Wintringham: exhibit at St Peter's church celebrates bats and churches

The multimedia art installation recognises the long-standing connection between the mammals and historic buildings, and is set to be permanently displayed in the church of St Peter in Wintringham, near Malton.

Organisers say the artwork will honour St Peter’s journey from a relatively “friendless” church looked after by just two volunteers, to a thriving community of 30.

This community came together to care for the building and its grounds after a community bat roost count in summer 2022 revealed that at least three species of bat were using the church.

The exhibit at the church of St Peter in Wintringham (Image: Church of England)

The installation, entitled On A Wing And A Prayer, was commissioned by Bats in Churches, a five-year, £5m partnership between Bat Conservation Trust, Natural England, Church of England, The Churches Conservation Trust and Historic England.

Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the project aims to help church communities find ways of coexisting in harmony with their resident bats.

For the last year the exhibit has toured nine churches across England, including St Peter’s, and attracted more than 2,500 visitors through a range of special events and activities.

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Once the Bats in Churches project concludes in October the artwork will take up permanent residence at St Peter’s,

Mark Sproat, interim head of region north for the Churches Conservation Trust which cares for St Peter’s, said: “Since that first bat survey, carried out through the work of Bats in Churches, that support from our two volunteers Ben and Phyllis has grown to a 30-person strong group.

“Having On A Wing And A Prayer in the church will be the perfect recognition of the hard work and effort Ben and Phyllis gave the church for all those years, and also an acknowledgement of how far the community has come since that first bat survey, where a dozen of us stood in the churchyard at midnight not really knowing each other or what we were doing there.

The exhibit closes in October (Image: Church of England)

“The installation will be the perfect introduction to that story as visitors and hopefully new community members enjoy it and the numerous activities we have planned in the future. It was the bats that done it!”

The church now has a dedicated Friends of St Peter’s group of 30.

Church volunteer Ben Jenkinson said: “We are very excited to have the exhibition back permanently.

“This is great news for St Peter’s and we hope it will attract many visitors to help us celebrate our wonderful bats. “

Created by professional artist and Bats in Churches volunteer Ilene Sterns, On A Wing And A Prayer is an immersive and multi-layered artwork set to recordings of bats inside churches, slowed down to be audible to the human ear.