St John’s Church in Keynsham has come together with the local community and nearby schools to create a special peace project. The initiative brings together children, teachers, church members, residents of care homes, and community groups in a collective witness for peace, culminating in a dove-themed exhibition set to open in time for VE Day.
The idea was the inspiration of Lesley Organ, Church Warden at St John’s following her visit to the exhibition by sculptor Peter Walker at Wells Cathedral, where hundreds of doves had been displayed as a sign of peace. “On the way home from the cathedral. Lesley says, “I began to think about how we might do something similar in our own church setting. I thought—we’re a large church, we work closely with schools, and there’s so much potential for community outreach.” So, she approached Peter and his team to ask his permission, and they were only too willing to lend their support to the Keynsham project.
From there, the idea grew. The church received a £500 grant from the town council to fund materials which included creating hundreds of paper doves for people to decorate and a knitting pattern for those who wanted to make their own dove. Retired teachers from the congregation connected with local schools to invite pupils to decorate paper doves with messages of peace, hope, and reflection. As the doves were created, it encouraged conversation and lessons around the themes of: “What does peace mean to me?” and “Who has worked for peace in history?” with names like Gandhi and Martin Luther King mentioned.
The project soon reached beyond the schools. Church members reached out to local care homes. Residents there contributed knitted doves and written reflections. Lesley says, “Older generations remember the war and the work that followed to build peace. This gave them the opportunity to reflect and pass on what they’ve lived through.”
To help spread the word, the council supported communication efforts, reaching out to local organisations and inviting all to take part. Lesley says it was wonderful to see how quickly the whole community got behind the idea, “We’ve had craft groups, families, even people we didn’t expect, coming forward to be involved. It’s grown beyond anything we imagined. And at one point the wool shop in Keynsham High Street reported that it had temporarily sold out of white wool to make the knitted doves.”
As the installation comes together, knitted doves are being hung outside the church to form the shape of a gathering flock. Inside, paper doves from local schools will fill the nave. The exhibition will open to the public on 5 May, in the lead-up to VE Day later that week.
Visitors will be invited to walk among the doves, read messages of peace, and contribute their own thoughts and prayers. Lesley says, “It’s not about spectacle. It’s about participation. It’s about each person bringing something of themselves. We want to be a place of welcome—a church that serves the whole town, not only those who come on Sundays.”
Reflecting on how it began and encouraging others who may want to do something similar where they are, Lesley says, “We made it up as we went along. It doesn’t need to be grand. It just needs to engage people where they are. That’s where peace starts.”