THE 1000th ticket to the production of the Chester Mystery Plays this summer has just been sold – to a woman who will have to travel 10,000 miles to see it.

Christina Rowntree and her husband Andrew will fly from their home in Melbourne to watch the plays, which are presented in Chester only once every five years. The couple will be in the UK in July and August on long service leave.

Christina works as artful faith co-ordinator for the Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) and her job focuses on developing the arts in the life of the church in Victoria and Tasmania.

She said: “We are delighted that this year presents an opportunity to catch the Chester Mystery Plays performance.

“Through my job I encourage and resource artists and stimulate theological reflection and education in and through the arts.”

She is also studying for a graduate diploma in theology and will take a unit entitled Medieval Popular Religion in the West.

She said: “During the semester we will study non-liturgical practices such as mystery play cycles among other individual devotional practices. I shall be most interested to learn more about community engagement in the Chester Mystery Plays.”

The Chester Mystery Plays are at Chester Cathedral from June 26-July 13 2013. For tickets, telephone 01244 500959 or visit www.chestermysteryplays.com