even take part in circus skills workshops yourself (ha, yeah. Not for me).