I keep all my guitar pedals in this drawer under my bed. I have been collecting them for three years, since I started playing the electric guitar. I practise my guitar for nearly and hour every day, and when I do I take out these pedals and line them up, to hear how the song I am playing sounds different with each pedal. Playing the guitar is my favourite hobby, and when I leave school I want to be in a band, or work in music.
Ethan, aged 14
My desk drawer – says it all really! It’s more mixed than usual after my move, but there’s a hint of my faith in amongst the purple pens.
Ruth
A drawer which contains a random collection of things that I can’t get rid of and don’t know where else to put. They include, amongst other things, clarinet music (I haven’t played the clarinet for 30 years), a not particularly special toy rabbit from my childhood, a pair of satin evening gloves, a pair of woollen gloves from Norway that belonged to my Dad, and the outer box and bag that contained my Mum’s ashes! All things that I will most likely never use but can’t bring myself to get rid of!
Charlotte.
This is the drawer where I keep all my Build-A-Bears. I made these Bears myself in the Build-A-Bear Shop – you have to choose which bear you would like, then stuff it, add a heart, stich it up and name it. You can then buy the clothes to dress them in. My favourite one is Nicole, the monkey.
Lara, aged 10.
My husband and I spend most evenings ferrying children to and from various activities, so we don’t watch much ‘live’ television. We discovered that box sets of DVDs were a good way to catch up on things we had missed, as we can watch them as and when we have time. We have recently become a bit obsessed with ‘Nordic Noir’ – Danish and Swedish crime drama, as the drawer above shows! The plots are gripping, the characters are complicated but real, and the acting is superb. Perfect viewing as the long winter nights start to draw in!
Jenny
This is my guest cutlery drawer, the nicer, heavier cutlery and my silver (wrapped in kitchen roll). Plus random coasters that were gifts so I don’t like to throw them out even though I never use them.
Jane
My Baking Drawer (or my ‘kitchen crap drawer’ as my husband likes to call it)! I love this drawer – its full of important things to me – magic non sticking paper that my mum buys me, an apple chopper that the kids use and a spare I bought a friend I’m seeing this weekend, an icing set bought by a lovely friend of mine, chopping board that my grandma gave my mum and I acquired when she moved house, ice blocks from our camping cool box, an icing pen I used when I made a friends wedding cake – the list goes on!
Sally.
This is one of the drawers in the Cathedral ‘Sacristy’, where all the special silverware, textiles and linens are kept. It shows some of the textiles which are used around the Cathedral at different times of year – the Church uses different colours to signify different seasons. So purple is for Advent – the weeks leading up to Christmas, and Lent – the weeks leading up to Easter. It’s a sombre colour which is intended to mark the reflection about our own holiness and lives that we do at these times of year. Red is for feast days like Saints’ Days, when we remember the lives of those who have set an example to the Church. Bradford Cathedral is named for St Peter, and so on his feast day, 29th June, we remember his example to us in his life and martyr’s death, with red textiles. Green is for so-called ‘Ordinary Time’ which falls in between all these special times of year, but during which we continue to worship God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Gold is for very special feast days like Christmas Day and Easter Day, when we remember and celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ’s humanity and divinity in his birth, death and rising from the dead.
Rev Cat Thatcher
Extraordinary Drawers 