The big cities of the land have special events to draw the crowds and entertain the masses.

Today the village of St Bees was punching above its weight when the Priory was host to a light show to rival the best.

Join us on a "Son et Lumière" evening when "Space: God, The Universe and Everything" came to West Cumbria.

The weather has cleared and the skies are cloud free for tonight's performance.

The event ran from dusk through to late evening and we've bought our tickets of the 8pm show.

As we arrived, the event is well underway and the illuminations were entertaining those who had bought earlier tickets.

A few minutes to spare so we call into the School grounds where refreshments were on offer (sadly we've already eaten)

and music was entertaining those not currently in the Priory.

Time to be walking across the road to join the short queue outside the church.

The theme for the evening was  a "Son et Lumière" display, not about the history of the Church

but about " God, the Universe and Everything ".

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Even out here there are special lighting effects to intrigue the visitors.	We enter the grounds and wait at the main West Door.

The light show was continually changing . . .	. . . on both the outside and the inside.

Floodlights and a powerful projector sat in the Knave . . .	. . . which projected images on the whole of the inside of the vaulted building.

The light show was spectacular, accompanied by an appropriate soundtrack of music.

The storyline moved rapidly through the ages, from the fossils . . .	to the ancient tapestries of the Middle Ages . . .

Through to early theories of the universe . . .	. . . and modern chemical symbols that explain the world today.

The age of computers was denoted by the printed circuit board . . .	. . . and with it the ability to venture into space.

Apollo 13 sets off for the Moon . . .	. . . and our world is reflected in the visor of the astronaut.

The world as seen from space  (distorted slightly by the uneven west wall)	. . . then on out through the asteroid belt to the planets.

Beyond are the outer galaxies, Black Holes and time warps.

The projection and sound created vivid images within this historic location.

Some were recognisable and meaningful, some were just spectacular in their colour, shape and motion.

The underlying heartbeat of the world . . .	. . . all projected by that small pin prick of light.

The effect was enhanced by the music and sounds that accompanied the images themselves.

Click here or the images above for a short video   (Make sure your PC speakers are switched on)

We stayed to watch the production through to the end

and even stayed a little longer to re-watch some of the pictures and sounds that the fast moving show had projected.

We were one of the later ticket times and afterwards, as the crowds cleared the Priory,

we also stepped outside to a final light show on the way out of the Priory grounds.

- - - o o o - - -     An interesting evening. It had attracted nearly 2000 people to the sleepy village on what was a full scale production to rival similar ones at Carlisle and elsewhere.     It just remains for the crowds to disperse walk down the road and make their way home after a most unusual evening's entertainment.     - - - o o o - - -

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