A Proud Nana

My grandaughter Madison Teresa has just had her fourth birthday this week. Her mum and myself decided to go to Canterbury yesterday, shopping and took her with us. Being just four she is very much into prince/princess and fairy castles. Seeing the Cathedral in the distance she assumed it was a castle and wanted to go in. Digging deep I coughed up the £18 entrance fee much to the indignation of Madison who couldn't understand why we needed to pay to go inside a castle and with a "Hurry up Nana I want to go in......." we did just that.
Mum explained to her that in fact it wasn't a castle but 'this is what happens here' At this point she was more concerned about splashing herself and playing in the entrance font! (It's water and she's four!) 
There was still some water left when we moved on though.
Bearing in mind   .....The Cathedral's history goes back to 597AD when St Augustine, was sent by Pope Gregory the Great as a missionary, established his seat (or 'Cathedra') in Canterbury. Then in 1170 Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in the Cathedral and ever since, the Cathedral has attracted thousands of pilgrims, as told famously in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.......   I admit to being a bit overawed myself.
Madison was more concerned that there were people made of stone sleeping all over the place. She lit a candle and made a wish and then tried to climb up to the choirs loft. - There are many roped off areas for obvious reasons. Fortunately we caught her in time. Having satisfied her with many explanations suitable for her age group we started to make our way out having had our moneys worth.
Suddenly one of the female clergy started to pray from the pulpit which resounded around the whole Cathedral.Quite awesome, as the accoustics are amazing. Madison in full flight stopped suddenly and walked back up to the front seats to listen. When the prayer for all was finished she stated if anyone wanted to talk to her she was available.
Madison wanted to talk to her so the approach was made. We discovered that her name was The Very Reverened Sarah who was more than happy to chat. Madison then knew exactly where she wanted to go and took Sarah (as she wished to be known) by the hand up the centre aisle towards the pulpit much to the amusement of me and her mum. I was about to explain that it was a roped off area and only the Archbishop of Canterbury and his clergy were allowed up there, when Sarah bless her took down the ropes to let Maddy in and then put the ropes back.
Below is the result .........................

When you consider the age of the Cathedral and its history it makes you wonder whose footprints she stood in up there.
Sitting on the steps of the pulpit afterwards Madison then discussed her 'currant boyfriend' with Sarah.


Sarah broke all the rules I felt taking her up there but what a lovely gesture.
Here is the link if you want to learn a bit more about canterbury Cathedral or if you want to take a virtual tour. It truly is a magnificent piece of architecture.

                           http://canterbury-cathedral.org/history.html