10 years on, the Knitted Bible returns to Harrogate

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It’s 11am on a Wednesday and schoolchildren are pouring out the doors of Bilton Area Methodist Church.

It’s the third group this week from primary schools in the Harrogate district, all paying a visit to see an exhibition the church has waited for over a year to host; the Knitted Bible.

The name is something of a misnomer; instead of being a book, the exhibition actually consists of 36 biblical scenes, many well-known and all of course in full woolly glory.

While it’s perhaps easy to imagine some stories lending themselves to a more cuddly recreation – Noah’s Ark, Joesph and his technicolour coat, the Nativity – others are altogether more surprising.

There’s knitted palm trees for the scene marking the start of Lent, the serpent from the Garden of Eden, and even a dejected-looking Jonah, mid-swallow by the whale.

You don’t have to be a believer to appreciate the craftmanship or the commitment on display, or indeed find the sight of a knitted flock of sheep and a bevy of hand-crafted angels bizarre and brilliant.

First created in 2008 by over 40 volunteers from St George’s United Reform Church in Hartlepool, the intrepid knitters originally set out to only make the Last Supper, but the needles kept flying.

The waitlist to host the Knitted Bible is now fully booked until 2026, with some places facing a wait of nearly 18 months. Before Bilton, it was shown in Otley, with Altrincham the next stop on the road trip.

Hosting is no small operation either; the St George’s URC website suggests collection and transportation would take ‘a medium transit van’ - or three cars’ full, according to Bilton Area Methodist Church.

Chris and Julie Dekanski, alongside other members of the congregation, spent nearly a full day meticulously setting up each scene. The full exhibition is so big, it spreads across the main church hall and several side rooms.

There’s no need to worry about mistaking knitted John the Baptist for a shepherd or vice versa, as each scene comes with a photograph of the layout, characters and accessories.

Previous hosts often leave worksheets, information packs and other materials in the boxes, to pass on to the next group as a way to share resources.

Each place adds unique flourishes too; the Bilton iteration has poor, long-suffering Jonah being hounded by an inflatable killer whale – although 'it’s actually an orca', as one child reportedly pointed out.

Bilton Area Methodist Church first displayed the Knitted Bible in 2015, and nearly ten years on, the quirky exhibition is proving as popular as it was the first time round.

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Chris explains that they’ve already had a church from Masham and a Durham coach party pay a visit, as well as plenty of Harrogate residents.

He said:

The Knitted Bible will be at Bilton Area Methodist Church until Thursday, November 28, when it’ll make its pilgrimage across to Greater Manchester. 

Religious or not, it’s hard to argue against the delight the exhibition has clearly brought to everyone involved – and perhaps that’s a small miracle we can all believe in.

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