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It was in spring 2018 that I first learnt that the Cross in the School Chapel had been stolen, back in
1961, and that since then successive Chaplains had been getting by with a ‘temporary’ one, which suffered the indignity of being markedly shorter than the pair of original candlesticks either side of it on the altar. I felt that the Chapel of St Anthony, to give it its full name, deserved in the 100th anniversary year of the World War One Armistice to have its missing Cross replaced, ideally on 11th November itself. That the Chapel had originally been built specifically to commemorate the OOs who had died in that war leant considerable weight to my resolve to actually do something.
With permission to proceed obtained from Chaplain Brian Cunningham, the first step was to find a designer. Failure to produce a design of suitable quality for the most sensitive point in one of the most sensitive buildings in the School simply wasn’t an option. The initial approach was made to Ptolemy Dean, Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey and well known for his design skills and ecclesiastical background. He declined, but as had been hoped and half expected, he came up with a recommendation, Anthony Elson. Anthony has been a lifelong silversmith and designer with many artefacts in historic buildings, including churches. He is a Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths.
A meeting with Anthony, Brian, previous Chaplain Ian Browne and me was held in early June 2018 in the Chapel to discuss what was required and what might be created for this crucial and iconic artefact. I felt that with schoolchildren comprising the overwhelming majority in Chapel congregations,
the Cross should be as light and as welcoming as possible. I therefore asked Anthony to keep in mind the welcoming arms of the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro and steer clear if possible from the formal traditional notion of a Cross.
A month later Anthony sent us three design options and happily Brian, Ian and I all chose the same one. To get the Cross made I got in touch with a silversmith contact of mine in Sheffield, Bob Lamb, reckoning that if he couldn’t take it on, then he would surely know someone in Sheffield who would be able to. Bob spent a long, long time studying the drawing, in silence, before saying it involved serious engineering beyond his scope as a silversmith, but he added: “I will get it made for you, Harry.” He would be doing all the non-engineering fabrication as well as all the
assembly and finishing. The finished Cross stands just over a metre tall.
I finally gave Bob the go-ahead on 3rd August, exactly 100 days before Armistice Day. One or two further adjustments were made during that period, in particular a highly significant one stemming from an inspired suggestion from Brian that the junction in the middle of the Cross, where the arms and the centre column meet, be enhanced by a representation of a red poppy. The resultant enamelled silver poppy, designed and made by Anthony in London, is the perfect centrepiece for the Cross, a perpetual reminder to us of the founding purpose of the Chapel.
Since Bob had contracted out to engineers in Sheffield the very complex fabrication of the centre column, the word had got out around the Sheffield engineering community that something really rather special was taking shape at Bob Lamb’s workshop, and in the final three weeks there wasn’t a day when yet another member of that community didn’t knock on Bob’s door asking to be shown what was being made there.
On the Friday before Armistice Day I collected my daughter Sarah, who had flown in from Hong Kong for the weekend to be with me at the Chapel Service on the Sunday, from Manchester Airport, and just two hours later we picked up the Cross from Bob near Sheffield en route to Oundle. The service on Armistice Day was truly memorable, and happily the Cross passed its first test with flying colours. It gives me the deepest possible pleasure to have been able to facilitate its presence in the Chapel, somewhere that meant a great deal to me when I was a pupil at Oundle. I truly hope it gives a comforting welcome for a very long time to come.
FEATURE
A comforting welcome
Harry Williamson (St A 55) explains how and why he commissioned a new Cross for the School Chapel
THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2018 –2019
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