Farewell to the Vicars!

Tonight we said a cheery farewell to the Markets' very own Listening Vicars with a special farewell tea in Cafe Cenno.

Also known as the 'vicars with the snickers' and the 'revs with the eggs', Andrew Hall and Ian Rutherford have been paying regular visits to Durham Indoor Market over the last academic year,

providing a valuable listening ear to stallholders and making many friends!

Many have found their input really valuable, helping to relieve the stresses and strains that many retailers are feeling in the current financial climate.

Yet as well as keeping us supplied with delicious treats at both Christmas and Easter, they've also spent time creating unique films of traders reading the Psalms of Ascents, which you can catch here: http://goo.gl/eGT7c.

Never has a project captured our retailers in quite this way... Much fun was had by all! :-)

Both Andrew and Ian are ordinands from St John's College's Cranmer Hall, and this summer, they are are graduating, fully fledged, to embark on new lives in spiritual ministry - Andrew within the Church of England and Ian as a methodist minister.

Fortunately we have not lost our pastoral care altogether... Susan Hill and Chris Jameson-Gates from St Nicholas' Church in the Market Place and Neil Collin from St John's College have kindly agreed to take up the baton and no doubt we will see them around the Market very soon.

Left to right: Neil, Susan and Chris from St Nic's, Markets MD Colin Wilkes, Ian and Andrew and a plate of scones! :-)

We'd like to thank Ian and Andrew for all their input this last year. All the very best in your new lives, good luck and God bless, and hope to see you back here very soon.

'May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields, 

and until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.'

- A Gaelic blessing.

Sunshine in the Market

It's another beautiful day in the centre of Durham - which after all the rain we've had over the last couple of months is very welcome indeed.

You can feel the enthusiasm for this new found warmth outside the Market as people of all ages gather on the benches in the Market Place. And also inside too...

No longer are the traders huddled under the overhead heaters as they did in the winter... Instead, the sunlight beams through the roof and the Market Hall is full of splendour in the sunshine - Jubilee bunting hanging brightly in every aisle!

This month is a fun one for us in many ways.

To mark the Jubilee, we are planning lots of musical celebrations in the Market Place on Bank Holiday Monday. Also, the Markets' new band, the Durham Market Musical Muppets, consisting entirely of our own Market traders, will be back outside again over the next few Saturdays at 3pm raising money for St Cuthbert's Hospice with their guitars and gazoos. www.justgiving.com/Marketgirls to donate online or see our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/durhammarkets.

We are also busier with tourists and visitors now that the summer season is beginning. The Market Hall receives over 2 million visitors through its doors each year and possibly even more in 2012, thanks to the new Tourist Information Point located in the middle of the Market Hall. It's an ideal place to find out what's on and what's coming up in the city centre and well worth the visit! Do check it out when you're next in town.

Our vintage, retro and pre-loved clothing stalls are already doing a roaring trade as the students get set for summer! But spare a thought for the conscientious students working hard on their exams this month. We are opening our doors a little longer for them on Wednesday evenings to give them a space to study up in Cafe Cenno. Fortunately the exam period will be over soon.

Whatever you're doing and whatever you're up to, have fun in the sunshine. :-)