WHEN artist Charles MacCarthy was approached to curate an exhibition in the church of his home village of Kingsland, St Michael and All Angels, as part of the campaign to raise funds for the restoration, he took for his inspiration the church’s own name.

"It just seemed right that the first exhibition to be organised by the new Friends of Kingsland Church should take angels as its theme," he said. "I knew that the artists I approached would tackle the brief in many different ways."

The exhibition includes sculptures, paintings, ceramics and drawings. Artists include Stephen Cox RA, Simon Dorrell, Wally Gilbert, Sheila O’Beney, Ken Eastman, Julienne Braham, Paul Caton, Lois Hopwood, Mary Ann Gelly, , Tamsyn Salt and Charles MacCarthy himself, who is working on a piece for the exhibition inspired by the famous Smiling Angel of Reims, a symbol of France’s recovery after the First and Second World Wars.

In all, 60 artists from as far afield as Paris, Dublin, London and Bath as well as many who live locally, have submitted pieces which will challenge and extend our understanding of what angels are. As Charles says: "The show will be an exploration through art of what angels might be, and everyone has their own take on this. By tradition, they are messengers from an unseen world to the world we inhabit, whose presence is often so subtle that it is only after the event that people become aware of it. It is the giving of form to something which is a spiritual intuition.”

The exhibition runs from Saturday, November 30 to Wednesday, December 18, daily 10am to 4pm. St Michael and All Angels Church, Kingsland, near Leominster. Entrance is free, but donations are welcome. A percentage of sales will go to the Friends of St Michaels fundraising campaign. For further information and invitations to the Private View on Friday, November 29 email info@SMAAAK.co.uk or call 07585 943290.